Magpie Tales: we can do it

Photo prompt provided by Magpie Tales

The old truck was up to its rusty rear axle in gravel, but Dad wasn't about to ask for help.
"Come on," Mom pleaded, "if you won't let me call a tow truck, at least let me call the guys down the road. You know Ed and Elroy have that big tractor. In low gear, it could pull a diesel locomotive."
"And I know Ed and Elroy have better things to do with their big tractor than pull me out of a hole I got myself into," Dad replied. "Sure, I know they can do it, but they'll laugh themselves silly at the same time. Now look," he said, "I have an idea."
Mom rolled her eyes as if to say, "Here we go again!"
Dad picked up a stick and began drawing in the dirt. "Now, if I..."
"Never mind sticks in the dirt. Come into the house, have a cup of coffee, and show me on paper. Kids!" she called to us, "you two come and help me understand what he's saying."
We had been observing, and talking amongst our two selves, and had a couple of ideas of our own, so we happily went along.
A pot of coffee, several glasses of milk, and what seemed like a ream of paper later, Mom was no closer to understanding than she had been when Dad was drawing with a stick. However, we had been watching, and listening carefully, eventually producing our own pencils and pointing out places where we thought Dad's plan could be improved upon.
"Hey," he said once, "that's a good idea."
And, "Well, I should have thought of that," he said a while later. "Now, if we put this here, instead of there, what do you think?"
"Right!" we said, together.
"Now this will move this way," I added, "and then the truck..."
"Then the truck will come out," said Dad.
"Okay!" we yelled, "let's go! Let's get 'er out."
"Wait a minute," Dad said, and walked over to Mom, who was stirring something on the counter. He kissed her on the cheek.
"Thanks, honey," he said. "You were wonderful. If you hadn't insisted I come into the house, I'd still be out there scratching in the dirt like a cave man. I don't know how I'd ever manage without your help."
Mom smiled, closed her eyes and kissed him on the forehead as he winked at the two of us.
"Let's go, kids. We'll have 'er out in a jiffy."
It wasn't quite a jiffy. The preparations took a lot of time, finding just the right materials, getting them into just the right places. However, we finally got the old truck out of the gravel.
We went back to the house, smiling and congratulating one another for ingenuity, talent, skill, brainpower, and anything else we thought might have contributed to the operation.
"I've just taken an apple cake out of the oven," Mom said as we trooped in. "So you get cleaned up, George. And you get into some clean clothes, you girls, then we'll taste some. Maybe one of these days, you two scientific females might even want to learn how to bake."

Fiction posted for Magpie Tales hosted by Willow.
To see how the photo, which Willow provided, has inspired other writer-bloggers this week, please click HERE!