Remember the game we all played in elementary school called, “Telephone?” I’m not sure why, since it had nothing to do with a telephone unless maybe it was thought up back when people had party lines. I remember when there were up to seven families on one party line – it took forever to pick up and find the line unoccupied.
The game began with one person whispering into the next person’s ear, and on down the line of students until the whole class had been whispered to. Then the person on the end stood up and repeated what had been whispered into his/her ear. Afterward, the person to begin the whispering stood and told what the original message was. Usually, it was nothing resembling the message on the far end. I remember one that went something like this, “My mother makes good spaghetti,” and the end message was something like this, “My other takes wood and splits it,” one thing having nothing to do with the other.
I was reminded of all of this late last week when I got a phone call from my youngest daughter who works in Tennessee. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Working in the garden, spreading fertilizer,” I answered. “You’d better stop and go get gas,” she said. “Why?” I asked, the first thing that came into my mind was that we were at war or something like that.
“Haven’t you heard?” she said, as if she couldn’t believe that a person spreading fertilizer might not be plugged into some kind of device, like a cell phone, computer or gadget in an ear.
“No, what’s going on?” that was me, covered in Black Cow bagged manure, and sweating like a stevedore.
And this is exactly what she said, I kid you not…
“It’s all over the news, the biggest gas line in the country has leaked millions of gallons and it’s going all the way to the ocean and into all the rivers and lakes. People here at work (she’s in Tennessee) are worried about not being able to get gas to make it back home to Alabama, or maybe not being able to get back to work tomorrow. They don’t know how long it might be before they get it fixed, maybe three weeks or longer.”
“Wait…gas can’t leak into a lake unless it’s practically on or under it,” I said.
“Well, I’m just telling you what they are saying at work, and on television there was a little old man in a boat that looked for sure like a lake, and he was worried that the gas would kill all the fish,” she said, convinced that the world as we know it was in the midst of a horrendous crisis.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad, I had the radio on in the car a couple of hours ago and no one was talking about it,” I said, but was sort of beginning to worry that there was something wrong, but not sure it was what she had heard.
“Well, call your daddy and let him know,” I said, thinking that he might calm her down.
No such luck.
As soon as we hung up, she started sending me photos on my phone of the gas lines in Spring Hill. It totally had me flashing back to the seventies when gas lines were a mile or more long and gas was sky high when you were lucky enough to get it at all.
So, of course, I fell for it and jumped in the car, drove to the nearest station and …. nothing. No lines, no panicking people, plenty of gas and even the ladies at the checkout desk were puzzled that people in Tennessee were in such a dither.
About that time we all heard this explanation from the television hanging on the wall. “A gas leak in Shelby County, Alabama has resulted in a widespread panic in some areas. The leak, which was capped earlier today, is now back online and there should be no shortage after tankers are refueled and back on the roads.”
It seems that the Colonial Pipeline Company, operator of the largest refined products pipeline system in the U.S. was delayed in fully restarting its main gas line, which fuels the East Coast, after a 6,000-barrel leak in Shelby County, Alabama.
The company shut down its main line and distillate lines on Friday, to repair the leak which apparently has been capped at this time.
According to news reports, the line in question, which runs from Houston, Texas to Greensboro, North Carolina, was delayed in starting up on Wednesday evening and into Thursday morning because of hazardous gasoline vapors at the site.
The latest, according to WBRC FOX6 on Tuesday, Sept. 20:
Colonial Pipeline says its bypass repair is finished and it expects to restart its main gasoline line on Wednesday.
A company spokesman said testing is now being done on the line.
More than 360,000 gallons of gas have spilled out of the pipeline in Helena in rural Shelby County since the leak was discovered on Sept. 9.
Crews have been working around the clock to get fuel to markets, and it will take a few days for the fuel supply chain to fully recover after the line restarts.
The 500-foot bypass was needed to move fuel around the leak.
The gasoline leak has been blamed for gas shortages and higher gas prices across the South.
AAA spokesman Clay Ingram said he expects gas prices to fall in about two weeks.
The state average for gas is $2.01. If a station is charging $2.15 or $2.25, they are overcharging for fuel.
Of course, it didn’t mention the ocean and all the lakes and rivers…but people will believe just about anything…
