Towing After Dark

 

by Pa Rock

Night Stalker

Monday in a blog posting that had to do with the hot damn weather that my part of the Ozarks was experiencing, I happened to mention that I observed an old, medium-sized pickup truck towing a small pickup that had a large riding. lawn mower in its truck bed.    I made the cynical observation that it seemed like a lot of trouble to go through just to steal a lawn mower.

That happened in broad daylight.

Tuesday night, just after dark while I was out in the yard stumbling around watering a few plants and filling the bird baths, I heard a strange vehicular sound approaching from down the road.  My house sits about twenty-five yards back from a well-traveled, paved country lane on the crest of a small hill - and there are no streetlights.   

Moments later an old pickup passed by.   I could tell by the glow of the truck's taillights that it was towing a small sedan with a rope.  (It could have been the same unmarked truck from the day before, but the gathering darkness kept me from knowing for sure.)  The little car raced along behind the truck, which was traveling at a fairly fast clip, about fifteen feet back.  The car being towed had no lights, front or back, and as far as I could tell, not even any reflecting tape.  While I couldn't see people inside of the car due to the darkness, I am hopeful that there was at least a brakeman sitting in the driver's seat ready to apply the brakes as the  truck eventually slowed and came to a halt - wherever that might have been.

(And he, or she, could have had to slow or stop unexpectedly because dusk and early evening are when the deer are dining.)

(And, even without having to slow, the danged unlit little car could have been rear-ended by one of my neighbors rushing home after a hard night of drinking!)

I'm not sure if I was observing the world's dumbest tow truck driver or the world's dumbest car thief, but whichever, I gives me a bit of country pride to know that we live in the same neighborhood and that he, or she, has the ambition to go out and make a living!

My car resides outside, alone and ungaraged.   I guess I need to start locking it, or at least rolling up the windows.

If you don't have time to go out and search for adventure, just stand in the yard and sooner or later it will come to you.  My life as a retiree is a thrill a minute!