Just A Little More
By Bruce Walker
“You can hear it in their voices sometimes and in their delivery that they are sincerely hurting for the pain that they put their own family through,” said Mr. Willett, the director of the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, TX. “I saw the strangest thing one night. You got this little wall here like this, separating those two witness rooms. One night I saw the daughter of the inmate and the daughter of the victim, and they were both leaning against that wall. They were that far apart and didn’t even know it.” Two daughters, one of the victim and the other of the guilty- separated by a three inch wall- one was telling her father good bye and the other praying the inmate’s death would ease the grief.
In a blinding snow storm an 18 wheeler careened out of control sliding sideways and then backwards- down a busy interstate… the truck got stopped and the visibly shaken driver stepped out into thin air…grasping the door handle he pulled himself back in and slowly opened the door on the other side and climbed out…..when the storm cleared later that day, the trucker surveyed the scene- the guard rail was gone and the cab of the truck was dangling over a 300 foot drop. Just 3 inches more and he would have plummeted to his death.
Outside of Pampa TX is the 3 inch oil well. A big oil company drilled down five to six thousand feet and came up dry. They took their tax loss and moved on. A few years later an old preacher had a strong feeling after prayer that oil was still down there. He bought the oil well for a symbolic $1 and scrapped together $10k, hired a “wild catter” who drilled less than 30 minutes and oil sprayed out the top of the rig. 3 more inches was all it took. An old bluegrass song sums it up, “Help won’t help tomorrow, if you need help today, hang on a little longer”. Help is at the end of whatever line you are travelling down….you never know when 3 more inches is all it takes. Don’t give up!!
Bruce Walker Storyteller-Humorist......Funny with a Message