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Thread: KIOWA OIL and GAS (excerpt)

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    KIOWA OIL and GAS (excerpt)



    KIOWA OIL and GAS (excerpt)

    Kiowa Oil and Gas Ltd. , formed in 1925 and struck gas in 1926. Kiowa´s oil discovery stimulated renewed interest in the Watchatee Valley field.

    In 1927 a pipeline was built to connect Watchatee Valley to Smokey River. In the 1920s this valley became known as "Hell’s Cauldron". Suffering from a lack of markets for excess gas, companies in the field burned it off in a giant coulee, hence the name. It is estimated that companies wasted approximately 90 percent of the field’s gas in this manner.

    ***

    Eva´s small heart-shaped locket sparkles under the “Northern Stud´s” stage lights. The bauble gently swaying from her neck with every twist and turn of her graceful body on stage. Her dance pole lit in its soft golden glow. Luke Black Elk follows her every move from his corner. Arms folded, long balck hair tied in a tail. Even The Cree would find himself fixated by the girl´s entrancing dance routine like a man hypnotized by a campfire.

    "Dance pole, not strip pole" she´d correct people in conversation.
    "I´m a dancer. Stripping is done by carpenters and meat cutters. I´m an artist".

    The musky velvet walls of "The Northern Stud" flicker in strobes and rotating mirror balls as serpentine shadows are cast over lustfilled booze hounds and grease soaked oil patch workers. Kiowa Oil and Gas, the biggest operation West of the Watchatee. The brain child of one T .B. McLeod an Eastern native who found wealth and power working on the Hell´s Cauldron Valley pipeline in late 1920s.

    "Take it off ya whore!!!" wolf like howls and thunderous clapping , an oil patch worker springs out from a rowdy bunch sitting at a stage side table , mouth open , tongue dancing over his gap toothed smile, a meaty finger over piano keys. He rubs his hands as his eyes dance up and down feverishly taking in Eva´s beautiful half naked body. He combs his greasy grey hair back with both hands and looking around he jumps on stage making a run at Eva. She lets out a scream as the drunk´s hands reach out to grab her, but not fast enough. A giant log of an arm clotheslines the man out of no where, slamming him onto the stage. Luke Black Elk , bouncer, stands over the crumpled drunk, arms folded over his massive steamer-trunk chest. The man, eyes popping out, clutches his throat.

    “I can´t breaf you Indian sumabeesh !!! ”

    Eva picks up her silk robe and quickly stands behind Black Elk who casually grabs the man by the seat of his pants and tosses him off the stage like a bale of hay. The drunk flies head first like a rag doll into the middle of a poker game, smashing the table in two . He slowly raises his head, blood and teeth now swimming in his mouth. He slowly turns onto his back amid a stew of table splinters , shards of glass, whiskey and poker chips

    "I´m gonna kill you!!!" he spits out a gob of blood.

    Drunk reaches for a gun pocketed in his snake skin boot but Luke´s bowie knife flies across the room like pinning the man´s hand to the hardboard floor with a hunter´s accuracy. In an instant, 3 musclebound Kiowa oil grunts rush the stage jumping Black Elk.. The Cree struggles from the depths of this human mole hill. Eva picks up a chair and blindly smashes it against the pile.

    “ Eva!!! Not me!!! THEM!!!” Black Elk jabbs left and right, his long jet black hair fanning out with every swing. Every one of his stone crushing blows landing with a thud, cracking something on someone, painfully.

    KA BOOM !

    A shotgun blast rattles the windows. Eva stands on stage, smoking 12 gauge shotgun
    in her hands, pointed at the ceiling. A chunk of roof board falls on a rigger.

    “boys either walk yerselves out or...” racks the gun
    “I´ll drag you out...either way I win”.

    Instantly the room is filled with screams , the screech of sliding chairs and the sound of breaking glass as everyone makes a desperate dash for the exit out into the howling blizzard. Luke slowly walks up to the drunk, now screaming like a madman from the pain . Black-Elk ties back his long jet black hair and slowly bends to unlodge his knife from the boards. Cleaning the blood off the blade on his shirt sleeve he utters."You tell Ty Mcleod I ain´t ever gonna sell, ya hear ? Never !"
    Last edited by Lonesome Cowboy; 01-12-2008 at 11:41 PM.

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    Fingertips of Fury B-Mental's Avatar
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    Plenty of action in there Lonesome Cowboy. I work in the oilfield, so I know the type of characters you write about. Very well written, I'm looking forward to more.
    "I am glad to learn my friend that you had not yet submitted yourself to any of the mouldy laws of Literature."
    -John Muir


    "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light"
    -Edna St. Vincent Millay

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by B-Mental View Post
    Plenty of action in there Lonesome Cowboy. I work in the oilfield, so I know the type of characters you write about. Very well written, I'm looking forward to more.
    Thank you sir for taking the time. Anything in particular you´d like to comment on ? BTW B-MENTAL , don´t forget to check out my other two short stories. I´d like to get your take on those too!

