Larry and I just came out from a house party, we had a few to
many, and it was about 3:30 AM. We walked down the sidewalk from the
house, and then we had to cross two planks across an open ditch. The
city had dug an 8x6 ditch that ran two city blocks long. The ditch cut
through everyone's driveway, so all the homeowners had to park on
other side of the street.
I just pulled out, when Larry came up along side me
"Lets Drag"
O! Yea. Larry. I was sitting in my 48 Buick and Larry was in his 57
Chevy.
"Come on John"
"OK, lets do it in reverse" I said. I did not think Larry would go for
it.
"Man, that’s nothing."
"That’s all right Larry, if you want me to tell everyone at school,
you refused to drag me". .
"Lets do it then, John!"
We sort of lined up our back bumpers; the Buick was so much longer.
Yell, when you are ready Larry.
Now!
We took off backwards, Larry was smoking his tires, and I
couldn’t in the Buick, so I jumped ahead of him. In a matter of
seconds Larry caught up with me, and we were going down the street
side by side. I could not tell how fast we were going, since I had my
head turned looking out the back window. The rear end started whipping
back and forth, a couple of times Larry and I came close to hitting
each other.
Then it happened, I went into the ditch backwards. I was going
fast enough, the rear bumper was hooked on the opposite bank, and my
rear wheels were dangling over the open ditch. I opened the car door;
I figured I could swing out on the door to the bank. Larry came
running up to me.
"Are you all right, John?"
Before I could answer, the bank the rear bumper sitting on gave
way. I shut the door, slowly the rear end slid into the ditch, as the
bow of the Buick rose into the air, I felt as if I was the Captain on
the Titanic. Once the Buick settled. I opened the car door and stepped
out. Larry gave me a hand out of the ditch. I dare not call a tow
truck, usually a police car came with the truck, and I could not
afford the tow and a ticket.
Larry and I walked back up the street to the party, to see if
we could get a couple of shovels. We dug the dirt away from the trunk
and bumper, then a guy I did not know, offered the use of his pickup,
to pull the Buick out. We hooked the chain to the front bumper of the
Buick, and then to the rear bumper of the pickup, the rear tires of
the pickup just spinned. About this time, Denny showed up, and started
laughing. Then said, "When you guys are done fooling around, I will go
and get my Uncles old 6x6 Army truck."
We hooked the chain to the truck; Denny put it into compound
low and all wheel drive. Denny and the truck were facing down the
street, so when he started pulling the Buick, it just sled along the
ditch. The one side of the Buick was like a blade on a road grader, it
was cutting the bank. Whoa! Denny.
Denny had moved the Buick about twenty feet down the ditch,
where he stopped were a couple of cars, of guys at the party. We got
them to move their cars, that way Denny could pull the Buick straight
out of ditch. We shortened up the chain and Denny took off and the
Buick came out of the ditch, and Denny ended up in someone’s front
yard. I jumped into the Buick, Larry unhooked the chain from the truck
and Buick and Denny and I took off down the street.
After fact… On Monday after school, Larry and I jumped into Denny's
car to go over and check out the damage to the ditch. There were all
kinds of equipment and construction workers at the site. We did not
stop, we just kept on going.
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