Stuck

That's a first. Stuck in my own driveway. Well, in the gutter just beyond it.

I backed out and turned, thought I'd check my mail. Should have walked to do it, because my car got stuck. Alyce about wore herself out pushing, but we got nowhere. She said the right wheel was spinning, but the left wheel was not moving--which meant it wasn't touching the ground. A clue.

I sent her across the street to Contas' for help. Jan said to try laying down branches from the neighbor's cedar tree, put them behind the wheel. The branches were in the street, having been blown off the tree by a recent big wind.

Good idea. If it worked, I could just back out of there and drive down the street. It didn't work.

Ron came over, brought his shovel and dug around the front wheels. Then he and Alyce pushed while I eased on the gas. No luck.

Ron went back and got blocks of wood. More digging, more pushing. Nope. Went back and got a burlap bag and a big rectangle piece of rubber. The bag behind one wheel, rubber behind the other. Same routine. No. Ron kept saying he didn't want to push very much on the front of the car because it's plastic. I think he said it three times.

Okay, okay, it's plastic. I still like it.

Alyce said they could push on the frame of the car because the windows were open. They tried. No way. That's when we knew for sure the car was high-centered, and Ron looked under the car and said, "It's up on two blocks of ice." Then Ron said he helped a guy last year who was high-centered, and it left the whole bottom of his plastic car on the ice.

Great. That worried me a little. I think I felt a little bit insulted, too. I mean how many times does he have to say my car is made of plastic? Get over it, Carol. He is working hard for you.

I thought maybe I'd have to lock up the car, leave it, and hope. Not sure for what. An ice melt seemed unlikely, especially under the car. It was cold. But it would look strange, my car sitting skeewampus in the street at end of my own driveway.

Jan, Ron's wife, appeared with a bucket. "I've got boiling water," she called. "She's got boiling water," Alyce shouted.

"Okay," said Ron, "but it might just freeze." It was cold--I said that--about 26 degrees. "We'll have to hurry."

Alyce picked her way over the ice and got the bucket. She poured half the water under the right wheel. "Now hurry," Ron said, and Alyce slid over to pour under the left wheel. More pushing, rocking, easing on the gas.

Guess what. It worked. The whole process only took about half an hour. That's all.

Ron gathered his wood blocks, his burlap bag, his strip of rubber and went home. Alyce cleaned up the cedar branches and picked up the mail. We left to run errands and decided when we got back we would give them the jello salad I had just made.

Good deal. Good Alyce. Good Ron. Good Jan.