The Day Bruco Lost an Egg
by
Gary L. Clark
Reprint from the 1998 Fall Roundup
One day, Bruco, our Italian Caterpillar— which really is the Monolithic Dome factory where we manufacture Airforms — lost an egg. Actually, losing this egg wasn’t so much Bruco’s fault as ours.
Here’s the story: It was a fun day at Monolithic Constructors, Inc. — not the usual day spent entirely making Airforms, which are then used to give shape to Monolithic Dome structures.
On this fun day, we had a special order to fill — an OMEGAball. Design specifications demanded that this OMEGAball be made of the same fabric as our Airforms with a 12' diameter. That’s right. Our OMEGAball would be 12' high and 12' wide.
What do you do with that size ball? It’s a bit hard to dribble, pass, or even kick. But, it pushes extremely well! So, the best thing to do with an OMEGAball is push it. Each of two teams try to push this giant ball past, over, through, or around the opposing team’s goal line.
Once we built the OMEGAball, we decided to test it. The best way to test it, would be to play a game — right? So, we inflated our OMEGAball and played a quick game, on the grass surrounding Bruco. The OMEGAball passed its test with flying colors; we did not. We had fun, but exhausted ourselves in just a few minutes.
We rested, then went into Bruco to do some serious work. Naturally, as boys will, we left our OMEGAball outside.
Then the wind came up. Can you imagine what happens to a 12' ball when the wind catches it? That’s right — away it went.
As it happens, Bruco stands just off a busy Interstate Highway — I-35E. And, of course, that’s where our wind-propelled OMEGAball went. Judy South, David B. South's wife, was one of the first to spot it. She immediately phoned and reported a run-away ball rolling down the Interstate, creating quite a distraction. It looked as if Bruco had laid an egg and then lost it!
We left Bruco on the run and began chasing his lost Caterpillar Egg. But we had little chance of matching the wind’s speed and catching the runaway egg — until a sympathetic trucker lent us a hand. He stopped the OMEGAball with his truck, and saved us an exhaustive, possibly unsuccessful chase.
Four grown men, walking along I-35E and looking rather sheepish, then pushed the OMEGAball back to the factory and inside Bruco.
To this day, truckers still drive by and honk at Bruco. I hear they are trying to scare Bruco off the Interstate. I believe it all started the day Bruco lost an egg.
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