Yesterday, I picked the kids up from the bus stop. Usually takes five minutes. On the way I drop off a little girl at her house. 1/4 mile away, but she is our next door neighbor. She lives in a two story house turned apartment complex. Their driveway branches off of the road, wraps around the house and merges back with the road. The land is sloped so when you make the turn around the house you are facing down a hill.
When I made the turn today I found the entire slope covered in a thick sheet of ice. The truck slid and twisted sideways. I managed to break. Front tires resting on the edge of the hill. I got the neighbor girl out and into her apartment. I asked her mother if she had cinders I could put on the ice so I could get traction to back up and straighten out. Having nothing to put down she called her father, Bill, to tow me straight.
When he arrived my children got out of my truck and into the Bill's. A nice new one with a crew cab and 4-wheel drive. The Bill hooked up the chain and told me to get into my truck and put it in drive. I go around the driver's side and start to climb in. The truck slips. And with one hand holding the door and the other on the steering wheel I was dragged over the brink my feet stumbling on the earth so I didn’t trip and end up under the truck.
As it was a hill, not a cliff, the tires continued to make contact and when I finally reached up and pressed the emergency break, the truck stopped.
The only thing going through my mind was "crap!" When I stood, I found that I slid over six feet at a sixty degree angle through a pine tree. I don't remember the pine tree while I was sliding. Finally, I did the only thing there is to do when stuff like that happens. I laughed.
The kids were scared when they saw the truck go over the edge. Until they heard me laughing, then they laughed too. Bill said that the new position of the truck would make it easier to get back on the road. I was just glad I could help.
I am a little sore this morning, and the truck is fine. One new scratch, but you really don't notice.
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