I Need You to Come Down Here

"I need you to come down here.  Truck lights won't work."

"O" (phone hangs up) "K..........".

That is the extent of my dad's phone call to our home no matter if I answered or if my hubby answered.  He wasn't much on words.  They sort of were a waste of time to him when he was busy in the peanut field.  Well.......that is my excuse for him, but in reality no matter what the situation was, the phone was only a tool for him, certainly not for entertainment.  I think he must have believed that if you wanted to visit, you would do it in person.

Dad had a couple of old, old, old, old (did I say old?) trucks that were only used at peanut harvest time.  They sat at the edge of the field year round.  In late September/early October Mom and Dad would start checking them out; putting the tags on and seeing if they were going to start.  Invariably they wouldn't, but that would usually be an easy fix.  Just buy a new cheap battery--remember the trucks were only used for one month and then they rested for another eleven.  New battery every year is cheap maintenance. 

Now here is where my hubby comes in.  Hubby is known for diagnosing all sorts of auto ails so he was the go-to man for Daddy when it came to those trucks.  Would you believe that every!!! year those trucks' lights would NOT work.  How can that be?  They were left at the edge of the field.  Surely mice could not find their way to the trucks.  Surely they wouldn't have the audacity to actually nest in the truck---in the dead of winter---snow on the ground---18 degree nights---for 30 days in a row---would they????  Awww, surely not!  Slap me up side the head!  Would they chew the wiring?  Would they drag what seemed to be miles of wiring to their nest?  You think not??  Aw, but they are cunning little creatures. 

Dad's remedy:  Call my hubby and have him rewire the trucks...and every year he would do just that.  It was a lot easier on everyone if they just ran new wiring.  All they wanted to do is to get the lights to work, especially the brake lights for nothing gets a cop's attention faster than an old farm truck on I-40 loaded to the gills with peanuts.  Add non-working tails lights and you are really in trouble.  Hence, run miles and miles of new wiring each year.  Problem solved for another year. 

Now that those days are over, and peanuts are no longer harvester in our area of the state, and Daddy is gone, we look back with fond memories.  Wasn't nearly as much fun back when....when we had to stop what we were doing and head to Prague on the spur of the moment.  I would love to get one of those cryptic phone calls just once again and jump in the car for a quick trip to see my parents.

Memory:  Back in 1999, I took an electronic course at the local vo-tech and would work in a call to my parents on my drive back home.  Dad would answer and as soon as he said hello and heard my voice, he'd pass the phone to my mom without so much as a "Here's your mom."  That was about 12 years ago......time passes so fast...........  I need for you to come down here.