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    Fingertips of Fury B-Mental's Avatar
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    As far as commenting on anything in particular... I really don't have much to say...The Cree are a northern tribe, if I am correct, and there were still plenty of racists even in the 20th century. There are places I've been where they still have the "no injuns" signs. That isn't really a shortcoming in your story though, because so many places were different. I like the story a lot, and I'll get on the other ones this evening.
    "I am glad to learn my friend that you had not yet submitted yourself to any of the mouldy laws of Literature."
    -John Muir


    "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light"
    -Edna St. Vincent Millay

  5. #5
    Right you are B-Mental. BTW, this is the intro to a longer story in a collection I´m working on about the West.

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    Fingertips of Fury B-Mental's Avatar
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    Very nice, I've spent 7 years in the Texas Louisiana area, and 5 in Montana, (can't forget the winter in Alaska). Anyways, the wild west still exists. Love to read more of your stuff.
    "I am glad to learn my friend that you had not yet submitted yourself to any of the mouldy laws of Literature."
    -John Muir


    "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light"
    -Edna St. Vincent Millay

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by B-Mental View Post
    Very nice, I've spent 7 years in the Texas Louisiana area, and 5 in Montana, (can't forget the winter in Alaska). Anyways, the wild west still exists. Love to read more of your stuff.
    Thank you sir for your kind words. And yes, the Wild West lives on...

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    Inexplicably Undiscovered
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    Re: Eva's profession.
    Around 1940, H.L. Mencken coined the term for this type of dancer an "ecdysiast" after "ecdysis," the shedding of an
    outer layer of skin by a snake, for instance.

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    Cat Person DickZ's Avatar
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    I can’t tell what the guy is supposed to be saying when he utters “I can´t breaf you ...” If I can’t tell, it’s possible that there are others in the same boat.

    Maybe it's a generational thing, and I'm just too old to understand today's lingo.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by DickZ View Post
    I can’t tell what the guy is supposed to be saying when he utters “I can´t breaf you ...” If I can’t tell, it’s possible that there are others in the same boat.

    Maybe it's a generational thing, and I'm just too old to understand today's lingo.
    " I can´t breath you son of a %$#% " . The guy just got clotheslined. Good call tho DickieZ.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by AuntShecky View Post
    Re: Eva's profession.
    Around 1940, H.L. Mencken coined the term for this type of dancer an "ecdysiast" after "ecdysis," the shedding of an
    outer layer of skin by a snake, for instance.

    "H.L. Mencken is credited with coining the word "ecdysiast", which means
    "a person who stripteases". He did so in response to a request from a stripteaser who requested a "more dignified" way to refer to her profession." - WIKIPEDIA , searchword : Striptease

    Nice work AuntSheck ! Any thoughts on the story itself ?

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    Cat Person DickZ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lonesome Cowboy View Post
    " I can´t breathe you son of a %$#% " . The guy just got clotheslined. Good call tho DickieZ.
    OK - thanks for clearing that up. I knew he had been clotheslined, and that he was having trouble forming his words. I even understood the son of a %$#% part. Saying breaf while meaning breathe makes perfect sense when you explain it. I should have used more ingenuity in trying to figure it out for myself.

    I'm anxiously waiting for the Ty McLeod in this story to merge in with the Ty McLeod in The 1921 Ford Roustabout. I'm just afraid that one of them is going to get killed first. You pack so much action into these teasers.
    Last edited by DickZ; 01-08-2008 at 04:04 PM.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by DickZ View Post
    OK - thanks for clearing that up. I knew he had been clotheslined, and that he was having trouble forming his words. I even understood the son of a %$#% part. Saying breaf while meaning breathe makes perfect sense when you explain it. I should have used more ingenuity in trying to figure it out for myself.

    I'm anxiously waiting for the Ty McLeod in this story to merge in with the Ty McLeod in The 1921 Ford Roustabout. I'm just afraid that one of them is going to get killed first. You pack so much action into these teasers.
    can´t wait either DickieZ cuz , believe it or not, I don´t even know how this is gonna turn out dude ! These guys have taken on a life of their own!!!!

  14. #14
    Cat Person DickZ's Avatar
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    Here's a nit-pick, but an important one because it says something about you as the author. The next time one of your characters tosses someone like a "bail of hay," make it a "bale of hay" instead. There's a big difference.

    We all make typos, but this one is a little more than a simple typo. It's not as bad as someone else's story which mentioned "the wait of the ice" on trees after a storm, but it's still pretty noticeable.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by DickZ View Post
    Here's a nit-pick, but an important one because it says something about you as the author. The next time one of your characters tosses someone like a "bail of hay," make it a "bale of hay" instead. There's a big difference.

    We all make typos, but this one is a little more than a simple typo. It's not as bad as someone else's story which mentioned "the wait of the ice" on trees after a storm, but it's still pretty noticeable.
    Thanks for pointing that out. BTW, What does a mistake like that say about me, the author ?

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