A Piece of a Rocket Maybe

A large thud shakes the house Waking up a farmer and his wife in Georgetown, Texas. Did you hear that? She nods. What do you think it was? I think the oak tree came down. They go back to sleep. The next day they find an immovable piece of stainless steel in the yard. Too heavy to budge with a tractor. “I think it’s a piece of a rocket,” she says. He thinks this is hilarious. Tells his friends at McDonald’s. They laugh about it for years. The tale is told over and over. The guffaws are large. Until 1997 when an engineer inspects the steel. It is a tank from an old rocket, he tells the farmer. I imagine it weighs six hundred pounds. “Shh!” the farmer says, “Don’t tell the wife.”