Stories From My Past: Ice Storm

In high school I went on a band trip to Florida. We marched at Disney and whatnot.

During the trip I got on a pay phone (pre-cell phone days, remember) and talked to Mom n' Dad. They told me that there was an ice storm back home. I was in shorts and a t-shirt as they told me this. "No way", I thought. "They must be mistaken."

We all climbed on the bus for the 26-hour ride home.

I remember waking up a few hours before we were supposed to arrive. It was chilly. This didn't seem right. Then I looked outside the bus...SNOW! Blessed whiteness all around us.

Sidebar: "Blessed Whiteness" would be pretty good Rock band name, doncha think?

I was around the middle of the bus, but I could hear the whispers from the back. "Hey, we aren't leaving any tracks in the snow."

My teenage mind entertained a bizarre, foreign thought. "I wonder if my parents were right..."

I opened up my suitcase. The top layer was all my dirty laundry, but I suspected it wouldn't matter. I pulled on another pair of socks. I put jeans on over my sweats. I pulled on another shirt, a sweatshirt, and then my jacket and my heavy coat. I put on my thin white band gloves, then my winter gloves over those. I looked like I was ready to go explore the Arctic.

Meanwhile, the wisdom-impaired baboons in the front of the bus were going nuts. They stubbornly refused to believe that the white goodness outside could be ice. "SNOW! Snowball fight! As soon as we stop it's ON! Team up! Me an' Stinky against you and Dummy! Whoo-hoo!"

The bus stopped. The door opened. The loudest of the band bullies (who was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt) shoved his way past everyone, let out a barbarian's yell, and leapt out full-speed into a wind chill of 5 below zero.

It was gorgeous. I remember it as if it happened in slow motion. He had already started on an impressive anguished scream when his feet hit the ground and zipped out from under him. He landed hard on his hinder and then slid for at least 15 feet.

He very quickly rejoined us on the bus.

It's kinda rare for me to have a fond memory of high school. Seeing diddle-dork turn himself into a sled certainly bucks the trend, though.