A DAY ON A BARGE!!
On this particular day, all was right with the world. Poppa just called and asked if I wanted to go with him on a job, so Jack and I jumped in the truck when he got here and we were headed to Intracoastal City.
Jack and I love to go riding with Poppa. We always have so much fun. Poppa said this was a really big barge and it may take awhile, so Jack and I were free to roam around once we got there, as long as we didn’t go out of his sight.
We arrived at the yard where the barge was, and Poppa went to talk to the man in charge and he said we could tag along if we’d like to. Right away Jack took off to go smell the grasses and sniff his snout full of new and interesting scents. I called to Poppa that we would not go far.
Poppa and the man went down into the barge so Poppa could inspect it and see if there was any damage, and then he would have to write up a report all about it. I just followed Jack and laughed when he nuzzled a toad and made it hop away, and when he saw a small cottontail rabbit and chased it happily. He was wagging his tail and barking that all important bark, letting me know that he was thrilled to be there.
But then his bark changed. He stood at attention, one paw up in the air, and the ears straight up and the tail barely moving at all. I wasn’t sure whether to approach him or not. It could be a snake.
He began that really low, deep warning growl, but I noticed that he tilted his head and his tail began to wag at the tip. He looked so comical when he did that! I ran to see what was up with him. He ran at me and jumped on my leg, trying to let me know that it was something of importance that he found, so I stepped forward to have a better look.
There in the grass, covered partially by sandy dirt and rocks, was some kind of lid. It looked like iron and it had some numbers and letters on it, but they were probably the name of the company that made it. Jack gently put his nose to it and sniffed. He put his paw on and it and touched it and jumped back like he had been shocked. That was so funny! I love it when he does that!
Once I laughed, he seemed like it was okay to touch it again, so he did. There was a small hole in the lid, like a key hole, so I grabbed a stick and stuck it in the hole to see if I could lift the lid. At first it didn’t budge, but I kept working at it and it finally gave a small turn.
I stepped back and looked up for Poppa. I didn’t see him but I knew he wasn’t far away. I ran back to the truck and took a screwdriver from the tool kit and went back to the lid. Shoving the screwdriver into the hole did the trick. I turned it a bit and then was able to lift it right off.
Beneath the lid was a very dark hole in the ground. Jack wanted to go right in, but I didn’t know what was down there or how far down it was. I ran back to the truck and grabbed a flashlight.
I shined the light into the hole, and a few feet down I could see the top of a ladder, so what do you think I did? Of course! I climbed right down the ladder to find out where it would go. I told Jack to stay there and wait for Poppa.
I was about 10 feet or so down when I got to an L shape. I could go either right or left. Not sure of where I was going or what I would encounter along the way, I went back up and got Jack. He was so happy to get to tag along!
When we came to the L, I let him decide which way to go. He took the left side and seemed to be content to sniff every smell he could out of that tunnel.
We had gone about 20 feet when we came to a bigger tunnel. It seemed like we were in a big pipe from the sounds it made as we walked, and I could actually stand up in it to walk. It made a curve to the right and then to the left and straight again.
We could faintly hear people talking and some noises like banging and scraping. The noises sort of made Jack nervous but he kept on going.
There was light up ahead, so we figured we must be getting close to where some men were working.
To our surprise, we came up to a doorway that led to the inside of the barge that Poppa was inspecting. How cool was that?! It was so big and it smelled like oil or diesel. There were some men working on the walls of the barge and that is where the noise was coming from.
Jack was looking all over the place trying to find Poppa, but we didn’t see him anywhere. We did see a lot of people though, and it seemed that there were several levels to the barge, and men were coming and going on every one of them.
One man seemed to be in charge of everyone else and he was barking orders left and right, and everyone was doing whatever he said to do. They called him “Boss”.
I went over and introduced myself to him and he sort of freaked out when he saw a kid and a dog on his barge! He said, “Just where in tarnation did you come from boy?!” I told him how Jack and I had found the lid in the grass and how I removed it and then climbed down the ladder and followed the tunnels until I came to the door. He looked at me like I was from Mars, then he turned away and started telling at a man named Sam to “finish that chippin’ so’s we culd git som paint up on that thar wall!” He sure talked funny! I never even heard of Tar Nation, and I surely don’t know where it is!
Sam reached into a lunch kit nearby and took out a can of Spam, opened it, and asked if Jack and I would like to share a can of meat. I said “Sure!” and thanked him, and I shared it with Jack. Another man walked over and handed me a bottle of water and said, “Share this with the pooch. It’s hot down here.” So I took the water and poured some for Jack and he drank it all. I drank a little of it and then gave the rest to Jack.
