//------------------------------// // Chapter 1. A Typical Day in the Oil Field // Story: Dust on the Wind // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// "It's gotta be you, you little devil," I say as I pull a relay out of the pump panel and inspect it. Inside the clear plastic case I can see a scorch mark. Yup, it's done. I walk over to my truck and pop open the service bed, open the drawer and pull out a replacement. In moments I've got the relay tucked into its base. I close the panel door and throw the disconnect. A quick turn of the switch to auto lets the PLC send it's signal, and the pumping unit whines to life. I step back from the unit and head to my truck. I stop to look around. Oil country, though it's not the Bakken, it’s got plenty of oil around here in Eastern Montana. I'm actually in North Dakota right now, a couple hundred miles south of the insanity that is the Bakken. This is what is best described as a mature field, oil's been pumped from these wells for thirty plus years. Near the Black Hills, the rolling hills around here are majestic. In the distance I can see an antelope perusing the spring grass. I smile as I put my hand on the door of my work truck, only to be interrupted by an electronic chirp. I snatch my winter glove off and pull my phone from its clip. A quick glance at the caller ID tells me it's a Bozeman number. I thumb the answer call button. "Lightning Electric, this is Michael, can I help you?" "Hey bro." I look at the phone, the number is not in my directory. Huh? "Hey Maddie, what's up?" "I got a new number." "I guessed that, problems?" "Nah, Chuck and I broke up, he took his phone back, so I had to get a new one." "Oh, sorry to hear that," I say while silently grinning. Chuck was another in a long line of loser boyfriends my errant sister has been with over the years. "You sound so sincere," she chuckles in my ear. Damnit. "Well, no, I'm not sorry. Sis, you know how to pick them." She barks out a laugh, "Yes, I do, from loser, to asshole, and back to loser. I can't pick them. Maybe I should ask Helen how she roped you." I chuckle, "You don't want a workaholic electrician for a boyfriend, you won't see him enough." "When he owns his own business, I will." She has me there. Once I finally was able to buy this company, I'm home every night, rather than spending time in the Bakken and living out of a hotel room. "Well, you know how hard it was to get this company." "Yeah, but you’re debt free, despite going into shock for everything you have to get that company." "Yeah, I did good, but it took years of very hard work." "I know, big bro. But I was also calling for another reason. Happy Birthday big bro." "And happy birthday to you little sis. Are you planning on your usual tradition? 2AM?" "You know it." I groan inwardly. While we are ten years apart in age, I was born at 2:12 in the morning on May 1st, she was born ten years later, at 2:18AM, crazy, huh? She's been calling me at two in the morning on our birthday every year since I moved out to Eastern Montana. "Oh, and other news, I'm in Montana now bro." I gathered that by the 406 area code, which still serves the entire state. "Oh, cool," is my reply. I open the door and haul myself into my truck. The diesel engine is purring in this fine, brisk, spring day. Eighteen degrees is normal for this time of spring in Montana. I dump my hard hat and balaclava off onto the passenger seat and shift the phone to the other hand so I can remove my other glove. "Maddie, I've got to get back to the office. I'll catch up with you later, okay? Since you are over in Bozeman, are you gonna head over here? Helen and the kids would love to see you." "Yeah, I was thinking this weekend, sound good?" "I'll let her know." We say our goodbyes and I place my phone it's it's booster cradle, pulling the bluetooth headset from the dash I activate it and put in on my head. I grab the stick shift and put it into second gear. This six year old Dodge Ram is lovingly maintained by my mechanic at the shop. He gets sixty hours a week just working on our company vehicles. But he says that no major manufacturer makes stick shift trucks anymore, so he's going to keep this truck going as long as physically possible. And that is good in my book, I hate automatics. In moments I'm down the lease road and at the intersection to the county road. Shortly I'm at the speed limit and then the inevitable happens. My phone beeps again and the screen shows it's the shop. I touch the button on my bluetooth. "This is Michael." My HSE (Health, Safety, Environmental) specialist is on the phone, "Mike, we've got a problem." I sigh. Running three dozen