Dr-Fix-It! Notebook Archive:
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Bert climbed down off the John Deere and walked to his truck. From the passenger seat, he retrieved his cell phone and began dialing. One of the men from City Gas Service walked to edge of the trench to view the broken gas line. He turned to John and said, "It doesn't look like it will be very hard to fix that line." He pointed to the gas line. "You've already got a coupling right there. Just come out of the coupling with new pipe, ninety up and put a union above ground. You're done." John shrugged, "Fixing it is easy compared to getting the red tag off. I figure the paperwork will take a few days..." The Gas Man shook his head, " Naw, we'll work with you. Hotels, hospitals and airports are kind of special situations. We don't need a couple hundred visitors to our city pissed off at City Gas Service. Now, I'm not talking about having your guys do it. But, if you get a licensed plumber over here to fix this right, we'll get you going as fast as we can.". John was relieved, "I was going to get Curly to come over..." The Gas Man nodded, " Curly is a good man. We can work with Curly. Have Curly call us when he is ready. We'll do the testing and the paperwork on the spot so you can get fired up again." With that, the two men in gray uniforms walked back to the City Gas Service truck. The Fire Captain must have decided that the departure of the gas company was enough reason for the Fire Department to leave as well. All four trucks - three fire pumpers and a City Gas Service truck - left the scene in unison. Still standing at the edge of the trench, John dialed his cell phone. He was calling Curly the plumber again. "Curly's Plumbing" "Curly, it's John again." Curly was never in a bad mood, "Ha haaa! Do you mean I won? He hit a pipe?" "Yah, he smashed a four inch gas main." "That's great!", Curly teased, "Sounds real expensive! I'll tell Mama she can buy them new drapes she's been wanting." Curly's joking made John smile, " City Gas Service said they would work with you to get the red tag removed. They said to call'em when you're ready and they would come over and do the testing right away." Curly cooed, " Oooooh! YOU must be real important, John! What are you, a prince or something? The gas company is going to put this job an a fast track for YOU? I better hurry over there. Wouldn't want an important guy like YOU waiting for ME...." John laughed, "Yah. A real important maintenance man..." Curly continued, "No, Seriously, John. We'll take it from here. I've done this with the gas company lots of times. We'll get you going. Be right over." "Thanks, Curly" Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next |
