Sleeping ever so soundly one Saturday morning, the phone rang. It sounded like a banshee from hell. Jumping out the bed, running into the jamb of the bedroom door, then tumbling over the Pekinese, picking myself up off the floor while the dog was biting my toes, and grabbing the receiver from its cradle; I was finally able to yell "HELLO."
"Hi, did I wake you?" said a strangely familiar voice on the other end.
"Oh no" said I; "I had to answer the phone anyway"
Then there was a silence at the other end. I repeated "Hello???"
The voice, almost a whisper said "Glen, this is Mike."
My eyes darted over to the clock on the wall and through my blurry sight it looked as though it said 8:00. Surely, I hadn’t slept the whole day away. I had went to bed at 4 a.m. after shutting down the drive-in and then cleaning the place up. Surely, I hadn’t slept fifteen hours and now Mike was calling to let me know I was late for that nights gig. My God it seemed like I had just fallen to sleep. Then I happened to look outside and saw a great big yellow ball in the sky.
"Sorry, that I woke you up" said the voice; "but I need some help."
"This is Mike?"; I asked.
Again the voice was soft and barely audible, sort of like when you can barely hear a fly buzzing around your head. "Yes."
"Thats okay Mike, I had to get up sometime today."
"I hope your not mad, but I have a problem and you were the first person I could think of."
Now you have to understand that Mike and I could depend on each other at anytime, day or night. I wasn’t really angry with the call, just annoyed that I couldn’t sleep through all the damn ringing.
"Whats the problem buddy?"
"Welllllll…….last night on the way home, I lost control of the car. It slide off the gravel road and I ended up in some farmers field . The ground was still pretty wet and I got the car stuck in the mud. Think you could help me pull it out?"
"Sure…doesn’t sound like much of a problem. I’ll be over to your house within the hour to pick you up."
"Okay…Thanks Glen"
"No problem."
After kicking the dog and throwing on some clothes, I jumped into my Chevy and hauled butt to Mikes house. After picking Mike up and driving 20 miles to the farm; all seemed to be well.
Finally, arriving at the area that Mikes car was at; we got out of the car. There it was with mud half way up the wheels and surrounded by puddles that looked like the thousand lakes of Minnesota. After we waded out to his Chevy, I gave the car the once over and slowly looked at Mike. Now the look was somewhat between being quizzical and starring daggers at the same time.
"Okay Mike, get the rope or chain out of your trunk and we’ll pull it out."
"Don’t you have one?"
"Ahhh Mike, perhaps you could have told me this before. NO!! I don’t have one."
"Well Glen why don’t you push, while I give it the gas and we’ll get her out."
"Why don’t I just pick the car up and throw it out on the road?" I said with my voice raising with every word. I don’t think we can push it out.
Not a moment too soon, for my temperature was rising and I think my eyes were about to pop out of my head, I know there must of been smoke beginning to come out of my ears. A farmer came by riding on his tractor. He saw us and a slight smile and a chuckle he said "Something wrong boys?" We both just looked at each other, then him, then the car and then back to him. "Ah… yeah" I said while thinking to myself, what gave you the first clue.
"Want me to pull that thing out of there for ya?" He said while grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Sure would be appreciated", said Mike.
The farmer backed the tractor up, put a tow chain on it, then saying to Mike. "Hook the other end to the car." Mike did this with an enthusiasm that I had never seen before. He hooked it up and waved at the farmer to begin pulling. The car didn’t budge and then all of a sudden the front bumper came flying off. The farmer began laughing hysterically. Mike and I did not see the humor it.
"Put the chain on the frame boy" said the farmer still laughing, and wiping the tears from his eyes with a big red handkerchief.
After Mike hooked the chain again, the farmer started pulling. This time the front wheels of the tractor rose about a foot off the ground. Still the car didn’t budge.
"You got the parking brake on boy?" asked the farmer with a quizzical look on his face.
"Hold on sir I said "I’ll go and check."
Wading through the mud and water, I got to the car and checked the brake. "No sir its not on."
Once again the farmer began to pull, once again the front tires rose off the ground and the back tires began to spin. Once again the farmer stopped.
"Boys, it looks like your car is stuck forever."
Just then, Mike got a look over his face like he just discovered what the meaning of life was. He yelled out, "wait a minute, I got an idea." Then he explained, "lets try it one last time. Glen and I will push, while you pull."
So Mike and I waded out to the car. I went to the back, Mike opened the passenger door, put one hand on the steering wheel and one on the door jamb.
"Okay..Go" he yelled and the car pulled out ever so easily.
"Amazing ," I said "how did that work?"
"The car was in park" Mike whispered to me so the farmer wouldn’t hear "so I just slipped it into neutral. "
Ah Mike…why did we come out here to push then?"
Well, I didn’t want us to look stupid," said Mike proudly.
"Mike, I think we are beyond that."
I went to the farmer and asked if we could give him something for his time. He just looked at me and said "You boys already paid me by giving me a good laugh. You boys should be on comedy T.V." He then drove away laughing and having a good time.
Mike put the bumper in his car and thanked me for bringing him out. He jumped in his car and took off with mud flying every which way. I drove back home to finally get some sleep.