Memoirs of a Worker

A Crazy Story

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I’m going to dedicate this chapter to my friend LeRoy who helped me and was so good to work with.

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This chapter did not actually happen to me but I was involved in a roundabout way. Either way it is a crazy story.

The year was 1976, and the Teton dam had burst that summer in eastern Idaho and completely inundated several communities. Hundreds and hundreds of homes were washed away, railroad tracks stood on end like picket fences. The Snake River turned into a churning, debris filled raging river that resembled chocolate milk full of dead animals, trees, furniture, and lumber from what used to be homes.

Contractors showed up from all over the country to help rebuild shattered lives and dreams and to make a bundle of money. Some local people who owned a hammer and a saw, or had property became contractors and developers overnight. It was an interesting time.

In late autumn of that year, I was contacted by one of these “developers” who wanted Bill, Dennis and me to build some condominiums for him. In the midst of haggling over a price, George told us an unusual story. When Bill, Dennis and I were out of George’s office, the three of us burst out laughing.

“That guy is totally wacko!” Dennis exclaimed. “First he wants us to build these condos and basically work for free, and then he tells us the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I know what you mean,” Bill laughed. “He tells us something like that and swears it’s true. We can’t trust the guy. We’re not doing any work for him!”

I, on the other hand, couldn’t see any problem with George’s story, since I had done some questionable, foolish things in my past. As it worked out, I was out-voted by Bill and Dennis, so we forgot about George and built projects for other people.

So here’s what George had to say that got my partners all agitated.

“A few years ago I was up in Yellowstone with a bunch of friends and we were headed for Old Faithful. When we got to Madison Junction (Madison Junction is 15 miles inside of Yellowstone Park from the west entrance, or halfway to Old Faithful, the highlight of Yellowstone) we saw some buffalo and decided to stop. One of my friends bet me five bucks that I couldn’t sneak up on a buffalo that was lying down, and give its tail a good hard yank.”

Bill and Dennis looked at George like he was crazy. In fact, I think Dennis even said, “You’re nuts!” I happened to be enthralled with the story and encouraged George to carry on.

George continued. “Hey five bucks is five bucks, so I took him up on his bet. I sneaked up through the sage brush and grass, and got right next to a huge bull buffalo. I looked around to make sure I had a good escape route, took a deep breath and then grabbed his tail.”

“There ain’t no way that happened,” Dennis belted out.

“Oh it did,” George’s voice went high and his eyes grew big. “But before I could let go of the tail, the buffalo jumped up and whirled around, and I hung on for dear life! The buffalo was so agile and so fast, all I could do was hang on and scream. The buffalo spun around so speedily that I slammed into its side. It then turned around the other way to see what hit it and I banged into that side.”

I must say that the three of us were laughing at the yarn George was telling. He told it so well that I even had to wipe the tears out of my eyes a couple of times.

“So how did you get out of that predicament without it killing you?” I asked.

“Well, it’s a funny thing. From out of nowhere an Indian showed up and got the buffalo’s attention. When the buffalo started to chase the Indian, the Indian hollered for me to let go of the tail and I did. Then the Indian ran off through the trees with the buffalo on his heels, and that’s the last I ever saw of either of them.”