The boss man walked back over to us and asked us how we got there and I said that I had just told him and he interrupted and said, “Nah, that ain’t wut ah’m axin’ boy! How did ya’ll git here at this yard?” I said, “Oh! We came here with my Poppa, Dan McCloy. He’s inspecting the barge here.”
His eyes got big and he looked at me like he had never seen a boy before. “Well, youngun! Why didn’ ya say so? McCloy’s boy is welcum here!”
With that he handed me a pair of goggles and a small tool that looked like a chisel, and said, “Ya might as well earn yur keep.” I took the chisel and put on the goggles and went to stand next to Sam and I started chipping paint off the wall along with the rest of them.
I worked for about an hour, then a horn sounded and the men all stopped what they were doing and went to sit and enjoy their lunch. I noticed that Sam wasn’t eating anything, but he did offer me an apple. I asked him where was his lunch, and he smiled sheepishly and said, “Why, heck, boy. I gave it ta you and the pooch.” I couldn’t believe he was so generous. Working as hard as he was working, he gave me and Jack his only food.
I had an idea, so I told him I would be right back. He pulled his hat down over his face and leaned back against the wall and took a nap. I ran off to find the boss man.
“Have you seen my Poppa?” I asked the boss.
“Nah, I ain’t seen him taday.”
I went off in search of my Poppa. I had to get Sam some food. So I climbed up the ladder to go to the second story level of the barge. I asked everyone I saw if they had seen my Poppa. No one had, so I went to the top level. There was Poppa, talking to the man in charge. They were shaking hands and Poppa was getting ready to leave the barge. His job was done.
I ran to Poppa as fast as I could and told him to wait for me. He stopped and looked so surprised to see me. I told him about Sam and that I wanted to get him some food. Poppa said, “Alright, Mac. I’ll see what we can do.”
We left the barge and the yard and started driving back towards the way we had come. If you’ve ever been to Intracoastal City, you know there wasn’t much there before the storm hit, and there is even less now. We drove to the first store we saw and stopped and asked what they had for lunch. They didn’t have much, but the lady told Poppa that there was a little church down the road aways and there was a crew of men cooking a jambalaya and she was sure that by now it would be ready and he could probably get a plate or two from them. He thanked her and bought us each a nice cold drink and got a bottle of cold water for Jack, and we took off for the church.
We drove up and there were four men standing around talking and we could smell the wonderful smell of that jambalaya in the air.
Poppa walked over and shook hands with the men and asked if the jambalaya was for sale. One of the men said, “Oh, it’s for sale, alright, but there ain’t no one around to buy it!” Poppa asked him what they were going to do with it. He told Poppa that they were trying to raise some money to try to rebuild their church, but no one was showing up to buy any.
“How much for the pot?” asked Poppa.
“Well, that pot ain’t for sale, sir, just the food in it.”
Poppa laughed and said, “That’s what I meant! How much for the whole pot of food?”
“The WHOLE pot?! Well we figured we could feed about 400 people with what we cooked and we were going to sell the plates for $2.50 each. For that price, you would get potato salad, baked beans, green salad, bread and a drink.”
Poppa thought about it for a minute, and then said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you $600 for the whole pot of food and the extras. I want to take it down to the barge I just inspected and treat all those people to a nice lunch.”
They were thrilled with that, so they helped Poppa load it in the back of the truck and 2 of the men rode with us to go to the barge and help serve it.
We drove up and Poppa said, “Come on, Mac. Let’s go feed these guys!”
Jack and I went along with Poppa to find the man in charge, and when Poppa told him what he was doing, the man jumped up and down and shook Poppa’s hand and hugged him so hard! He sounded a horn that nearly blasted us away, and men started coming out of the barge like rats! They were everywhere!
The man in charge called them over and explained to them what was going on and they started jumping up and down and shouting. One by one they lined up for the food. Those were some very excited men!
We stayed until the last man was fed. Sam was nearly the last in line cause he had been sleeping. My Poppa took him aside and thanked him for sharing his food with Jack and me and told him that because of his generosity, he was rewarding him and everyone else with some delicious food. Sam hugged my Poppa so hard and thanked him about a million times! Poppa told the man to give Sam extras of everything, and then he and Jack and I each ate a plateful with them. That was one happy crew!
Poppa thanked the man in charge for letting us feed and eat with his crew, and we thanked the men who cooked the food and then we drove them back to the church and headed for home. We had a very good day!
