Xtreme Towing
Oh, I did have to change a few names in the story.
Dan Geiss and I were supposed to go to visit his sister’s boyfriend (now fiancee) “Frank”. At the time, he lived in a kind of shitty neighborhood, the Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights. In fact, his neighbor’s house was recently raided and seized by the police. But there is a nice streak of bars to visit, so we went.
Dan and “Frank” drove. So Dan, “Frank”, “Frank’s” friend “Steve”, and myself are having a typical night out, right? Drinking and generally being dudes. Until finally we wanted to call it a night and walked back to their cars.
DUDE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE CARS???????
We noticed a tiny metal sign warning people about towing. The company was called Xtreme Towing. We called. Sure enough, they had them both; “Frank’s” beater Volvo and Dan’s beater truck. They were holding them ransom, for $110. Cash Only. Exact change only.
It’s dark and cold and we are in a dangerous neighborhood. Pissed, we sucked it up though and walked over three miles in the middle of the night back to “Frank’s” place. “Frank” was going to get his car in the morning, but Dan and me didn’t want to spend the night. We decide we would find the truck. “Steve” was nice enough to let us borrow his car.
“Be careful man, don’t get pulled over,” he advised me. Which made sense because, even though the cold march back to “Frank’s” had sobered me, I still probably smelled like beer and was driving a car that wasn’t mine.
We stop at the ATM for Dan. While driving, we get directions to this place we cannot find. We drive down dark, dirty alleys crawling with animals. Piles of litter and other garbage roll through the air like tumbleweeds.
Dan, who is getting increasingly irritated, “We can’t find your extreme facility.”
But eventually we do. It’s a typically run-down two-man operation guarded by parked trucks and barbed wire. Dan begrudgingly pays. We drop off “Steve’s” car.
“Steve” tells me the real reason he warned me before we left (about being pulled over). It is because his car was loaded with illegal drugs. Lovely. We get home around 3:30am.
The next day, “Frank” tries to get his car back. No one is there to answer, so “Frank”, who still had his keys, simply stole his car back. I have no idea how he got it out of the lot but he did and didn’t pay a dime back for it.
However, a few weeks later, he was pulled over because the car he was driving was reported as stolen. “Frank” told the cops he has absolutely no idea why the car would be reported as stolen, and has all the documents to prove its his. But Luckily, after being detained for quite some time, they let him go.
Talk about an Xtreme getaway.
