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when you get back to school.” He paused, frowning at his phone. “Is anyone getting a signal?”
    “You mean you’re not?” said Elaine.
    “Could you all just check?”
    Maura pulled her cell phone out of her purse. “I’ve got no bars.”
    “No signal here, either,” said Elaine.
    Arlo added: “Ditto.”
    “Grace?” Doug twisted around to look at his daughter.
    She shook her head and whimpered: “Are we stuck here?”
    “Let’s all just relax. We can work this out.” Doug took a deep breath. “If we can’t call for help, we’ll have to get ourselves out of this. We’ll push the sucker back onto the road.” Doug shifted into neutral. “Okay, everyone out. We can do it.”
    Maura’s door was jammed tight against the snow, and she could not exit from her side. She crawled over the gearshift, into the driver’s seat, and Doug helped her climb out through his door. She landed in calf-deep snow. Only then, standing beside the tipped vehicle, did she grasp the scope of their predicament. The Suburban had tumbled off the shoulder into a deep ditch. The wheels on the right were buried up to the chassis. The wheels on the left weren’t even touching pavement.
There is no way we’ll push this monster out
.
    “We can do this,” said Doug with a burst of enthusiasm. “Come on, folks. Let’s work together.”
    “And do what, exactly?” said Arlo. “You need a tow truck to pull that sucker out of there.”
    “Well, I’m willing to give it a try,” said Elaine.
    “You’re not the one with the bad back.”
    “Stop whining, Arlo. Let’s pitch in.”
    “Thank you
, Elaine,” said Doug. He reached into his pocket for his gloves. “Grace, you get in the driver’s seat. You’ll need to steer it.”
    “I don’t know how to drive!”
    “You only have to steer it onto the road, sweetie.”
    “Can’t someone else do it?”
    “You’re the smallest one here, and the rest of us need to push. Come on, I’ll help you climb up.”
    Grace looked terrified, but she clambered up into the driver’s seat.
    “Good girl,” said Doug. He waded down into the ditch, landing hip-deep in snow, and planted his gloved hands against the rear of the vehicle. “Well?” he asked, looking up at the other adults.
    Elaine was the first to scramble into the ditch beside him. Maura followed next, and snow seeped up her pant legs and into her boots. Her gloves were still somewhere in the car, so she placed bare hands against steel so icy that it seemed to burn her skin.
    “I’m gonna throw my back out,” said Arlo.
    “You have a choice,” said Elaine. “It’s that or freeze to death. Will you get down here?”
    Arlo took his time pulling on gloves and a wool cap. Laboriously he wound a scarf around his neck. Only then, fully garbed against the cold, did he wade down into the ditch.
    “Okay, all together,” said Doug. “Push!”
    Maura threw her weight against the Suburban, and her boots slid backward in the snow. She could hear Arlo grunting beside her, could feel the vehicle begin to rock forward.
    “Steer, Gracie!” yelled Doug. “Turn left!”
    The front end of the Suburban began to inch upward, toward the road. They kept pushing, Maura straining so hard now that her arms were trembling and her hamstrings ached. She closed her eyes, her breath locked in her throat, every ounce of effort focused on moving three tons of steel. She felt her heels slide. Suddenly the Suburban was sliding, too, rolling back against them.
    “Watch out!” yelled Arlo.
    Maura stumbled sideways just as the vehicle rolled backward and toppled onto its side in the ditch.
    “Jesus!” yelled Arlo. “We could’ve been crushed!”
    “Daddy! Daddy, I’m stuck in the seat belt!”
    Doug scrambled up onto the vehicle. “Hold on, honey. I’ll get you out.” He pulled open the door and reached inside to haul out Grace. She dropped, gasping, into the snow.
    “Oh man, we are so fucked,” said Arlo.
    They all climbed out of the