In one of Bill Cosby’s stand up routines he talks about how people who get scared lose their cool. To add to that premise, people who slip are in the same category. We’ve had a lot of snow recently and on the way to my car tonight I walked over some ice and ended up scooting along on one foot, waving my hands wildly to keep from falling. I managed to regain my composure and get into the car, but it reminded me of this story.
I was walking home from classes one winter, and when I walk in the cold, I’m in no mood to smell the roses. I tend to walk fast anyway, and the fact that I was alone meant there was no one to complain that I was walking too fast, so I was really cooking towards the crosswalk. I’m sure the speed didn’t help, but I was completely unprepared for the patch of ice lurking in front of me. When I stepped on the patch of ice, unaware of its presence, I saw both of my feet appear directly in front of me. I don’t remember exactly what went through my mind at the time, but it I would imagine it was something like this.
“Hmm. It is rather odd that my feet are way up here. They typically reside firmly on the ground, so with them way up there, what in tarnation is going on below me?”
My question was soon answered as my back hit the ground with a thud. There I lay, propped up by my navy blue backpack in the snow.
I quickly rose to my feet, brushed the snow off and looked around to see if anyone had seen my unintentional stunt. I don’t believe I saw anyone because I don’t remember feeling especially embarrassed. The pervasive feeling at the time was fear. You see, in the backpack’s outer pocket was an HP 48G (photo) calculator that I had purchased that semester. I began walking home again, not wanting to think about the very likely possibility that the screen had been smashed in the fall, ruining my precious calculator.
When I arrived home, I cautiously unzipped the pocket and pulled it out. I unzipped the gray cover, took a deep breath and slid the calculator out. With a huge sigh of relief I saw that it was completely unharmed.
Interestingly enough, that calculator now sits mere inches from me as I’m typing this and is used on a near-daily basis even though it has been nearly ten years since its purchase.
Thankfully, it remains unscathed.
