oyuki

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Twas the night before

As I lay athwart the couch resting from illness on this Christmas Eve 2005, I almost missed something that happened practically on my doorstep. It has been a miserable day with cloudy skies, cool temperatures, and constant rain, and to top things off I too have physically been feeling under the weather with nausea, no appetite, and a splitting headache.

My first inkling something was afoot was when I heard a faint noise outside and alas it twas not the clatter of tiny hoofs on my roof signaling Sinter Klaus had come to visit. Far too early. So as I slowly sprung to my feet to look out a window, what does my aching eyes see? But out in the wet darkness the rotating amber lights of a tow truck at the intersection.

As I hastily donned a jacket to go over my t-shirt and jeans to protect myself from the chill, I had to wonder what transpired. Matching actions to thought, I went out to see what I could do. So I walked the wet tarmac following the newly painted white stripe marking road edge to the intersection.

When I got there it seemed the tow-truck driver had things well in hand while the woman driver stood to one side. He already had the tow cable attached to where the woman's car had come to rest. The intersection is T-shaped and the woman had come down the rise to where that street dead-ends into the one I live on. So blissfully did she go sailing off the road and into thankfully empty wet pasture. And even more blessedly once the car was back on asphalt and just a little banging with his tools, the tow-truck driver had the scraping of the radiator fan almost eliminated. And once he slipped a bit of styrofoam atop the radiator shroud he carefully closed the hood and it locked.

As the woman climbed into her car we exchanged mutual Merry Christmas salutations and away she drove off into the wet night. The tow-truck driver was next to bid me a Merry Christmas and I wished him one also as he pressed a business card into my hand.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone. :)

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