American Farmers: Facing a Cutoff at the Start

When we drove up to Roy's house, there was a heavy retractable aluminum ladder leaning against the door. Roy was already waiting by the roadside, carrying a chainsaw in his left hand, a roll of wire hanging from his shoulder, and a toolbox.

The three of them worked together to secure the ladder in the truck bed. Roy jumped into the passenger seat, while old Frank squeezed into the back seat by the window.

With a throttle input, the pickup truck slowly drove onto the highway, accompanied by the clanking sound of chains crushing the ice.

"Drive slowly, make sure you see where the cable is broken."

Roy and old Frank each held a large, powerful flashlight, the beams of light like two sharp swords, sweeping slowly forward along the roadside utility poles.

Wherever the flashlight beam passed, all that could be seen was that the trees on both sides of the road were covered with a layer of crystal-clear ice shell by the freezing rain.

The thin branches were thickened several times by the ice layer, refracting a cold, hard light under the beams of light, like giant glass sculptures.

Fett kept a steady grip on the steering wheel, keeping the car at a very low speed.

Despite the windshield wipers working hard, a thin layer of ice quickly formed on the windshield, blurring the view.

We drove for about three miles.

"Stop! Stop the car!"

Roy suddenly shouted, his flashlight beam locked onto a utility pole in front of him.

Fett slammed on the brakes, and the car came to a steady stop.

A large pine branch, bent into an arc by icicles, fell right between the two power lines.

One of the wires had been snapped; one end was draped over a tree branch, swaying in the wind and rain, while the other end lay on the ground, like a frozen, dead snake.

"Found it, this is it!"

Roy got out of the car and shone his flashlight around:

"This branch was too heavy, it snapped the line."

"Can it be fixed?" Old Frank followed.

"It can be repaired."

Roy observed for a moment, then spoke with certainty:

"But just to be safe, we need to go to the main switch of the transformer at the intersection ahead and turn off the power first."

"Okay, let's go turn off the power first."

Fett agreed, restarted the car, and continued driving forward with Roy and old Frank.

As he rounded a sharp bend, Fett keenly heard the roar of an engine coming from ahead.

Out of caution, Fett honked his horn as a reminder, and also, out of politeness, switched his high beams to low beams.

The two beams of light converged, and sure enough, a pickup truck was driving towards them.

Although the other person's windshield was covered in frost and blurred, Fett recognized him at a glance.

This is Johnny's car.

The old man still had that dirty tarpaulin covering the back of his truck, but it was deflated, so it looked like he had just returned from delivering "goods".

They met on a narrow path.

Johnny clearly saw the oncoming car as well.

But he didn't slow down; instead, he held the horn tightly and wouldn't let go, the piercing "beep" sound sounding particularly arrogant in the quiet night.

The car didn't slow down, heading straight for Fett without giving way at all.

"That old bastard is a complete scoundrel."

Hearing the provocative horn and watching the approaching beat-up car, Fett felt a surge of anger.

Want to play? Then I'll play with you!

Instead of slowing down to avoid him, he suddenly switched his lights back to high beams!

"brush!"

Two bright, blinding beams of light burst forth instantly, piercing straight through old Johnny's frosted windshield and illuminating his astonished, distorted old face.

Immediately afterwards, Fett swerved the steering wheel sharply to the left and floored the accelerator!

The pickup truck roared and accelerated, charging straight toward the front of old Johnny's car!

"Fett! What are you doing!" Roy in the passenger seat yelled in fright.

Johnny, on the other side, was utterly terrified.

He was first blinded by the bright light, his vision blurred and he couldn't see clearly. Then he felt the car on the other side getting closer and closer, rushing towards him with a whooshing sound, as if it was going to kill him!

His survival instincts left him blank, and he instinctively slammed on the brakes, frantically turning the steering wheel to the right with both hands in an attempt to avoid the fatal blow.

Just as the two cars were about to collide, Fett smirked and deftly flicked his wrist to the right.

With the snow chains on, the tires gripped the ice tightly. The car only swayed slightly before precisely grazing the rear of Johnny's car and nimbly darting to the other side of the road.

Johnny wasn't so lucky.

On roads covered in ice, such sudden braking and sharp turns are practically suicidal.

His beat-up pickup truck, which wasn't even fitted with snow chains, instantly lost traction, spinning like an out-of-control top before sliding sideways off the road.

"Bang!!!"

A loud bang.

The out-of-control old pickup truck crashed head-on into a large oak tree on the side of the road, the front of the truck instantly crumpled up, and debris was scattered all over the ground.

The tarpaulin in the truck bed was flung away, and the pile of empty bags and miscellaneous items inside were scattered all over the ground, creating a mess.

Fett glanced at the rearview mirror.

Only one of the headlights on the pickup truck that had crashed into the tree was still working, casting a pitiful glow on the mess. The faint sound of old Johnny cursing from inside the driver's seat could still be heard.

"Serves you right."

Fett snorted, didn't stop, and didn't even turn on the brake lights, driving straight away.

The terrifying scene just now happened so fast that the two old men still haven't recovered from the shock.

Roy gripped the handrail tightly, his face deathly pale, and it took him a long time to manage to squeeze out a sentence:

"Fett...did you...do that on purpose?"

"What?"

Fett stared straight ahead, his tone flat:

"The road was too slippery, and the car became a bit out of control; it was an accident."

Roy frowned and glanced back:

"Are we just going to leave like this? Shouldn't we go down and check? What if..."

"Uncle Roy, didn't you hear him swearing?"

Fett interrupted him, "Judging from that powerful cursing, he's definitely not dead."

"Besides, if we go now, he'll definitely try to take advantage of us."

"It's better to avoid trouble. Let's get the electricity fixed first."

He didn't want to get entangled with Johnny at this critical juncture, nor did he want to reveal that Johnny was growing marijuana.

The fewer people who know about Johnny growing marijuana, the better. It's best to keep it a secret until Johnny is in jail.

Old Frank figured it out, and he chuckled, his tone revealing a protective, smug satisfaction:

"Yes! That's what I say! You were just careless; the road was too slippery!"

"That old bastard has always caused us trouble; he deserves to suffer a bit!"

Upon hearing this, Roy could only shake his head helplessly and said nothing more.

He had long disliked old Johnny, and as long as no one died, he was happy to see the old man suffer.

The car quickly reached the intersection.

Fett parked the car under the tall utility pole and turned on the headlights.

Roy got off the car carrying the long insulating pole and looked up.

Overhead was a huge transformer connected to the high-voltage line of the main road.

"The streetlights on the main road are still on, which means there is power on the high-voltage side."

Roy pointed to the faintly visible streetlights in the distance, then turned to Fett and said:

"I need to pull down that drop-out fuse to completely cut off the power to this side, so that it will be safe to repair the wiring later."

As he spoke, he raised the insulating rod, and the metal hook at the top precisely hooked the pull ring below the ceramic fuse tube.

"Watch closely!"

Roy flicked his wrist and pulled sharply downwards.

"Snap!"

The fuse tube detached and hung in mid-air.

This means that the circuit from here inwards has been physically cut off.

"Alright! Now even if someone switches off the power over there, it won't work. It's absolutely safe."

"Let's go back and fix the cable!"