Reservoir pt3 - Tales of the Wrench

The airplane hadn't quite stopped shaking
When a new noise rushed in
Sounding like a waterfall
Hydraulic fluid began pouring out of the aircraft
Dumping on the floor at an alarming rate

I grabbed my radio and yelled like a panicked French hen
"Stop it! stop it! just make it stop!"

He was quick to reply
"You silly bastard, you have the off switch!"

I punched the off switch as fast as I could
The whine of the pressure pump inside the mule stopped
But the sound of the waterfall did not
At least not right away

It still rushed out
All over the floor
From the left main landing gear bay area
Covering the floor with over 100 gallons of Skydrol fluid

I was in full panic mode
Something had happened
And I'd had something to do with it

I grabbed the speedy dry barrel on wheels
And pushed it towards the spill
Dumping it on the floor
Trying to keep it from getting to the drains
It would be hell to clean it out of those pits

A couple other people working in the hangar came over
Dragging a second barrel of speedy dry
Following my example
They tipped theirs over too
And started using the push brooms to build little dikes
Containing the mess to one large area at least

My partner had arrived by then
Having shut down the plane and unplugged power
He took one look at me
And told me to go get some more stuff

Somehow
When he said 'stuff'
It translated to 'spill kit' in my head
Which is a plastic barrel full of special absorbent pads
Only to be used in an emergency
Which I considered this to be

I drove over to a different hangar looking for a kit
Spotting a supervisor
I ran over to him and asked
"Where is the Spill Kit?"

He stopped in his tracks
And looked at me strangely
"Why do you need one?"
He asked cautiously

I hesitated
Due to my assumed guilt in the matter
"We, um, spilled some hydraulic fluid over in hangar three"

He narrowed his eyes at me a little
"How much, exactly?"

I fessed up sadly
"I don't know, however much is in the plane and the mule combined"

"Jesus Christ! Just go get more bags of speedy dry
I'll meet you over there"
And off he went
Swearing to himself
Though I imagined it to be at me mostly

Reservoir pt2 - Tales of the Wrench

As the needle on my gauge hovered at 3000 psi
I announced to my partner over the radio

"3000 psi"

He called back, "Cycling the flaps
I'll let you know when to check the angles"

The flaps on the Douglas DC-8 slowly retracted
My hydraulic mule whining in protest
At the additional load being put on it
As the large actuators sucked and pushed
Against the volume and pressure of the fluid
That pumped like lifeblood
Through the thumb sized tubing
That routed in around and through the aircraft's skeleton

My hydraulic mule
Sitting just behind the wing
And just to the left of the fuselage
With it's thick
Arm sized rubber lines leading to the plane
Where they are attached near the left main landing gear
To large fittings next to the hydraulic reservoir

The mule pushed the fluid
Making the show move along
The flaps cycle up
Into the retracted position
Taking about thirty seconds to get there

My partner calls out
"Coming back down"

The flaps start to move again
Extending aft and starting to angle down
I am transfixed by the mechanical motion
Idly watching my pressure guage
To make sure it maintained near 3000
Keeping a watch on the flaps
Making sure everything moved without a problem

The flaps reached the bottom of their travel again
My partner called out again
"Going back up, then we'll start taking measurements"

I open the plastic box I have set on top of the mule
Inside is the digital protractor
I can't wait to use it
All the new toys seemed cool
It wouldn't be boring yet for years

As the flaps reached the halfway point
Between extension and retraction
I was ripped from my thoughts

An explosion rocked the aircraft on it's shoring

Reservoir pt1 - A Tale of the Wrench

I want to tell you that my voice was steady
That I sounded strong
That I took it like a man
That I kept calm and carried on

But I can't

It was a hot day in August
We were working in Hangar Three
An ancient Douglas DC-8
Stood upon shoring
In to the facility for extended maintenance

It was training day for me
Just having recently transferred departments
I was going to get to play with some equipment

"Just have your radio on
And press the power button to start the motor
Then adjust this knob until it hits three thousand"

Pounds per square inch that is

"Don't do anything until I tell you though, ok?"

