A Well-Constructed Well

Early in life, I tried to dig wells for a living, but nature conspired against my success. A farmer hired me to dig a well on a hill, where he thought gravity would allow him to run the water easily down to crops and cattle and to his cabin.

I figured the easiest way to construct the well would be to pile a lot of potholes on top of each other. As it turned out, potholes are quite slippery. During my first attempts at stacking them the well tipped over several times. I finally anchored them with a good straight posthole through the middle, and wrapped them together with a ditch. The whole thing (or should I say "hole thing") filled with water, and for a short time the farmer was happy and I was very proud of that well.

Unfortunately, a tornado came through and blew the hill away. It left the well about 100 feet in the air.

Of course, all the water fell out and the farmer demanded his money back. I pointed out that he picked the location and I was not responsible for acts of God.

Not long after that, I decided to look for another line of work. The well is still up there, but so is that angry farmer, so I don't point it out when I'm in that part of the country.

copyright ©2009, 2011 Laurie J. Anderson, all rights reserved.