Penguin Sledding and a Devious Plot

Sunday, December 17th, 2017

Oh boy, it's morning again. Why do I always stay up so late? Oh well. But the snow was finally here, so I got dressed and gave myself thirty minutes to walk down to the church. This proved far too much time, so when I reached the big stoplight I stopped walking at my usual pace and slowed to a low bumble, taking time to look at each little thing that caught my eye. Eventually I got there, right on time. There was only one service at church today, so it was pretty well packed. I managed to get a seat, so that was good. Afterwards I talked with Levi and somebody else who I've forgotten, and then Levi gave me a ride back to 6th street. I threw a pot of rice on the stove, and then proceeded to do... something. I forgot. I probably just wasted time. At any rate, The rice finished and I took it off the burner, and then I got ready to go to Keziah's place to watch the movie Ladyhawke with some friends. I bundled up (because there's finally snow!) and went to grab my rice... but it was still settling and I didn't want to take it out of the pot. Neither did I want to carry it all the way there, so I decided to put it in my backpack. But then I realized it would be too hot, so I threw some hotpads and other cushioning things in there. And then I realized that the lid would come off the pot, so I tied it down with some string. And then I realized that this might actually work, so I set off. I grabbed my sled on the way, thinking you never know when you'll need a sled in the winter time. I was not wrong. Immediately I made use of it to quicken my pace and conserve my energy, and I sledded down the back alley behind 6th street, across the road, and down the next alley before I reached the bottom of the hill. I couldn't help but swell with pride at the thought of how well I must've looked, I was like a penguin totally rockin it down the slope on my belly. I stood up when I arrived at the bottom and then broke into a run. I was living it up for real. In all actuality it probably didn't look that cool, but boy did it feel epic. Anyways, I smiled inside and out as I loped off on the way to Keziah's apartment, arriving there just a couple minutes later.

Next thing I knew Keziah, Patrick, Christy, Mandy, Wesley, George, and Ruth and I were all there, talking a bunch as we waited to start the movie, and laughing uproariously at all the one-liners that proliferated the film. Then we paused it real quick to make sandwiches, and it was then I set my rice out along with the other toppings. (Several people expressed their doubts as to how good rice would go with sandwiches, but by the time we'd finished at least both Mandy and Christy had been converted.) After that we finished the movie, then talked and sat around and goofed off for a bit, until at long last only Keziah and I remained.Then I said goodbye, for he was leaving early next morning to drive home for Christmas break, and I too headed off back to my house.

I managed to catch a ride back with Patrick, who I found just backing out when I entered the parking lot, and soon after arriving back home decided to see if Bobby and them were still sledding. Perchance, Taylor boy just happened to drop by, and finding Froh asleep, was heading out again. I caught a ride with him to Bobby's place, where I found that Bobby, Daniel, and Hannah had in fact just recently gotten back from sledding and were now drinking hot chocolate and about to start a game of cards. Since I was still there, we decided to play Spades, so Bobby and I taught Daniel and Hannah how to play. It was great fun! After that game ended around five o'clock ish, we called it quits and went our respective ways. Bobby and Daniel lived there, so they just stayed and started preparing to leave the next morning, while Hannah and I walked off down the street. Walked, that is, until I got to the top of Cherry street. The beautiful thing about Cherry street is how steep it is, and just how perfect it for sledding. Since it was winter and the snow had already fallen, I of course still had my sled with me. Heh heh. So I jumped on and raced off to the bottom. Some have expressed concern about the traffic that is often found busily humming on A street at the bottom of the hill where Cherry meets, but I assure you the situation was totally under control. Just then a lady and her child were unloading their car of groceries, so I called out to them as I rushed towards them down the sidewalk. They didn't hear me and just barely avoided getting hit. I stopped at the bottom and turned to see Hannah had been trotting along behind me, so I waited for a bit for her to catch up, but then found she was turning right while I was going left, so we said goodbye and parted ways.

I trundled on through the snowy sidewalks, crossed the busy main road that bifurcates the town into east and west halves, and continued up a street that I normally don't walk on. And then, I stopped dead in my tracks. There. It. Was. The opportunity to do what I had only ever dreamed of doing; there, right in front of my very own two eyes, was an outdoor concrete staircase that emptied out onto the corner where I was standing. It was covered with snow. I gleefully raced to the top with my sled, virtually bursting with excitement. This was the day I'd been waiting for. I set my sled down at the top, got on stomach down head first, with arms outstretched to propel me along, and there I perched at the top of the snow-covered staircase. Here it goes! I pushed myself over the edge and started my decent. It was more bumpy than I had at first expected, and by the time I reached the bottom I was convinced that I must've done something wrong. So I ran up and went again. Same result. One would almost get the feeling like perhaps this was a poor idea, since each test produced the same unwanted effect of having one's stomach pounded repeatedly on each step as the descent was made. I had thought the snow would be a little more cushy, but oh well. It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but I'd totally do it again if I had some friends to join in on it with me.

