The Ice Storm

It took a little searching about to finally find the heavily snow covered headlights.

A person had attempted to enter the secondary campus entrance and was wedged in nose first into the snow bank.

Troy zipped himself up and got out to inspect the situation. The passenger window, which was facing Troy, rolled down to reveal a worried lady.

“Tough night turned horrible…” greeted Troy, aware of his nerdy choice of words.

“I was hoping someone with a truck could rescue me” the lady replied while shivering.

She was not dressed for the weather. Best Troy could guess, she was returning from a corporate job or event.

“You S10 doesn’t stand a chance with all this ice…” Troy stated the obvious.

“I tried to take it slow, I don’t understand what happened to me” she continued.

Stepping back to review the situation, Troy saw that the small Chevy truck had punched through the first layer of snow bank but had not had enough momentum to get to the second, let alone clear one.

“Can’t cry over spilled milk, no one would have dared hit this wall fast enough to clear… let me get my shovel” Troy explained.

“No… no… you’ll be here all night… do you have a friend with a truck?” the lady asked.

“Yeah, but he’s too lazy to get out in this weather” Troy replied as he returned to his car.

The lady watch with curious interest as Troy picked a random spot in the snow bank to do some work.

Rolling down the window once more, the lady called out to Troy… “shouldn’t you be shoveling around my tires or something?”

“Maybe” Troy said as he suppressed a laugh as he thought about how his actions looked.

It didn’t take Troy too long to break open a patch of ice wide enough for his Civic to fit. Then, he made his way over to the S10 and removed some of the snow around the tires.

“Can I go now?” the lady asked.

Troy bit his lip and frowned as he looked from front to back of the truck. The truck was only rear drive and had nothing in the flatbed, save some snow and ice that had fallen in. It would be pointless, but it would be fascinating to watch.

“I don’t think you’ll get out without serious muscle help” Troy admitted.

“I can try…” the woman’s voice trailed back into worry tones.

“As fun as that may be, let me try something else first” Troy instructed.

The woman looked a bit puzzled. “Fun?”

Troy shrugged his shoulders and hurried back to his car. The cold was starting to cut through his coat and he wanted to hurry and get to Sally.

Re-positioning his car, Troy surveyed the street before attempting to cross the snowbank.

The sound of spinning tires made Troy pause.

The lady must have thought Troy was giving up and driving away, as he had pulled back a ways with his Civic.

Listening, he could tell the woman was very timidly trying to rock the car and not spin the tires too much. The way the motor bounced up and down the bottom end of the revs, Troy figured the woman was very nervous and worried while determined. There was a hint of panic floating on the edges of her efforts.

Shaking his head, Troy cleared his mind of the visual images of the woman coaxing the truck to go. He had to remain clear and focused.

Swinging the Civic into the oncoming traffic side of the road, Troy built up a bit of speed. A quick handbrake tug, Troy induced a slide as he dipped the clutch. The car started to slide and then Troy goosed the gas to punch through the snow bank.

Keeping the tach at 3 grand, Troy held his breath as the tires clawed and shredded the ice as the Civic slowly made it’s way across the snowbank.

Once cleared, Troy exhaled. That snowbank was much harder than he expected. Thanking himself for having had the car in second gear, instead of first, he made a mental note to tell the lady not to be so timid once he had her tied to his car.

“How in the world!?!” exclaimed the woman as she saw Troy approach with the tow strap he had secured to the back of his Civic.

“My Civic is only a Civic in appearance. Everything below is custom” smiled Troy.

“Oh I bet. You muscled through that without making your motor scream… how?” an excited lady cheerfully applauded.

“Power without control is just as bad as timidly restrained power” Troy joked.

“Are you saying I’m too timid with my truck?” a surprised lady asked.

“I’m saying… when I start to pull you, I’m not going to be gentle and could use a bit of your power, but not all of it” Troy explained.

“Oh… um… OK… I can do that” instant shyness took over her voice.

Once the truck was secured, Troy worked on removing more snow and ice from around the truck and in front of the truck.

The woman watched in growing admiration as Troy worked in a very calculated way to clear a path for the truck.

“OK” a winded Troy said by the driver’s window… “I’m going to place some slack in the rope. When I honk, I’m going to give you a very hard tug. Just be steady on the gas but don’t floor it”

“Oh sweetie, you didn’t have to work so hard to help me” the lady said with a blush.

Ignoring her comment, Troy made his way carefully back to his car. The weather was now dumping a lot of ice on top of the pile of snow that stood on top of more ice. This tow would require a miracle.

Troy removed his boots and placed his sneakers, which were in the back seat, on. He’d need complete control of his pedals to make this miracle happen.

Carefully backing up, Troy made a mental plan of how he’d tug and rock the truck free. Fiddling with his settings, Troy adjusted the drive-line and power-train for the best control of power delivery.

The studs would quickly find their way to the asphalt. He didn’t want to grind them down against that and cause more harm than good by kicking up broken asphalt on the lady’s S10.