Bring on the cheer...
After telling my family tradition story of putting up the Christmas tree I continue the saga starting with this past Thursday evening.
The eastern wind continued blowing this week coming out of the gorge carrying itself over the city. With temperatures dropping quickly my brother, E, and I headed out to find the best Christmas tree there was. Or rather, the one closest to home for under $20 that could lay on top of his Ford Taurus. We drove down to our usual spot to find the place was not up and running this year so we continued down the road. We saw a sign that read, "Boy Scout Troop, All Douglas Firs $15." E and I debated over the course of seven seconds deciding if we should stop or continue on before I shouted, "Dad will be proud of us for supporting the scouts!" After all both E and I are Eagle Scouts. With this said and an illegal turn around across four lanes of empty road we pulled into the dust blown parking lot.
E pulled the car up by the leaning trees not sensing the need to follow any sort of formal parking position. Placed in front of us were two small rugged trailors large enough to hold maybe one adult. Tarps lay over each of them hiding their flaws of age and deteriation. One could easily guess the number of bodies laying lifeless out back behind this makeshift community. We sat motionless in the car with the cold wind howling as we surveyed the trees from our warm seats. "Does anyone work here? Where are they?", E whispered. At that exact moment a door swung open from one of the trailors with a rugged gentleman stepping out. We quickly followed suit and soon stood amongst the trees picking some upright while debating which one had a more full look. E and the gentleman conversed for a moment until I settled on the perfect tree. An eight foot tall Douglas Fir.
We watched our tree being placed on a table for trimming and roping, as a second gentleman appeared from the other trailer. He appeared to be older in age and could act as Santa Claus with the size of his belly. He seemed cordial as he joked about the wind and helped his cohort do the final preparations of the tree. E walked over to the car planning to warm it up and roll down the back two windows so rope could be pulled thru them to help tie down the tree. I finished up the business of paying and thanking the men as they carried the tree over to the car and placed it on top. The back windows still were not down as I proceeded to the front seat asking E again to roll the windows down.
"The cars not starting," E said with panic in his tone. "My brake is locked...nothing is working." I stood frozen for a second thinking what could possibly be done to help us get back home and out of the wind. "Have you jiggled the steering wheel or jolted the gear shift some as you try turning the key?," I asked. E proceeded trying every move to get his car started as the two gentleman continued securing the tree down. Without them knowing was was happening the reached in and threw some rope across E's lap as he handed it over to me. I held it in place till one of the gentleman came and took over. I laughed to myself that these two guys basically just created a clothesline with twine across the front two seats...not exaclty safe especially with E driving. When he drives it means he flies and you better hang on for dear life if you're along for the ride. This clothesline would easily scalp us if we ended up in a ditch or wrapped around a tree on the way home.
I eventually walked around to the driver’s side and tried to get the car up and running myself while E stood in the open door way. No luck landed in my lap. E and I traded places while he tried again. This time he shut his door, called our dad and just sat there. I stood there frozen not knowing what to say to these guys. It was the feeling of walking into a large room naked. I stood there silent. These two guys stood there staring at me in silence. We we’re going nowhere. A minute or so passed and I thanked the gentleman and ran to the passenger side of the car getting inside to warm up, or get out of the wind and the dust blowing into my eyes.
As we waited for my dad to come check out the situation the two gentlemen got in their shared truck and sat there waiting in the warmth. They sat in their car staring coldly at us. We sat in our car frozen and frustrated, staring back with silence.
Ten minutes slowly passed feeling more like 30-minutes. We anxiously sat waiting for dad to arrive and rescue us when E reached into his coat pocket and found another key. It was then that he realized that thru this entire ordeal he had been using the trunk key to start the car. With a rush of relief coming over both of us I quickly layed my seat down and ducked as E started the car. I had no intentions of being looked at again by the lot owners. They heard the car start and looked over with surprise in their eyes as they walked towards our car. E rolled his window down to say, "I've been using the trunk key all this time.' As the gentleman chuckled at E's expense I was laying as low as possible hoping to not make eye contact. The first gentleman said,"we won't say a word about it!" adding to the humor of the situation. "We won't be seeing you again!" I shouted as E put the car in reverse.
We finally walked into the warm house with tree in hand only to get a lecture about true Eagle Scouts and how they would know how to get a car started without a key. That lecture was followed by how to start a fire without any matches.
