The Pull

The snow plow returned as they finished shoveling. She had called her cousin and he was already on his way. Castle thanked her and offered to pay her for her time but she refused. Gathering her shovels, she continued on her route.

With the snow shoveled they could get back into the vehicle. Kate climbed inside and turned off the heater and the ignition. After working so hard outside, it now felt like an oven on the inside. She grabbed their water bottles and hurried out. Castle chugged the last of his bottle down while Kate sipped hers. As they waited, he made up different narratives of "Bobby the Tow Truck Driver".

"He's a ninth grad drop-out with a mullet. He drives a 1987 Ford pick-up that has been poorly converted to a tow truck. It has 276,000 miles on it and is held together with bondo and duct tape."

"Or, he's a heavy set man with a beer gut and a mullet. He's married to the first woman he ever kissed. He has 2.5 children, ones in the oven; and a dog named Buddy. They live in an apartment but want to save for a house, which is difficult because they still owe twenty thousand on the rig he bought two years ago."

"Do you expect me to believe that all tow truck drivers have mullets Castle?"

"Yeah."

He was well into his fifth mullet when the tow truck arrived. Its appearance left him speechless.

"Wow," was all Kate could say.

Before them was the most decked out tow truck they had ever seen. It was a Ford diesel dually 4x4, painted bright yellow with red flames down the sides. A row of running lights ran the width above the windshield. Four chrome fog lights hung beneath a chrome brush guard sporting a chrome wench. Two bulbous chrome spot lights were attached to each door. There was so much chrome gleaming on the front of the truck that to Castle it looked like a knight in shining armor coming to the rescue.

"Impressive." he muttered.

Kate shielded her eyes from the glare.

"I'll be impressed when he gets us out of here."

The truck rattled to a halt as the engine was turned off. The driver's side door opened and Bobby stepped down from the cab. He crossed in front of his truck and headed towards them with a thermos in his hand.

He was handsome, almost GQ handsome, with light brown shoulder length hair and rugged features. He had on a well worn tan Carhartt jacket with matching pants and a green flannel shirt with a brown Henley underneath. A pair of Muck boots completed the ensemble. As he sauntered over, Castle noticed that he only had eyes for Kate.

"Hi," he said, flashing a mouthful of pearly whites. "I have the coffee you ordered."

"That would be my order," Castle said, holding his hand out for the thermos.

Kate noticed the twinge of jealousy to his voice

Bobby handed him the thermos with out so much as a look and continued talking to Kate.

"So it looks like you went off the road."

Kate knew his type so she played it for all she could.

"Yeah," she said as she twisted a strand of hair around her index finger. I don't know what happened, one minute I was on the road the next minute, poof."

"It usually happens that way," he smiled. "Let me get a closer look and I'll see if I can get you out."

Kate moved to let him pass. Once his back was to them, she caught Castle's eye. She mouthed the word 'Hot' and fanned herself.

Castle moved closer and whispered, "Mullet."

"Long hair is not a mullet," she whispered back.

"Is so."

"Is not."

Is so."

Is not."

"So!"

"Not!"

"Excuse me!" Bobby called out.

They both quickly turned in his direction.

"Yes?" Kate asked.

"I can get you out. It'll take a little finagling, but I can do it."

"Thanks a lot, Bobby. I really appreciate you help." Kate turned the charm back on.

Finding an out of the way place to stand, they shared the thermos of coffee and watched him work.

They watched as he deftly turned his truck around and began running cable out from the boom. He ran two independent cables. The first he hooked under the Escalades right front tire. The second cable he passed behind a tree on the side of the road opposite the SUV. He then pulled the cable back across the road and hooked it to the right rear of the vehicles undercarriage.

For the next twenty minutes they watched as he alternately reeled in the cables and pulled the Escalade sideways off the embankment and out of the ditch.

"That was so cool!" Castle commented to Kate.

They headed over to the Escalade as Bobby began undoing the hooks.

"Look!" Castle marveled. "Not a scratch!"

He ran his hand down the driver's side. He couldn't find a dent or scratch anywhere. Bobby was more concerned with the tire.

"Looks like you busted the vale stem off," he looked back to the ditch. "Must of happened when you slid into those rocks. You had to hit 'em just right to do this much damage."

Kate sidled up to Bobby.

"The way you pulled the truck out of the ditch was amazing. Do you think I could ask you for one more favor?" She flirted.

