Not a problem, Alfred, I've got to go into town in the morning anyway.
Well, it had been raining all day yesterday, then after midnight we got about a half inch of snow, then the temps nosedived. It was something like 13 degrees outside when I got up and the truck had a layer of ice on it, but the road looked clear.
Alfred didn't have to be at his butcher job until 10, so about 9:30 I jumped in the truck and took off, forgetting my truck phone because I rarely carry it anyway. It's just not one of those things I think about.
Man, the road looked clear in front of my house, but as soon as I topped the rise, I hit ice. I couldn't turn around so I kept going, doing maybe 20 mph, easy on the gas and staying off the brake. About half the trip, I was crabbing, slipping and sliding down the road just like I knew what I was doing.
I get to Alfred's place and he's standing on his porch. When he sees me come around the bend, he steps off his porch and slips on the ice and falls right on his ass. I couldn't help but laugh at him. I tap my brake to stop, start sliding, and put my front wheels right into the ditch. It wasn't a deep ditch but I couldn't get a purchase on the ice to back out.
"Uh huh, who's laughing now?" Alfred asks as I'm standing there trying to figure out how I'm going to get out.
Less than a minute later, here comes a flat bed truck with a roll of hay on the back and a winch on the front. Bubba stops short of my truck, gets out and starts paying out line from his winch, motioning me to come get the hook. I grab it, hook it up to my trailer hitch and Bubba pulls me out. I unhook it, he reels his cable back in, climbs in his truck and leaves. He did not say a single word the entire operation.
"Unfriendly fucker, ain't he?" Alfred asks as he climbs in the truck.
I dropped Alfred off and went to get my errands done, then did the slipping and sliding trip all the way back home. As soon as I walk in the door, before I even have a chance to snivel about the road conditions, Lisa says, "I hate to tell you this, but LadyDoc called and changed my meds. I have prescriptions that need to be picked up today."
Fuuuuuck.....