After that I ran up one more time and sledded down the hill on the other side, then continued walking back to my place. I turned on Van Buren and walked up the gently rising hill, then sledded gently down the other side penguin style. When I made it to the bottom at third street, there was traffic. Cars kept coming and coming, but at last the car on the other side of the street put his turn signal on to turn left and was waiting for the approaching car to pass. I knew I could make it across fast enough, so I made a dash for it, even making it with plenty of time to spare. I continued on the way for a bit and made it back to 6th. After that I played some music in the kitchen as I threw some bread dough together, then washed a couple dishes and cooked up some porkchops for dinner and for travelling tomorrow. Two hours or so after that Luke and I left to meet up with all the peoples to go sledding at The Sledding Hill. This hill is amazing. It is super steep, very tall, and takes a couple minutes of climbing to reach the top. The rush on the way down is superb. I went several times by myself, then as more more people came we went down in pairs. Besides the fact that Laura messed up her ankle and had to go to the emergency room, it was a perfect night of sledding. (Bout 8:30ish when we started.) As the night went on more and more people arrived, and there was a good number of us there. We threw many snowballs and had a blast racing down the hill and playing in the snow. Isaac (not the Mexican Isaac) and I rolled down the hill Princess Bride style twice, it was pretty great. Then everybody finally had their fill of sledding, and we all headed for the bottom, where most of us left to meet up again at Rachel's apartment for hot chocolate. I, however, stayed behind with the freshmen and continued our snowball fight for quite some time. At one point Andy and I got into some close-quarter fighting and ended up wrestling it out on the ground. This gave me great joy because I don't usually get the chance to wrestle people, and it's even more rare that somebody tries to throw me to the ground without my explicit provocation. Andy, though, challenged me nonetheless, and it was great fun. In the same vein, not once but twice Noel ran up and knocked me to the ground. Most girls don't pursue such tactics, so I wasn't expecting it in the slightest when I found myself looking up at the night-sky. Saying the freshman class has a little spunk would be a slight understatement. At any rate, we all had a great snowball fight. Eventually I said goodbye and headed off to my truck, in which I promptly got stuck when trying to turn around. *sigh  But a bunch of the guys pushed me back out, so it worked out. From there the only way to not get stuck again was to back up all the way down the street, so back out is what I did.

By and by I arrived at the Hill apartments. I knew everyone was crowded into Rachel's apartment, so I made my way there after taking off my soaking wet coveralls. I also noticed a strange bulge in the hood of my jacket.. it was a stray snowball that had managed to find its way there. A sly smile crept across my face just like the idea did into my mind. A plot, yes, a devious plot was forming in the dark abyss of my mind, and I liked it. I silently, ever so silently, walked up to the door to the apartment and listened. Yes, I hadn't made a basic mistake, this was the right one. I slowly twisted the doorknob till it was fully opened, then gently pushed the door open past the latch, and then let the knob twist back to its resting position. The door was now cracked open. Next, I slid in front of Keziah's door, hiding my body there while with one hand slowly but surely pushing the door into a more and more open position. Now it was open about a foot and a half or so. And then it happened. I heard the sound of someone approaching the door. Here it comes, who will it be? As soon as she opened her mouth, I knew who it was. Charli. This was the perfect person for my scheme. As she approached the door she asked aloud, "Hey, did you guys want the door open?" And as she reached to close it, I made my move. I burst through the half open door with a roar and scored several screams and the look of alarm on Charli's face gave me utter satisfaction. She squinched up her mouth in a humph of being caught off guard, and her eyes burrowed into me like a soldering iron. Charli had few words to say to me about the audacious plot I'd just executed, but she hardly needed them. She sat back down where she'd been earlier and stared at me like I'd just committed treason or something. I laughed heartily. And then I laughed again, for I knew something that she did not: there was still something in my hood. To add insult to injury, I casually grabbed it out and tossed the snowball in her face, which then burst into a thousand pieces and scattered upon the floor. The look of utter shock and astonishment that swept across her face was even better than the last time. "You...!" I laughed again as several of us began picking up the snow off the carpet. Needless to say she ended up stuffing some down my shirt, but I didn't care and laughed all the more. Then we settled down and began talking; me trying to restore her goodwill towards me, and she doing her best to maintain the moral high ground and maybe stir up some notion of guilt or penitence in my soul. Neither of us were very successful, but I suppose we at least made progress, as evidenced by the smiles on our faces as she accused me of wrongdoing and I contested the matter. Then she went downstairs to her apartment to grab something, moving a couple pairs of shoes to the outside porch as she went. I kept on talking with other people, but then a realization of horror washed across my face: Charli was taking a good bit of time, perhaps she was getting some revenge. "My boots!" I yelled to myself. "She took my boots! She's probably going to stuff them full of snow or something!" I jumped up and then out the door; but my boots were safe and sound. Just then Charli came up carrying an overflowing armful of blankets, and I thanked her for grabbing them for me.
"These are not for you!" she declared matter-of-factly as she plopped them on the floor by the couch. Being who I am, I took this as a challenge, so I promptly grabbed up half of them.
"Oh no you don't!" she countered. Charli then ripped one blanket out of my hands, and by the end of such an onslaught I ended up with just one Indian blanket, but it was great. After that we settled down once more and began talking again. At one point she remembered something and said,
"Oh yeah! Guess what Leaf?" in one of her now-you-dun-it tone of voice. "So I was dropping some people off today, and I was driving down third street when this random guy jumps out in front of me and I almost hit him. He was carrying a blue circular sled and had a black jacket on, and I was like, "Wait, that's Leaf!" What were you up to?"
I laughed first, then led with, "Woah woah woah, for starters I did not jump out in front of you. There was plenty of time for me to get across before you got there. And besides, the other car was waiting for you anyways, so I may as well have gone across. And that was you?" I laughed once more.
We continued haggling over it for a bit, as two people who are wont to argue smilingly will do.

After that I went to the kitchen and talked with the blokes over there, and then by and by some people left and we began a game of freeze improv. This is a fun improv variation that you can ask me about later if you want to know more about it, but suffice it to say that a lot of weird and awkward things come out of your mouth when improving. This, of course, keeps things funny, though sometimes it's just painful. Oh well. Maybe I should work on improving my improving. By the time this was finished it was getting rather late, so we all departed to our various and sundry abodes to sleep. Tomorrow I'll be catching a plane down to Florida!