Grandfather

I was thinking today about my grandfather, who was old as dirt, way older than any of my friend's grandfathers. Man was out in the middle of West Texas living in this beat up old house with no electricity, no running water, nothing. My pops would try to reason with him, like, “Hey, I can get a guy out here and hook you up,” and my granddad would go, “Fuck electricity. Electricity is for pussies.” So my pops would try again. “Okay then, what about water?” And basically my granddad was like, “Hell no.”(He could cuss the paint off a truck door.) That was his whole philosophy right there. No electricity, no water, no problem, apparently. And if the windmill wasn’t turning, no water unless one went outside to the pump that just stood there right beside the windmill and started getting it done and guess whose job it was to go outside and go after that pump like the whole family had a score to settle. Me. They’d send me out there to pump that thing for what felt like half my natural life, just heaving on it till your arms were about to fall off, waiting for water to finally cough its way out. This was around 1987, which makes it even crazier to me. (So I guess he's like a... He's like a hillbilly, except he doesn't live in the hills or the hauler. He lives in the sand. Would it be like a sandbilly? )This old timer is out there in the wilderness growing green beans, rejecting all of those idiots(except he didn't say "idiot" I can't say what he said it's too vulgar) from town, and running the whole place like a one man protest against comfort. And honestly, I was thinking today maybe he had a point. Even if the lights are off, the water’s being difficult, and the whole setup looks like a very punishing from my perspective, it can still be a good day. I don't think it's good to just live how you want and tell the rest of the world to go to hell.(at this level) I'm not condoning this just witnessed it. He wasn't a happy person. I honestly try to avoid him most of the time.

 This is a representation of my grandfather's house. It's not my grandfather's house, because his house isn't there now. It's just sand. This is as close as the pictures I could find. It's pretty close.

This is a representation of the water pump. This isn't the water pump. This is what it looked like. The water pump isn't there anymore. It's gone. It rusted. And now there's just sand. It's pretty cool that nature will take it back if you're not using it.☮︎