The eastern wind continued blowing this week coming out of the gorge carrying itself over the city. With temperatures dropping quickly my brother, E, and I headed out to find the best Christmas tree there was. Or rather, the one closest to home for under $20 that could lay on top of his Ford Taurus. We drove down to our usual spot to find the place was not up and running this year so we continued down the road. We saw a sign that read, "Boy Scout Troop, All Douglas Firs $15." E and I debated over the course of seven seconds deciding if we should stop or continue on before I shouted, "Dad will be proud of us for supporting the scouts!" After all both E and I are Eagle Scouts. With this said and an illegal turn around across four lanes of empty road we pulled into the dust blown parking lot.
E pulled the car up by the leaning trees not sensing the need to follow any sort of formal parking position. Placed in front of us were two small rugged trailors large enough to hold maybe one adult. Tarps lay over each of them hiding their flaws of age and deteriation. One could easily guess the number of bodies laying lifeless out back behind this makeshift community. We sat motionless in the car with the cold wind howling as we surveyed the trees from our warm seats. "Does anyone work here? Where are they?", E whispered. At that exact moment a door swung open from one of the trailors with a rugged gentleman stepping out. We quickly followed suit and soon stood amongst the trees picking some upright while debating which one had a more full look. E and the gentleman conversed for a moment until I settled on the perfect tree. An eight foot tall Douglas Fir.
We watched our tree being placed on a table for trimming and roping, as a second gentleman appeared from the other trailer. He appeared to be older in age and could act as Santa Claus with the size of his belly. He seemed cordial as he joked about the wind and helped his cohort do the final preparations of the tree. E walked over to the car planning to warm it up and roll down the back two windows so rope could be pulled thru them to help tie down the tree. I finished up the business of paying and thanking the men as they carried the tree over to the car and placed it on top. The back windows still were not down as I proceeded to the front seat asking E again to roll the windows down.
"The cars not starting," E said with panic in his tone. "My brake is locked...nothing is working." I stood frozen for a second thinking what could possibly be done to help us get back home and out of the wind. "Have you jiggled the steering wheel or jolted the gear shift some as you try turning the key?," I asked. E proceeded trying every move to get his car started as the two gentleman continued securing the tree down. Without them knowing was was happening the reached in and threw some rope across E's lap as he handed it over to me. I held it in place till one of the gentleman came and took over. I laughed to myself that these two guys basically just created a clothesline with twine across the front two seats...not exaclty safe especially with E driving. When he drives it means he flies and you better hang on for dear life if you're along for the ride. This clothesline would easily scalp us if we ended up in a ditch or wrapped around a tree on the way home.
I eventually walked around to the driver’s side and tried to get the car up and running myself while E stood in the open door way. No luck landed in my lap. E and I traded places while he tried again. This time he shut his door, called our dad and just sat there. I stood there frozen not knowing what to say to these guys. It was the feeling of walking into a large room naked. I stood there silent. These two guys stood there staring at me in silence. We we’re going nowhere. A minute or so passed and I thanked the gentleman and ran to the passenger side of the car getting inside to warm up, or get out of the wind and the dust blowing into my eyes.
As we waited for my dad to come check out the situation the two gentlemen got in their shared truck and sat there waiting in the warmth. They sat in their car staring coldly at us. We sat in our car frozen and frustrated, staring back with silence.
Ten minutes slowly passed feeling more like 30-minutes. We anxiously sat waiting for dad to arrive and rescue us when E reached into his coat pocket and found another key. It was then that he realized that thru this entire ordeal he had been using the trunk key to start the car. With a rush of relief coming over both of us I quickly layed my seat down and ducked as E started the car. I had no intentions of being looked at again by the lot owners. They heard the car start and looked over with surprise in their eyes as they walked towards our car. E rolled his window down to say, "I've been using the trunk key all this time.' As the gentleman chuckled at E's expense I was laying as low as possible hoping to not make eye contact. The first gentleman said,"we won't say a word about it!" adding to the humor of the situation. "We won't be seeing you again!" I shouted as E put the car in reverse.
We finally walked into the warm house with tree in hand only to get a lecture about true Eagle Scouts and how they would know how to get a car started without a key. That lecture was followed by how to start a fire without any matches.
posted by Mr. T at 8:39 AM
2 Comments:
I no longer need a good book to read as I have your blog to keep me entertained. Great writing! I can totally picture myself in that same situation. I'm sure I would be ditzy enough to use the trunk key too...I feel Eric's pain. I'm jealous that you get to enjoy a real Douglas Fir for Christmas. A fake tree in Oklahoma just isn't the same...even if your picture is on top of it. haha.
It don't look like I'll get us a tree this year....I can't be home this year anyway. But I have to laugh at you and E and the adventure you had getting a tree. :)Ha! Eagle Scouts, huh? Ha! Now THATS funny!
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