It sounded so simple
Performing flap rig checks
Just fire up the hydraulic mule
Run the flaps up and down a few times
Then use the digital protractor to check the angles
At several different stop positions

It doesn't get much simpler
A fine way to kill a few hours
On a sunny day in August

But as with most things
There is always just a little bit more to it
Than you think at first

And Murphy
With his silly little Law
Was lurking around the corner
Ready to laugh as something went wrong

We plugged in the ground power cable
My partner going upstairs
To nestle himself into the cockpit
With all it's 1950's era controls and dials
My radio crackled
At the same time I could hear the inverters fire up
As the aircraft power came online

"Ok, fire up the mule and give me pressure"

I pressed the big red button
The heavy duty electric pump
Buried inside the mule came to life
With a loud whine
LIke a huge vacuum cleaner
But without the rushing air sound

I grasped the knob
Turning it clockwise
Watching as the pressure gauge inched upwards
To the operating pressure
Of 3000 psi

Trans

Like a wanderer I roamed
Too far away from my home
Upon a ribbon of highway
Named most appropriately TransCanada

A young transgender
Or at least that's how I thought of myself
Of neither the pussy nor cock clan
Sort of out on my own
To find out who I am

Coming over a rise
On a hot day in July
I was transfixed
My mind transported
My body transmutated

Into solid stone

As Lot's wife to salt upon looking back
At things best left forgotten
So there I sat
A living soul
Cast in granite

For a thousand years I stood
Watching winter become spring
Become summer then fall
Winter always following
As it should after all

Until one day
That thousand years later
Or one thousand seconds
Either or, it doesn't matter

I was transformed
From the not knowing who I was
To the knowing
And from that did flow
Everything that means anything
Thoughts taking on a healthy glow
Transfigured to fit
Into the place
That I now know

My niche
My hideaway
On a lonely granite outcrop
By the great green grass sea

Dark Temptress

I'm tempted
Oh so very tempted
To eat you up
I love you so

Just like from that book
With the island
And the monsters
And the boy

But this is no book
And there you sit
Taunting me
When you know how frail I can be

Especially about you
And your kind

I don't care if that makes me sound awful
I have my particular tastes
And you are just a reminder
That I have some favorites out there

I'm in my armchair
Watching television
But I can see you
Out of the corner of my eye

Ten yards away
Across the pea green shag carpet
With the cigarette holes
And piss stains
From decades of use and abuse

Teasing me with yourself
Flaunting what you know you have
Weaving a spell
That beckons me
Like the wispy grey finger
From a Warner Brothers cartoon
Stretching from you to me
And saying, "Come hither"

I cannot resist you
Thou foul temptress
Sweet seductress
Of it's own volition
My body rises from it's chair
My brain having no control
Not in this situation

Inside I'm screaming
"Nooooo! Stop! This isn't right!"
But my mouth is watering
Already tasting your silky smoothness

Stopping briefly at the middle drawer
My mysteriously autonomous hands
Pull out what they need
I sit before you
A prisoner to your charms

I angle my chair so I can still see my show
And I dig into you with my fork

I'm not disappointed
Chocolate triple overload
Overcomes my senses
Quiets my brain's protests
Tramples my convictions

Before I can blink
I've eaten all of you

Chocolate cake
I declare you the winner

Seven Heavenly Virtues - Humility

Mistress puts one four inch heel
Firmly on my back
While I use my teeth

Never my hands!

To remove the buckle on the other shoe
Grasping the toe of the shoe
Within my mouth
Tugging it off
Her sore tired feet

Mistress tugs on my chain
Attached to the collar
Tight on my neck
To remind me to get on with it
She's impatient
She's spent

So I toss the shoe aside
Shivering with the delicious roughness
Of her heel
Persistently digging into my spine

Carefully I use my tongue
To clean between her toes
Kissing each one
Knowing she loves how that goes

I bathe her whole foot eventually
In tender submissive ministration
It's what she and I love
It's one of my daily acts of humiliation

Wait, what?
This was about "Humility"??
Well, that's an entirely different animal!

Modesty
Bravery
Reverence
Altruism

At least I had the reverence part down.....

Submitting modestly
To my Mistress' brave dominance
I show reverence to her body and spirit
With altruistic acts of love

With my Mistress
It's all about the Humility

Seven Heavenly Virtues - Kindness

"Be kind"
Says the anthropomorphized videotape
"Rewind"

Kind of like a prostitute
Asking you to set her up
For the next John
Because it's only polite after all

You've had your fun
And now you're done
So won't you put the seat back down
So that sister doesn't fall?

It's a kindness

Helping old ladies across the street
Tipping the wait staff
Pressing flesh when you greet
It keeps society lubricated

Like a high class condom
Torn fresh from it's foil package
You know
The one with the face of your favorite Pokemon

Some kindness is better than others

Is it a kindness to put old Rover down
When he's lived his life fully
And can't raise his head to say hello?
Maybe he'd say, "Wait! What's your hurry?"

Maybe Rover doesn't want to go
Much like some humans
Who get plugged into machines
Fearful of the death on the other side

But we judge it a kindness
To euthanize the family pet
As much as we loved them
Another one we can get

Down to the Rover store
For a brand new model
A little fuzzy run around
Hey look at me I'm doing the poop on your floor waddle

A kindness
To put the new little Rover
In with old Aunt Hilda
Plugged into her machines
Not ready to let go
To remind her
That not all of life is pain

That sometimes
It's good
To have a brand new puppy again