Chapter 5

Maria kicked her husband under the table as a hint it was time to leave. Jose looked over at her puzzled, then saw her darting glance to John and Pixy. Taking the hint, he said “Thanks for the beer John, but we need to be going. See you in the morning boss.”

John replied “Take a couple of more with you. You know I don’t drink Dos Equis myself.”

Taking a couple of more out, Jose waved, turned with Maria, and walked back to their place.

The table fell into an awkward silence, John was going on three hours of sleep and six beers by now. He looked at Pixy and said, “As pleasant as your company is, I’m in dire need of some sleep. Why don’t you take what’s left of the beer back with you? I need to hit the rack.”

She smiled and said, “I need some sleep before I say or do something stupid.”

John said “I’ll be out here at 0600. I don’t know that we’ll get anything done tomorrow, but we need to be prepared anyway.”

Pixy stood then leaned over and kissed his cheek. The only thing that kept him calm was the beer and lack of sleep. “See you in the morning boss” she said as she picked up the cooler and walked over to Mary’s camper.

John stood in a daze and walked into to his camper. Inside, he prepped his coffee and lay down on the bed. I should have said something he thought as he fell asleep. His dreams had flashes of deep blue eyes.

Waking in the morning, that kiss was still on his mind. That kiss held a promise of lots of trouble, John thought to himself.

With his morning routine completed, he loaded up his thermos and went out the door. He saw Pixy headed his way, so he paused before getting in his rig. As she approached, she said “Al told Mary to pass onto you, that they are ready when we are for the UT exams.”

“Good deal” John replied. Reaching into his cab he retrieved a radio and passed it to Pixy. “After breakfast, I’ll be going straight to the trench works. You can follow me, or park by the trailer. Either way, you can use the radio in case of problems.”

Jose came idling up about this time, “Morning boss” he said through the window.

John replied, “Breakfast at Armadillos Cafe this morning?”

Jose nodded and drove on out of the park. John got in and warmed up his rig while Pixy did the same. Leaving the camper park, he turned to follow Jose, with Pixy right behind him. After a couple of minutes, a sign came into view - a huge neon wrapped Armadillo sitting in a cast iron skillet in front of an open window cafe. After everyone pulled in, they went inside and sat at the counter. From left to right it was Jose, John, then Pixy.

John looked at the waitress and said “Juanita, these two are on my bill.”

She nodded her head while taking out her order book.

“Chipotle Chilaquiles with Eggs” Jose ordered.

“Huevos Rancheros Casserole” John ordered.

After looking at the menu Pixy said “The Tex-Mex baby Dutch pancake please”. she orders.

After a round of coffee was poured, John said to Jose, “When we get in, take Pixy here to survey where the crews left off. Any incomplete welds are to be cut out and prepped, and any complete welds are to be evaluated and prepped for UT if they pass visual. While you’re doing that, I’ll touch base with Ben before he takes off.”

Both Jose and Pixy nodded to this. John then continued “Carl suggested it wouldn’t be long before the blasters were here, so I’ll be checking up on that.”

Their food soon arrived. John knew Dot and Carl had followed through on their stated plans as none of the former crews were at the cafe like they had been since the start of the project.

When they finished, Pixy and Jose left the tip, while John paid the bill. Twenty minutes later, John passed the job trailer and noted no one was there. As he approached the excavation area, he noted a DynoMiner and supply truck parked off to the side. Well, this is good news, it looks like they’ve completed the blasting, he thought to himself. Once he parked, he saw several operators standing around an excavator waving hands and pointing at the machine. John saw Ben was in their number, so he walked up to him and said “Morning Ben, what’s going on.”

Ben turned to John and said “The rock shelf only went sixty yards up the tract, so the blasting is done. Problem is, our 352 CAT here has a broken arm. There is another one back at the yard, but when I called, I was told it was broken too, and at the same damn place.”

“Let me have a look I’ve repaired a few of these in my time,” John replied.

After a look at the boom arm, John saw that where the pivot pin met the forward stick arm, the hardened pin sleeve had cracks radiating out from it into the stick arm. “Well fuck a duck” John mumbled.

Getting out his radio, he called to Jose “Jose come up, Jose come up.”

After a few seconds “Jose here, need something?”

John replied “Check the rod oven, and give me an estimate of how much E11018 rod we have on site.”

“Last time I took inventory, we had 200 pounds left, but I’ll verify it anyway,” Jose replied.

John looked over at Ben who had been listening in and said “I can likely repair this, if you’re OK with that, and can help me with it?”

Ben replied, “No problem there, how long do you think it would take?”

John said, “Keep your people here, it won’t take more than two or three hours.” He then keyed his radio and said “Skip the count Jose, pack all that up and a 50-pound box of carbon arc rods, then send it down here with Pixy.”