The Year Money Grew on Trees - Aaron Hawkins [44]
My dad arrived home from work as I was playing with the round, turning piece. He pulled up beside me and jumped out of his car.
"What's this?" he asked with an interested look on his face.
"I'm not sure. I think it could be some kind of pump and water sprayer."
He looked it over. "Where'd you get it?"
"Mr. Nelson's shed."
I could tell he was curious because he was already grabbing the gun and pulling the trigger. I knew that if I could just keep him interested, he might be able to figure it out.
"I think this part is a pump, if I only knew how it worked." I pointed toward the round piece. "I'll bet this thing can really shoot out lots of water!"
He moved over and started spinning the inner piece I had showed him. "Hmm ... uh-huh," he grunted. "Looks like you attach this to some sort of shaft that turns this around..." he mumbled to himself. He turned the piece over in his hands for a minute and then stopped. He looked up and squinted his eyes. "I wonder if that..."
All of a sudden, he got up and walked toward the other side of the house carrying the piece with him. "Drag those hoses over here," he called to me.
We pulled everything to the tractor, and he knelt behind its rear axle where we would usually attach the plow or wagon. He lifted up the round piece and slid it over a metal shaft that stuck out of the tractor.
"Well, that is two for two for this thing. I can't believe it fits," he said, staring in awe at the piece. "See, I think that shaft spins around on the tractor powering the pump."
"Wow, how did you figure that out?" I asked, sincerely impressed.
"When we were messing around with that plow, I noticed how one of those levers would make the shaft turn but I wasn't sure why. I guess it's to run things like this." He looked very pleased with himself. "Shall we try it?"
"Sure!" I shouted.
We grabbed a five-gallon bucket from inside the house and filled it with water. We figured we were supposed to put the long straight tube into the water source, so we stuck it in the bucket. Dad turned on the tractor and started the shaft spinning. He ran back to the gun and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
"I bet we have to prime it!" he yelled.
He pulled the straight pipe out of the bucket and poured water into it. "Go pull the trigger!" he called to me. When I did, a stream of water shot out. He lowered the pipe into the bucket and called for the gun. After a few shots of water into the air, he said, "Go get your mother," with an evil grin on his face.
I started for the door, but he chickened out and instead shot the rest of the bucket's load onto the side of the house. He turned off the tractor, still admiring his work.
"So how much water do you think this thing can pump?" I asked him.
"A lot. It sucked out that bucket like crazy."
"What if I had to pump out a lot more than just a few gallons?"
"Get a bigger bucket, then. What are you trying to pump?"
"I've got to spray all the trees with something to keep the worms from eating the apples. And it takes a lot of the stuff."
He thought for a few seconds. "You know the cheapest thing to do would be to get an empty fifty-five gallon oil drum. Looking at the length of that straight pipe, I'll bet that's what Jack Nelson did."
"How could I get one? Where do you find 'em?"
He was quiet while he debated with himself as to whether he should get more involved. Eventually, the part of him that wanted to see a fifty-five-gallon water gun won out.
"There's a few of them behind the bolt store. I'll try to bring one home tomorrow if I can figure out a way to attach it to the car."
"Thanks, Dad! It's great to have someone who can build and fix things."
"Yeah, yeah." He ignored my attempted compliment and went into the house.
***
I helped with the irrigation on the following day until I heard my dad drive up. "Gotta go!" I said, and handed my shovel to Amy.
There was a barrel tied awkwardly to the open trunk of the Dodge