For Liam:
With Love,
From Grammy
On this particular day, all was right with the world. Poppa just called and asked if I wanted to go with him on a job, so Jack and I jumped in the truck when he got here and we were headed to Intracoastal City.
Jack and I love to go riding with Poppa. We always have so much fun. Poppa said this was a really big barge and it may take awhile, so Jack and I were free to roam around once we got there, as long as we didn’t go out of his sight.
We arrived at the yard where the barge was, and Poppa went to talk to the man in charge and he said we could tag along if we’d like to. Right away Jack took off to go smell the grasses and sniff his snout full of new and interesting scents. I called to Poppa that we would not go far.
Poppa and the man went down into the barge so Poppa could inspect it and see if there was any damage, and then he would have to write up a report all about it. I just followed Jack and laughed when he nuzzled a toad and made it hop away, and when he saw a small cottontail rabbit and chased it happily. He was wagging his tail and barking that all important bark, letting me know that he was thrilled to be there.
But then his bark changed. He stood at attention, one paw up in the air, and the ears straight up and the tail barely moving at all. I wasn’t sure whether to approach him or not. It could be a snake.
He began that really low, deep warning growl, but I noticed that he tilted his head and his tail began to wag at the tip. He looked so comical when he did that! I ran to see what was up with him. He ran at me and jumped on my leg, trying to let me know that it was something of importance that he found, so I stepped forward to have a better look.
There in the grass, covered partially by sandy dirt and rocks, was some kind of lid. It looked like iron and it had some numbers and letters on it, but they were probably the name of the company that made it. Jack gently put his nose to it and sniffed. He put his paw on and it and touched it and jumped back like he had been shocked. That was so funny! I love it when he does that!
Once I laughed, he seemed like it was okay to touch it again, so he did. There was a small hole in the lid, like a key hole, so I grabbed a stick and stuck it in the hole to see if I could lift the lid. At first it didn’t budge, but I kept working at it and it finally gave a small turn.
I stepped back and looked up for Poppa. I didn’t see him but I knew he wasn’t far away. I ran back to the truck and took a screwdriver from the tool kit and went back to the lid. Shoving the screwdriver into the hole did the trick. I turned it a bit and then was able to lift it right off.
Beneath the lid was a very dark hole in the ground. Jack wanted to go right in, but I didn’t know what was down there or how far down it was. I ran back to the truck and grabbed a flashlight.
I shined the light into the hole, and a few feet down I could see the top of a ladder, so what do you think I did? Of course! I climbed right down the ladder to find out where it would go. I told Jack to stay there and wait for Poppa.
I was about 10 feet or so down when I got to an L shape. I could go either right or left. Not sure of where I was going or what I would encounter along the way, I went back up and got Jack. He was so happy to get to tag along!
When we came to the L, I let him decide which way to go. He took the left side and seemed to be content to sniff every smell he could out of that tunnel.
We had gone about 20 feet when we came to a bigger tunnel. It seemed like we were in a big pipe from the sounds it made as we walked, and I could actually stand up in it to walk. It made a curve to the right and then to the left and straight again.
We could faintly hear people talking and some noises like banging and scraping. The noises sort of made Jack nervous but he kept on going.
There was light up ahead, so we figured we must be getting close to where some men were working.
To our surprise, we came up to a doorway that led to the inside of the barge that Poppa was inspecting. How cool was that?! It was so big and it smelled like oil or diesel. There were some men working on the walls of the barge and that is where the noise was coming from.
Jack was looking all over the place trying to find Poppa, but we didn’t see him anywhere. We did see a lot of people though, and it seemed that there were several levels to the barge, and men were coming and going on every one of them.
One man seemed to be in charge of everyone else and he was barking orders left and right, and everyone was doing whatever he said to do. They called him “Boss”.
I went over and introduced myself to him and he sort of freaked out when he saw a kid and a dog on his barge! He said, “Just where in tarnation did you come from boy?!” I told him how Jack and I had found the lid in the grass and how I removed it and then climbed down the ladder and followed the tunnels until I came to the door. He looked at me like I was from Mars, then he turned away and started telling at a man named Sam to “finish that chippin’ so’s we culd git som paint up on that thar wall!” He sure talked funny! I never even heard of Tar Nation, and I surely don’t know where it is!
Sam reached into a lunch kit nearby and took out a can of Spam, opened it, and asked if Jack and I would like to share a can of meat. I said “Sure!” and thanked him, and I shared it with Jack. Another man walked over and handed me a bottle of water and said, “Share this with the pooch. It’s hot down here.” So I took the water and poured some for Jack and he drank it all. I drank a little of it and then gave the rest to Jack.
