It's Been Hot

It was early.



It always was. This time it was really early.



Cap's eyes opened wide as the still, dark world around him had yet to begin it's day. He rolled slowly from bed, so as not to wake Martha, and made his way to the dresser. He quickly pulled his britches on, slipped into his shirt, pulled his boots on at the door while at the same time grabbing his hat from the hat rack and eased out the door. He had been thinking about this moment for a couple of days, and now it was time.



His truck slowly pulled up next to the chicken coop on the ranch and as his headlights washed over the wire of the chicken pen, they came to rest on the door of the coop so he could see his way. He entered the chicken coop with a basket he had retrieved from the rear of the truck and went about his work gathering every egg he could find. He could hardly wait.



Daylight came to find Cap already up and at'em. He was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee, waiting to start the day. He would get to soon enough. Martha walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. She quietly wondered to herself what that pot was doing in the sink, but said nothing. Cap sat a minute longer, smiled to himself, then got up and left.



Later that morning Cap was down at the horse barn when Ely came driving up. Ely was a little late this morning as he had been here recently. A couple times a week, he had made it a habit to gather the eggs from the chicken coop and take them to the men working on the drilling rig that had been running on the ranch. Ely had been by there several times and had kind of made a new buddy with the Drilling Superintendent. Most of the time not all of the eggs were eaten by the ranch hands, so there was always some left. Ely had been taking them by to the drilling guys and they sure did like them.



About that time Ely's cell phone rang in his shirt pocket. He answered it,"Hey Mike!" Mike was the Drilling Super who was Ely's new friend, "Uh, huh....uh, huh. I see...Well I don't know what to say about that...I have to say I've never even heard of that....beats the heck outta me....ok...see you later."



Ely was vexed and it was clear he was trying to wrap his mind around the news. Cap decided to help.



"What was that all about?", asked Cap.



"Well, you know I've been taking eggs to those guys and this morning I took them another batch. They just called and said that when they tried to crack'em open, they were all hard boiled!"



"Well, how in the world did that happen?" said Cap turning away to hide his excitement.



"Heck I don't know...I didn't do anything different than normal. I went to the chicken coop this morning and took'em some straight from there...how do you think that could happen?" wondered Ely truely bewildered.



Cap paused for effect, "...well Ely...Heck, it's been hot outside..." Cap could barely contain himself, but figured he'd let Ely stew a few days before telling him...some practical jokes are all about timing.





Stay Cool,

Walker