We know about the disasterous explosion and oil leak in the Gulf. There is no way of estimating the damages of this accident.
The one I share with you was on a much smaller scale, so I am still here to tell about it. Country boys are adventurous, to say the least. We lived in a one-store community called Cavanaugh, in Arkansas near Fort Smith. A gas line ran by the front of our house by the gravel road. A friend and I were in the area and smelled gas. We knew there was a leak. There were little bubbles coming to the surface at one spot. We got our shovels and began to dig down to the main pipe. Sure enough, we could see the bubbles and a tiny hole in a rather large pipe. This wasn't the one to our house. It was the one to the neighborhood. You would think we would have hurriedly reported the leak. Ten-year old boys? Nah! Our thoughts were to have our own fire and cooking place. We would put rocks round the pipe so it could hold our cooking utensils (Which we didn't have). We could cook potatoes and rabbits and all kind of stuff on our own "private" stove.
After secretly gathering our food and pans we moved toward the "big event"; lighting our new stove. Matches were secreted out to the ditch. It was lighting time. Who would do it? That took considerable discussion. It was finally decided it was the property "owner's" responsibility. For the first time we mentioned explosion and a fire out of control. This whole thing was getting a bit scary.
I lit a match and tossed it at the leak. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Now I realized I would have to get down by the leak and stick the match into that escaping gas. I did....and with a tiny puff, a small blue flame appeared! It was perfect. We proceeded with our cooking plans. This was really great to have our own outdoor gas stove! It was summer so we didn't need it for warmth.
Cooking was all done and it had gone great. Now it was time to turn off the gas for the day. There was no control! Blow it out? No way. In fact, the flame had gotten higher than when we first started. In the midst of all this my Dad came home from work in Fort Smith. He saw us and knew we were up to something, so he soon came down to the stove. He quickly began to throw dirt and whatever, in to stop the fire. We then found out how we could have possibly gone on a one-way trip to the stars. It was duly reported and OG&E sent a truck out to replace the leaking pipe. Thus ended our short-lived cooking experience on the main gas pipeline.
I wish it were as simple to stop the incredible oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
