Parable Road #9 (Slow and Steady)

The sound of an engine revving wakes me.

For Pete’s sake! Harvey is up to his old tricks again.

I pull myself upright and attempt to steady myself as the truck shakes.

At least we are going pretty slow. I can feel that. Perhaps that’s for the best. I pick up my clothing from the floor where I left it and struggle to slip into it.

There is the sound of grinding gears and then the truck shudders to a halt.

It is time for another intervention. I pull aside the curtain separating the bunk area from the cab, dreading what I will see.

A haze of swirling white snow is visible through the windshield.

Great, that October blizzard did show up.

It’s always nice when the weather forecast is right.

Harvey is sitting behind the steering wheel. His face looks as white as the flakes flying around us.

“Why did you stop?”

“I tried. I couldn’t go any further,” Harvey mutters.

“Why didn’t you shift down like I told you to?”

“I…I guess I didn’t think it would work.”

I sigh. “Well, the good news is, we’re still on the road. The bad news is, we’re sitting in the middle of the highway, so if we stay here, we’re an accident waiting to happen.”

“What are we gonna do?” Harvey seems hyperventilating.

“I guess we’ll just sit here and wait until someone comes along to hit us.”

“Are you serious?”

“No,” I say as I grab my parka from where I had left it on the passenger seat.“We’re gonna work hard, that’s what we’re gonna do.” I open the truck door. “I’m going to get the shovel…when I give the word, you’re going to shift into gear and together we’re going up that mountain…slowly…in first gear.”

“But, that’s a long way!”

“Then we better get started, won’t we?”

“No! I can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”

“Well, so is sitting here in the middle of the highway.”

“I don’t see how this is going to work.”

“Slow and steady…that’s how we’re going to win this race. Now get the truck started. We have work to do.”

I jump from the top step and instantly regret it. There’s a lot of ice on the road and I start sliding downhill as soon as I hit the ground.

Frantic, I grab at a passing wheel and manage to stop myself.

The wind seems to blast right through me as I crawl back up toward the truck cab. As icy as the road surface is it is hard to stay steady.

Finally, I get there. As I do, I pull a shovel from its place in the storage compartment beneath the cab.

That done, I crawl to the front of the truck. The headlights glow beneath my gloved hands as I struggle to my feet. After I catch my breath, I begin shoveling away at the snow bank blocking our progress.

Before long, I have cleared a space in front of the semi.

“Alright, go! As slow as you can!” I holler at Harvey. Hoping he can do this one thing right at least.

The engine revs. The tires of the truck start to turn, spinning in place.

“No, no!” I holler into the wind.

Harvey revs the truck again and the wheels spin faster.

“Hold it! Hold it!” This time Harvey listens and the sound of revving stops. I move back toward the storage compartment beneath the cab. I rummage through it for a moment and then pull out a hefty bag of road sand.

My breath stops as I slip. Thank God I grab hold of a handle on the truck in time to stop myself from sliding down the mountain highway.

Fear pulses through me but I can’t stop now. I crawl on my knees, moving from tire to tire to spread sand beneath and before it.

They’ll need all the sand they can get to find some traction. Hopefully, this is enough. My task done, I turn my attention to Harvey once again. “Alright, try again!” I yell, struggling to make myself heard over the wind. “As slow as you can!”

The engine revs. The tires of the truck start to turn, and for a moment it seems they will start spinning again but no…no…they catch traction. The sand is enough.

It is moving slowly but the truck is moving.

I walk ahead of the rig toward the next snowdrift. As I reach it and shovel that obstacle out of the way as well.

At times the blasts of wind and snow subside and I can see the steep canyon just to the side of us.

It is a terrifying sight.

If the truck starts sliding backwards Harvey will have a long fall from grace.

Still, there is no alternative, we have to keep pushing on.

Over and over we repeat the process of shoveling and moving slightly ahead. All the while the blizzard whips around us. Still, after a few hours of this, we move over the lip of a mountaintop.

An entire valley shaded in white stretches out before us.

Slow and steady did win this race.

As mountains go, this was a pretty small one. Still, the way my arms are aching, it feels like we just went up Mount Everest.

Thankfully, going downhill is easier than going up.

“Woah!” I yell at Harvey. “Stop!” The truck trembles and then pulls to a halt.

I move to the driver’s side door and pull it open.

“Hey, you aren’t supposed to be driving. It’s still my shift.”

“You need a rest, I’ll take it from here,” I say as I climb up toward the driver’s seat.

“But, but…”

“I don’t have time to argue with you, please do as I asked.”

The tone of my voice tells Harvey that he better listen for once in his life. He moves to the passenger seat.

“I’ll be honest Ben, I didn’t think we were going to make it.”

“We haven’t made it yet. We’ve still got a ways to go before we’re out of this.”

“Ben, I’m sorry, I should’ve listened to you.”

“Yes, you should’ve.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Harvey looks like panic is creeping over him again as we start to move downhill. “I guess I just thought I needed more speed.”

“No, when you hit a storm like this, slow and steady is all that’ll get you through.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“We’ll discuss all this further when we get where we’re going.” I feel another stab of fear come over me as I see how just steep the hill going down is.

I sure hope the wheels find enough traction to keep us on the road.

All I know is we have to keep moving forward and that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll see where that gets us…

To be continued…