The boss man walked back over to us and asked us how we got there and I said that I had just told him and he interrupted and said, “Nah, that ain’t wut ah’m axin’ boy! How did ya’ll git here at this yard?” I said, “Oh! We came here with my Poppa, Dan McCloy. He’s inspecting the barge here.”
His eyes got big and he looked at me like he had never seen a boy before. “Well, youngun! Why didn’ ya say so? McCloy’s boy is welcum here!”
With that he handed me a pair of goggles and a small tool that looked like a chisel, and said, “Ya might as well earn yur keep.” I took the chisel and put on the goggles and went to stand next to Sam and I started chipping paint off the wall along with the rest of them.
I worked for about an hour, then a horn sounded and the men all stopped what they were doing and went to sit and enjoy their lunch. I noticed that Sam wasn’t eating anything, but he did offer me an apple. I asked him where was his lunch, and he smiled sheepishly and said, “Why, heck, boy. I gave it ta you and the pooch.” I couldn’t believe he was so generous. Working as hard as he was working, he gave me and Jack his only food.
I had an idea, so I told him I would be right back. He pulled his hat down over his face and leaned back against the wall and took a nap. I ran off to find the boss man.
“Have you seen my Poppa?” I asked the boss.
“Nah, I ain’t seen him taday.”
I went off in search of my Poppa. I had to get Sam some food. So I climbed up the ladder to go to the second story level of the barge. I asked everyone I saw if they had seen my Poppa. No one had, so I went to the top level. There was Poppa, talking to the man in charge. They were shaking hands and Poppa was getting ready to leave the barge. His job was done.
I ran to Poppa as fast as I could and told him to wait for me. He stopped and looked so surprised to see me. I told him about Sam and that I wanted to get him some food. Poppa said, “Alright, Mac. I’ll see what we can do.”
We left the barge and the yard and started driving back towards the way we had come. If you’ve ever been to Intracoastal City, you know there wasn’t much there before the storm hit, and there is even less now. We drove to the first store we saw and stopped and asked what they had for lunch. They didn’t have much, but the lady told Poppa that there was a little church down the road aways and there was a crew of men cooking a jambalaya and she was sure that by now it would be ready and he could probably get a plate or two from them. He thanked her and bought us each a nice cold drink and got a bottle of cold water for Jack, and we took off for the church.
We drove up and there were four men standing around talking and we could smell the wonderful smell of that jambalaya in the air.
Poppa walked over and shook hands with the men and asked if the jambalaya was for sale. One of the men said, “Oh, it’s for sale, alright, but there ain’t no one around to buy it!” Poppa asked him what they were going to do with it. He told Poppa that they were trying to raise some money to try to rebuild their church, but no one was showing up to buy any.
“How much for the pot?” asked Poppa.
“Well, that pot ain’t for sale, sir, just the food in it.”
Poppa laughed and said, “That’s what I meant! How much for the whole pot of food?”
“The WHOLE pot?! Well we figured we could feed about 400 people with what we cooked and we were going to sell the plates for $2.50 each. For that price, you would get potato salad, baked beans, green salad, bread and a drink.”
Poppa thought about it for a minute, and then said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you $600 for the whole pot of food and the extras. I want to take it down to the barge I just inspected and treat all those people to a nice lunch.”
They were thrilled with that, so they helped Poppa load it in the back of the truck and 2 of the men rode with us to go to the barge and help serve it.
We drove up and Poppa said, “Come on, Mac. Let’s go feed these guys!”
Jack and I went along with Poppa to find the man in charge, and when Poppa told him what he was doing, the man jumped up and down and shook Poppa’s hand and hugged him so hard! He sounded a horn that nearly blasted us away, and men started coming out of the barge like rats! They were everywhere!
The man in charge called them over and explained to them what was going on and they started jumping up and down and shouting. One by one they lined up for the food. Those were some very excited men!
We stayed until the last man was fed. Sam was nearly the last in line cause he had been sleeping. My Poppa took him aside and thanked him for sharing his food with Jack and me and told him that because of his generosity, he was rewarding him and everyone else with some delicious food. Sam hugged my Poppa so hard and thanked him about a million times! Poppa told the man to give Sam extras of everything, and then he and Jack and I each ate a plateful with them. That was one happy crew!
Poppa thanked the man in charge for letting us feed and eat with his crew, and we thanked the men who cooked the food and then we drove them back to the church and headed for home. We had a very good day!
For Liam:
With Love,
From Grammy
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