Free Petrogypsies by Rory Harper Page A

Tiny’s got them sewed up, too,” I said.
    “Don’t even think like that, Henry Lee. The son of a bitch can’t stay ahead of us all the way.”
    There wasn’t a single Cementer, or a Mud Mixer, or, most importantly, a Casing Critter, around. We wandered around in the dark for a while, and then finally gave up.
    Then we realized we didn’t know which tent Zeke slept in. We didn’t want to wake up anybody if it could be helped. So we wandered around the camp some more, hoping to find some structure with his name on it, or directions, or something.
    After a useless half-hour of that, we were near the entrance to the camp. Doc leaned on the fender of Mr. Mooney’s pickup while he rolled a smoke and lit up.
    “I give up, Henry Lee. Let’s go wake up somebody and find out where the hell Zeke hangs his hard hat.”
    Right then, a Casing Critter came trundling up the road to the camp’s entrance. Doc yelped and jumped out in front of it, waving his arms and shouting. It spooked and jumped around some, but managed to restrain itself from stomping him into strawberry preserves.
    After a few seconds, a couple of heads stuck out on top of the Casing Critter. “You hit another cow, Lady Jane?” A sleepy voice came from near the front. “You know the rule—you kill it, you eat it.”
    “Star!” Doc shouted. “We’d like to do a little business!”
    “Doc? We been up almost four days. Sabrina’s about in a coma. You come back tomorrow afternoon.”
    “Can’t wait, honey. We’re in a bind. Lost circulation.”
    Her face was silhouetted in the light thrown by the headlights of a pickup coming down the Farm and Market. Made my heart hurt.
    “Aw, damn.” She turned to the others who’d woken. “Go back to bed, ladies. I’ll dicker us a deal and line up some transport for the casing. We all oughta be able to get a couple of hours sleep before we gotta set up.”
    She slid down Lady Jane’s side and strode over to us. “Nothing personal, Doc, but this is gonna cost you.” She must have been real tired, because her zipper was zipped all the way up.
    “Hi, Star,” I said.
    “Howdy, Henry Lee,” she said, without any expression. “Now, about this deal, Doc.”
    Doc opened his mouth just as the vehicle that had been coming down the road slowed and turned in. A shiny red pickup with a crew cab pulled around Lady Jane’s side. The brights were in our eyes. All I could see was three figures climbing out.
    “When it rains it pours,” Doc muttered beside me.
    Yeah, it was Tiny and his goons.
    “Well, well!” Tiny said. “Looks like we got a party here. Mind if we invite ourselves?”
    “Just doing some business,” Doc said.
    “Me, too. I heard Lady Jane was done with that production string we sent her on, and come to put her on standby for another deal we got coming up.”
    “We was here first, Tiny.” By this time, Tiny had come right up to us and was practically in Doc’s face. He was an inch or so taller than me, so he towered over Doc. His goons weren’t midgets either.
    “Fine. I’ll do some business with you tonight, too. ’Less you still got your usual case of the yellows.”
    “I’ll take you up after the well gets made, Tiny. We just come in to get a Casing Critter lined out.”
    Tiny made his left hand into a fist. I tensed up, but Doc didn’t move. “Too bad.” Tiny cracked the knuckles on his left hand. “All the Casing Critters is on standby for Hydroco business.”
    “Lady Jane ain’t on standby.” The interruption came from Star. She moved to try to step in between Doc and Tiny, but there wasn’t room. Tiny put a hand on her shoulder.
    “You don’t do business with nobody but me, long as you’re in this field. I been giving Mooney and Doc enough rope to hang themselves, and now I got ’em by the short and curlies. Mooney’s hocked up to his eyebrows. In four days, his bank loan comes due. He ain’t gonna get an extension, and without a producing well, he won’t get no