Sliding to School

Yesterday morning, the streets and sidewalks were covered with ice. It must have rained and then frozen over night. Rebecca and I usually walk to school, but it was so slippery that our mother decided to take us in the car. First, however, the ice had to be scraped off of the car's windows. Then came a slow drive up Hull Street, where every car coming in tried to wedge its way in front of us. Slow, dark, bad weather, everything inconvenient--it seemed like the perfect way to welcome us back to school. Eventually, with the car going so slowly, we decided to walk the rest of the way. The snow was OK, but as we reached the down-hill slope toward the school, there wasn't enough room to walk on the snow. So instead, we slid down the sidewalk. Walking was virtually impossible. Instead, we would grab onto the fence and slide down the slope. Then, we would take hold of another part of the fence, and slide some more. It turned out to be a rather efficient method of travel.

After school, I had a doctor appointment. I always manage to keep the nurses and doctor on their toes by asking questions. Yesterday was no exception. After a nurse gave me a meningitis shot, I asked, "Is this the kind of vaccination that can give you a slight chance of getting the disease?" The nurse began to answer, but she said nothing coherent: "There's always a chance...that's a good question...vaccines never work one hundred percent of the time...I should ask..." As she went blathering on in a dither, I couldn't help but laugh.

-Philip