"Ask away."

"My friend," she paused and nodded towards Castle. "He's not mechanically inclined, if you know what I mean. Do you think I could talk you into putting on the spare tire for me?"

"Sure, let me finish putting away the cables and I'll take care of it for you.

Kate reached out and placed her hand on his arm.

"Thanks a lot, I really mean it. You've been a big help."

Bobby flashed a toothy grin and went to work.

Castle had watched their exchange from the back corner of the SUV. Turning away he sat on the rear bumper and crossed his arms tightly against his chest. Kate joined him moments later.

"Trolling for another boyfriend?" He said sarcastically.

"Do you really want to change the tire Castle? I can arrange it for you.

"Huh?"

"I just talked him into changing out the front tire for us."

"Oh, sorry," he said abashedly.

While Bobby changed out the tire, they repacked their luggage and the survival bag. They left the back seat down and moved the luggage towards the front leaving enough room in the back to put the tire inside.

Bobby finished and went over to his truck to clean off and write up the bill. Done, he yanked off their copy and Castle quickly snatched it.

"I got this," he said

He looked at the bill. "Fuh…fuh…four hundred dollars!"

"Yeah, pretty sweet deal, huh? Most collision deductibles start at five hundred dollars. So, I saved you at least hundred bucks!"

"Great," was all Castle could say, considering it wasn't his truck. He dug out his Platinum American Express card and handed it over.

"We don't take this one," Bobby said handing it back.

"What!"

"We only take Visa or Master Card."

"It's all I have." He offered it again.

Kate snatched the bill from Castle's hand.

"I got it," she said and headed back to the Escalade. She grabbed her purse off the front seat and rejoined the guys.

She popped open her purse and the underwear she had forgotten about spilled to the ground. Bobby's eyes popped out and Kate's face flushed. She quickly knelt down and began picking them up, stuffing them into her pockets of her coat.

Castle covered his mouth with his hand to stifle a laugh.

She dug out her wallet, pulled out the credit card and handed it to Bobby. She stood up awkwardly, pushing back hair that was already in place behind her ear. Avoiding eye contact, she fidgeted while he wrote down her credit card information. Even though she was flustered, her mind remained sharp. She suddenly remembered one important thing they needed to do.

"Castle," She barked out.

"Huh?"

"Go make sure the car starts."

Authors Note: Everything that happened to the Escalade is based in fact. My husband decided he wanted to go sledding on christmas eve. So, we headed up the mountain. First, we stopped to visit his folks who live just below the snow line. We then headed out about 1:00 in the afternoon to sled. He decided to take the road less travelled. It put us on a two lane blacktop that wound up the side of the mountain. Along the way we noticed that a lot of trees had recently been removed from the road. There was sawdust and tree parts littering both sides of the road. We managed to get ten miles from town before we came upon two large trees still blocking the road. We carefully turned around. We had just made it to the snow line so there was a lot of slush on the road. The truck was in four wheel drive and traction did not seem to be a problem. There was a limb protruding into the road and my husband steered us into the other lane to pass. The next thing we knew, we were in a ditch up against an embankment. The truck was leaning on its left side. You don't realise how much a door weighs when a vehicle is leaning. I couldn't open the door so I climbed out through the window. My husband then pushed the door open a crack and I was easily able to hold it open from the outside. He handed me the survival back pack I always carry in the winter. (He always laughs at me.) Next he handed me our eight year old Shih Tzu that was travelling with us. He got out next. Being christmas eve , and the road we were on, we knew the chances of someone coming any time soon was slim. So we decided to walk back to town. We kept a good pace but five miles later the dog pooped out. We had to empty the backpack an take turns carrying him. We carried him for the next three miles. It was dark when we finally came upon a couple who were starting a bonfire near the river we had been paralleling. They drove us the last two miles to his parents house. Thank goodness we found them when we did, I was wearing my steel toed work books and the extra two pounds per shoe were killing my shins. We called for a tow truck. The truck that picked up my husband looked like the one I described. It was really impressive a night with all the running lits lit up. Our truck was pulled out just as I described in the story. There was not a scratch or dent on it. We didn't noticed it at the time, but the left front tire was flat and the valve stem had been snapped off. The only thing I was not sure about was how the tire came off the rim. We don''t know if it was from the impact or the pull out of the ditch. So, I used a little artistic liscense in the story. I hope his answers any lingering questions.