The following is a story that is entirely a work of fiction, but I suppose it could be true. Nevertheless, all characters portrayed are over the age of 18. Enjoy!
A few years ago before I was a college professor I was employed by a civil engineering firm that had hired a guy named Ed. A tall, rugged, good-looking guy who you never would guess that he had a bachelor's degree from an Ivy League school, a masters in engineering and another masters in urban planning. His dress and habits did not reveal his background plus just for fun he took a part-time job driving locally for Steve's, a local truck service company. With all of that as background now fast forward a year or two to when upstate New York was having a nasty winter. One Thursday night the snow began and Steve's sent Ed out in one of their heavy duty four-wheel drive pickups to plow snow at some of their commercial accounts.
After working all night Ed stopped at a 24-hour diner for breakfast. It was shortly before 7:00 when he shuffled in dressed in an ancient yellow rain jacket over an insulated vest and almost matching tall yellow rubber boots. He ordered two eggs over easy, sausage, hash browns and coffee. Vera, the waitress, who was easily in her late 50s, knew him by name and would usually flirt with Ed. This morning was no different and it usually resulted in some risqué friendly banter.
When he was nearly done eating an attractive young woman came up to him and says, "Excuse me, but is that your truck out there?"
Ed replied, "Sure is. Why?" At that he looked the girl over and saw that she was dressed in a ski jacket, knit hat, and Nike running shoes. There was just a wisp of blond hair peeking out from under the hat.
"My car is stuck and I need some help."
"What you need is some proper clothes for this weather," he said matter-of-factly leaving money on the counter for Vera and getting his jacket off a nearby hook and putting it on.
"Yeah, I know. I just moved here from Florida. Let me introduce myself, I'm Marcy."
"OK, I'm Ed. Is yours the red Mustang convertible over there?"
"That's mine!" she replied as they stepped outside into the heavy wet snow.
Steve just rolled his eyes and said to himself, "It might not be politically correct, but she has to be a natural blond."
At that he grabbed a shovel and dug some snow out from in front of the rear wheels of the Mustang. "That should be enough to get you going. Give it a try."
Marcy got in the car, started it and gave it the gas with the result being that she spun the wheels but didn't get anywhere. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"If you want to get unstuck just go real easy on the gas." Marcy tried it again, but with a lighter foot the car got free."
"How can I thank you?"
"The first thing to do when the weather clears is to go shopping for some good warm clothes and in particular some boots. Now just for safety sake I'll follow you to make certain that you get home alright."
"That is so nice of you to do that. My place isn't that far."
At that Marcy, taking Ed's advice, slowly pulled out of the parking lot and onto the snow-covered street with Ed following a safe distance behind. About eight blocks later she pulled to the side of the road, got out, went back to the truck and said to Ed, "That little cape cod is my place, but the driveway is covered and I don't think I can get in."
Ed said, "Wait just a minute." Then repositioned his truck, dropped the plow and two minutes later the driveway was clear enough for Marcy.
She pulled in with Ed behind her, got out and again goes back to the truck. "Gee, thanks. You have been a lifesaver. What do I owe you?"