trucks in addition to a half dozen backhoes and two hydro excavator trucks means that my phone is always busy. "What is it, Rose?" "The crew working at the CO2 injection plant east of town had a little…" she hesitates, "accident." "Anybody hurt?" "No, not really any damage, just a scratch to the bumper of a truck." I sigh. Safety is a real concern, and as a company, we are committed to safety, but even a scratch like this is a whole shit-can of worms. "What happened?" "One of the apprentices was moving a truck, he put it in reverse and it rolled forward into another of our trucks." "Any other vehicles?" "No." "I'm on my way." I glance at the GPS embedded in my dash. "I'll be there in about twenty minutes. Call the host company, let them know what happened. And don't forget to call the hospital, I'll bring in the driver for a drug screening." "I know the drill, Pat is already on the phone. We'll handle things on our side." "Now I know why I hired you, you are on top of things." She laughs as she signs off. I floor the pedal, and in moments I'm running over a hundred. I know it's not safe, but I love speed. And the cops around here look the other way when one of the biggest employers in town is hauling ass. *** I'm true to my word, in twenty minutes I'm pulling through the gate to the brand new CO2 injection plant. Pulling around to where my electricians are working, I stop and grab my hard hat and gloves. "So, I got the call," I say as my journeyman on site comes up. "What exactly happened?" The fifty seven year old electrician scratches his chin. "Damned apprentices." "Oh shush, you old coot. You were an apprentice once yourself." "Yeah, but I wasn't as dumb as some of these kids." I glare at him. "Bill, you've worked for me since I bought the company, and you worked for our boss before. You've been with this company for, what, twelve years?" He nods. "We need new blood in the trade. I'm thirty four until tomorrow, and all of my journeymen are as old as me or older. We need more bodies in this trade. Or do you want to be pushing a shovel when you are ready to collect Social Security?" He grumbles and leads me to a teenage boy sitting on a bucket. I get down on one knee, getting a twinge of pain as I do. I'm not old yet, am I? But I've abused my body in this trade since I was twenty, something my body doesn't hesitate to remind me of. "So, what happened?" The kid looks up at me. "Please don't fire me." I have to chuckle. "The only way you would get fired is if your piss test turns up dirty. Will it?" His eyes are huge as he shakes his head slowly. I put my hand on his shoulder. "Then it will be okay. Come on, I'll take you into town, we'll take care of it." I'm groaning inwardly, the paperwork on even the most minor of incidents mean hours of the office staff's time, time which could be more productively used. I guide him to the truck and in moments we are on the road. The rest of the crew continuing their day of work. He just stares out the window during the drive and I'm content to leave him be. Hours later I'm back at the shop, in my office. I light up a cigarette and sit back in my chair. Taking a moment to enjoy peace until there is a knock at my office door. More paperwork, but it's on the computer. I spend the rest of the day in computer hell. I've delegated what I can to my office gals, but there's still things I need to worry about. Every decision that gets kicked to me can't be kicked anywhere else. Finally, as the sun is setting I'm climbing back in the truck. After a ten minute drive I'm opening the front door to my home. "Daddy's home!" two voices say in unison as I'm assaulted by my fifteen year old son and ten year old daughter. I don't smell dinner ready, but I was planning on cooking. Spaghetti, my own personal recipe, honed by years of practice. I notice my wife had laid out some ground venison. This is going to be fun. My kids and I engage in small chat while I'm slicing onions and garlic and throwing them into the big pot. My daughter runs up to me with a piece of paper. I look at the picture she drew. "And who is this?" I ask, looking at the blue pony on the paper. I look closer, she's got wings, and rainbow colors for her mane and tail. There's a picture on the pony's flank, some kind of cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt. Something triggers in my head, that pony looks familiar. "That's Rainbow Dash, daddy. She's the fastest flier in Equestria," she chirps excitedly. I look over the drawing. My daughter is a gifted artist, the feathers are very well detailed and the picture looks very much like a cartoon. She chatters on about Equestria and all the ponies