Stuck

Very early this morning I heard a car engine revving over and over. Usually all I hear in the morning when we are at the beach is a loud surf and around six o’clock the bicycle bell of a guy collecting something, maybe recyclables? I’m not sure.

I knew immediately what had happened. It is not uncommon for vacationers to decide to drive on the beach. It’s not generally a good idea although if you are familiar with the beach you’ll be fine. These four clearly were not familiar. And the only reason someone would be on the beach driving at 4:30 am is because they hadn’t gone to bed on the same day they got up. Perhaps a bit of alcohol might have also been involved.

They were truly stuck in the sand up to the front axles. And going no where fast. (You can see in the top picture above, the aftermath of the rescue mission.) After getting the coffee brewing, I took another look and there was only one guy left who appeared to be napping in the front seat of the red car with the door open. I went back in, got coffee, and by the time I returned, the other three had also returned in a little blue car about the same size as the stuck red car. Oh, but they had brought a rope! A strong, sturdy, very long rope about a quarter inch in diameter. Now we’re going to get somewhere!

After attaching the rope to the back of each car, one guy got into the rescue car, two jumped back into the stuck car, and one guy decided he could best help by pushing on the back passenger window. The rescue car and the stuck car were about 50 feet apart – the length of the rope. There didn’t seem to be much coordination between pushing and pulling. You knew this wasn’t going to end well and sure enough, just after the two guys in the stuck car jumped out to try something else, the rescue car gave another valiant effort and the rope snapped.

What to do? What to do? Well of course you just tie the rope back together in the middle, and try again. Because it worked so well the first time. Okay still not working. Let’s tie the rope to the front of the rescue car and instead of trying to pull straight back, let’s pull at a ninety degree angle. Because if the rope snaps this time the rescue car can end up in a swimming pool.

All this time, there is an older couple sitting on the log in the picture above, just watching. Various people are walking and running by. Down the beach comes an older guy holding a cup of coffee, with not one, not two, but FOUR big brown dogs. I don’t remember there being a halo of light around him but perhaps there was. He stops to help.

By now the back wheels are also in up to their axles. Dog guy realigns the position of the rescue car and the stuck car so it’s a straight pull. He gets three of the guys to push on the stuck car while the rescue car tries to pull. The dogs get in the act by jumping around and biting the rope. Except for one who has collapsed in a heap and is rolling around in the sand, laughing. Still stuck.

New plan. Dig the wheels out. Three guys down digging, dogs helping. Pouncing on people and licking them while they are digging is helping, right? Even laughing dog got into the act on this. But once the digging was done, the dogs were bored and ran off to chase the surf.

Or maybe they knew that this was it. And it was. The stuck car became unstuck and made it to harder ground beside the rescue car. Dog guy takes his coffee and his dogs and wanders off down the beach.

Car guys now open the hood to inspect the engine of the stuck car. Clearly car guys. One of them pees on the beach. Under the back wheel. Poetic justice would be that wheel gets stuck but it didn’t happen. Everyone jumped back into cars and roared off down the beach.

We get by with a little help from our friends. Too often I get stuck because of bad decisions – usually mine but sometimes someone else’s. Thankfully, God shows up in one form or another, often with coffee and dogs, and rescues me.