A warm day in February, Snow Balls and Dumb Decisions

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Today’s Blog Post
A warm day in February, Snow Balls and Dumb Decisions

As I sat in the van the kids jumped out to run into the house. Emma was to unlock the door for her brother Clifford and Clifford was to fetch a schedule with the vital information for his afternoon program. Grandpa was the designated driver.

Just as Emma rounded the front of the vehicle a snow ball whizzed past my driver’s side window and hit the top of Emma’s school backpack. It glanced off her pack and hit the front bay-window right where the dog was sitting looking out.

Emma whirled around and glared at her stupid brother. She had no time for this nonsense and headed for the door.

As I opened the vehicle’s door to give Clifford a mild rebuke, Emma said, “I’ll just lock the door and not let him in!” But she wasn’t quite fast enough to get her vengeance… he made it up the steps on time.

That mini war happened in seconds. Then it was over with Clifford back in the vehicle and Emma out walking her dog.

All was forgiven… well kind of… until the next moment one of them could get the other one for what they last did. And only a brother and sister know what they feud about. It is just in their genetic makeup I think. It is family.

Oh the Flash Back…
As I watched this little spat go on I was suddenly back on a warm day way back in 55 years ago. Whoa! I gotta slow down these Flash Backs.

The snow was melting in the warm sunshine of the mid-winter thaw. I was in a pack of boys that had to walk from one school to the other one for a “Shop Class”. This was right after lunch and we had about 15 minutes to make the trip before the bell rang.

As we passed the red brick church it seemed only right that the church wall was a good place to throw a snow ball. The wet snow ball would hit and stick leaving the evidence that you could throw. And if you through enough snow balls you could write something, like printing your name – or your friend’s name…. or something stupid, like, “Girls are idiots”

The girls from our class were not far behind as they were heading to a “Home-Ec Class” while we did “Shop”.

With some of the words done quickly the evidence was there for the girls to see.

And as we moved further along the street, the next best thing to hit was each other. And ducking into a yard to hide here and there was the safest thing one could do.

None of us planned to harm anyone. I am sure of that. But the homeowner that lived near the church didn’t see it that way.

I think the dear old person probably attended the church that we had just pelted. And they couldn’t see the humour in writing stuff on the wall of their church – especially with the stained glass windows so close to red brick wall.

Then when I ducked into their yard to take cover behind the bush in their yard, I placed myself just near the large window of that senior citizen’s front room.

The guy that was about to nail me to the wall with his snow ball dropped his arm and moved away. I couldn’t figure out my luck. I was a dead man with his deadly snow ball.

As I looked slowly and looked around I caught the image of a person in the window… and realized that we had been seen throwing snow balls.

I ran to catch up to the other guys. Whew that was close!

Well it was too close.

When we arrived at the school and took our wet clothes off, the teacher told us to go directly to the Principal’s Office. All of us boys from the other school were to drop what we were doing and move now! The teacher wasn’t happy and his tone of telling us said it all.

I had a sinking feeling that we were in big trouble.

The senior that had been the witness and that owned the yard that I was crouched in, had called the school principal and told him of our sin. He had described what we wrote on the wall of his church, almost hitting the stained glass windows and the other boy that came into his yard. Then he had told the principal about the one boy that was about to break his big glass window with that snow ball.

The senior was very unhappy with these “thugs” that had paraded by his house. He had been watching us every time we walked to the other school and knew exactly who we were and what school we had come from.

Oh boy. The second school principal with the “Shop Class” was angry… and we just knew that our own school Principal would hear about this and we would be in bigger trouble!! Then our parents would hear about it too.

That Flash Back produced a cold shiver of regret that flooded my soul. I remember the look on that Principal’s face just before we dropped our heads in shame. The Principal explained that he had called the Principal of our school and told her what we did. He also said that if that ever happened again the “Shop Class” privilege would be withdrawn and we couldn’t come again.

We loved the Shop Class and the walk to the second school. And now we had blown it.

I can remember that afternoon we were all quiet… much quieter than normal.

Yikes what a memory. What a flash back.

Back to the Present…
I had a mind to tell Clifford that he can’t be an idiot like this… that Emma had done nothing to him… that he could have broken the front window of his house… that snow balls hurt… that he is going to have to get another ride from another Grandpa if he continues to act this way…

But I had this stupid grin on my face. I had just witnessed my grandson simply being me. He knew that he wouldn’t hit the window on purpose. His throw was perfect. It was intended for the top of Emma’s backpack… not her head, or her eyes… just her pack. And the throw had been good. Hitting the window was simply the splash over the backpack.

I really am “not the best example in the world”! I think that is what the Principal of that school had said about us that day in the principal’s office.

Some of the guys I went to school with went on to be lawyers. Some were in very big businesses. One was a politician. Others were faithful fathers that taught school many years before retiring.

And go figure I became a Minister… and for many years working with rascal kids and stupid teenagers that just wouldn’t listen.

I grinned again as I drove on, not mentioning the snow ball thing – until now. And when his dad and mom read this… this grandson of mine could be in big trouble. Sheesh! Sorry Clifford I just had to tell someone!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/