who live there under the rule of the immortal Celestia. I listen attentively, but honestly, most of it goes over my head. I haven't sat down to watch TV for more than a few minutes in years. Too damned busy. "And there are a lot of bronies, though we all were upset at the ending of the show in the fifth season." I catch that last. "The show? Bronies?" She then launches to the phenomenon that was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It started around when she was born, and ended when she was five, but she discovered the show on netflix, then found out about the bronies. I have to shudder, grown men who love a children's show for little girls. Now that is weird. I am stirring the beginnings of the meat sauce as I let my mind wander. In my mind I see a weird creature, who looks like a mishmash of various creatures. He's laughing as he throws bolts of energy at a pegasus, just like the one in my daughter's drawing. She dissolves into white mist. Then his mismatched eyes turn and look at me. I shudder as I smell the food, the onions are caramelized, almost burnt. I shake my head and turn down the gas on the stove. It's not like me to zone out like that, I dump in the ground venison and get that started as I grab another pot and put water in for the noodles. "Something smells good," a feminine voice croons. I turn and see my wife of sixteen years as she walks into the kitchen. "Hi honey." And I receive a kiss, much to the chagrin of my children. "Get a room, Dad,” my son chuckles. I give him an evil eye as I finish kissing my wife. "Dinner will be ready soon," I laugh as I turn back to the browned ground venison. Half an hour later, we are sitting down to eat dinner. Heaping portions of my signature sauce onto the angel hair pasta I grab a piece of garlic bread and start eating. I find out school was okay. But that's all I find out about school. It's almost the end of the year. They keep asking me what our plans are for the summer vacation. After the last year’s trip to Disney World in Florida, my kids want to know what we are going to do to top that. I glance at my wife and she nods her head, meaning that everything we had discussed is ready. "Well, since you had so much fun at Disney World last year, we decided to go on a Disney Cruise this year." I swear, kids can vibrate from being happy. I'm actually looking forward to that. Disney World was a blast last summer. "So, T-minus forty five days, and we'll be getting on a plane and heading for the coast." I smile at how happy my kids are. The rest of the dinner conversation is about Disney. *** I'm awakened by an electronic chirp from my phone. I crack one eye open and look at the clock next to my bed, it's just after 2AM. Ugh. "Hello Madison." "Hey big brother. Thirty five years ago today, in just a few minutes it will be the exact anniversary of your birth." "Yup, and six minutes after that, it will be the exact anniversary of your birth." I can hear her chirping excitedly. I swear my sister never runs out of energy. Suddenly I'm flying, I'm watching Rainbow Dash flashing down at the same monster. She's dodging energy bolts from his paw and claws. Then I watch a bolt connect with the rainbow maned pegasus. She flashes to mist. "Rainbow!" I scream as I throw a lightning bolt from my wing. It connects with the lion's paw of the monstrosity in front of me. It disappears, though it rapidly grows back, though the bolt elicited a grunt of pain from the monster. "You are going to be trouble," he intones as he throws another bolt in my direction. I'm already dodging, and throwing another bolt at him. Pegasi aren't usually able to actually use magic, but there is a small percentage who can, and my cutie mark, a lightning bolt with three stars indicates that ability being evident in me. I can feel the drain to my magic as I throw bolts at the draconequus. "Mike. Earth to Mike. You there?" I shake my head. What the hell? "Yeah, Maddie. I'm here." I glance at the clock as it clicks over to 2:18AM. "And now is the exact moment twenty five years ago when you were born." Silence from the other end of the connection. "Soarin, you there?" Silence. "C'mon Maddie, this isn't funny. I know I zoned out for a few minutes, but you don't need to just go silent on me." I listen to silence for a minute or two, trying to get her to talk. "Wow, that was weird, Lightning. I think it's time for bed. I'm having weird waking dreams." "No problem sis, I've got to get to work tomorrow. Have a good night." She signs off and I place the phone back on the night stand where it belongs. I settle back and close my eyes. Only to open them again, "Who the heck is Lightning?"