Cattle Gap

In the late 60’s my grandparents moved to an oilfield town with their two children. My grandfather in the oilfields in that town. The family rented a ranch style house. The house was sat back about ¼ of a mile from the main road. On Sundays the family went to church. At church they were taught about Jesus and never to lie. In Sunday school, the children were taught to ask Jesus if they needed help, and he would always answer.

When my Uncle Jerry was about 10 years old and in the 5th grade, his sister Karen starts 1st grade. This is going to be the 1st time that she will be going to school, so their father gives Jerry the job of looking out for her. They walk to the end of their driveway where their ride will pick them up. At the end of the driveway is a cattle gap. (A cattle gap is made out oilfield pipe. With the pipe running long ways, about twelve pipes with three inches between that is welded to a pipe on both ends laid flat between two ditches. The ditch is about 12 inches deep.) They had to go across the cattle gape to get to the main road. Karen at this time had never walked across the cattle gap before in her life. Jerry walks across the gap with no problem. Now it is Karen’s turn. She looks at it and is so scared, but there is no other way. Jerry comes back over and gets her by her hand and starts helping her over. Karen’s foot slides in. She is in a mess with one foot on the ground in between the pipes. The pipes come up to her thigh. Her thigh is now jammed in between the pipes with no way to simple pull her out. She screams, but no body hears her but Jerry and she knows that there is no way that Jerry will be strong enough to bend the pipe because oil field pipe is very strong. Therefore, she says, “Jesus please help us”. Jerry then squats down, takes hold of the pipe with his hands, and spreads the two pieces of pipe apart. They then thank Jesus for his help.

When their ride comes, they go on to school as if nothing has happened. That night Marcus, their father, asks about Karen’s first day of school. She shows him her leg and then tells him how she fell in the cattle gap and how Jerry bent the pipe to get her out. Marcus calls for Jerry. He then reminds both of them what will happen if they lie to him. Marcus ask Jerry what happen to Karen’s leg. Jerry tells him the same story as Karen told. Now Marcus is getting upset because he believes they are lying. He works with oil field pipe almost every day and knows that it is impossible for a 10-year-old to bend the pipe. However, he does not feel like walking to the cattle gap to check their story.

Marcus gets the whole family up early and they all go to the cattle gap. On the way to the gap, he tells them if they lied, he would teach them a lesson they would never forget. At the gap, they all get out of the car and Karen shows her father where she fell in. Marcus looks at the bent pipe. He replies by saying, “Something sure spread the pipes apart”. He then turns to Jerry and asks, “how did you spread the pipe apart”. “Well,”, said Jerry, “I got scared that I would get a spanking for letting her get hurt and I had no other choice but to make the space bigger and Karen asked Jesus for help. So, I guess Jesus gave me the strength to pull the pipes apart.” Marcus looked again at the pipe and back at Jerry while shaking his head. Marcus bent down and tried to pull the pipe apart. You know what? He could not. They all went back to the house. Ann said something had to have helped Jerry and Karen. Karen now knew that Jesus would answer her prayers as she had been taught in Sunday school. She was surprised that her parents did not understand how the pipes were pulled apart. She wondered why her parents did not they were remembering the lessons from church.