Glass Ice

My friend and I were walking down that road that leads from Lexington High to the center of town. It snowed, and everyone just loves how it snows during school and on weekends, but never in the morning when they can cancel school. The road was nice and icy, the way it always gets when it snows, but no one plows the sidewalk. Kids walk on the snow anyway so that it turns to ice with footprints making it bump all the way down.

                  We were talking about DSI. It’s a drama class that enables students to act out social issues in a blunt manner. The day’s topic was race and gender, and the last skit was about tampons. It opened with two girls griping about their pains and the need for chocolate. Then, one girl asked for a tampon from the other, but in order to get it, it had to be passed to a guy who screamed like an ugly infected baby (compliments to my pen pal for that expression) and threw the tampon down like a dirty diaper. The girl picked it up and raised her hand to go to the bathroom, but the teacher didn’t notice until she waved the tampon and screamed his name.              Transition to a hallway full of guys pushing and bumping into each other, the way it always is in a hallway making it impossible to get to the other side. Of course the girl couldn’t pass through, so she holds up the tampon like the Statue Of Liberty, and the guys part like the Red Sea. They raise their hands to block their faces as if they can’t stand the light or are protecting themselves from a deadly blow. Finally, the scene ends with her singing “Lean On Me” into the tampon like a microphone as the rest of the girls from the class come out waving tampons like lighters at a concert. Sadly enough that really does happen, only without the singing.

                  On our way to the Center we had to walk behind those kids who hang out every day at the grassy Depot Square, even when the grass is covered with snow and ice. It is guaranteed that these kids will continue to be there without fail until doomsday. They were walking at that speed where it’s too slow to walk behind them, but fast enough so that you can’t pass them. They were also taking up the entire sidewalk. As we passed by Dabin’s, a Japanese restaurant with the best green tea mochi ice cream in the world, one of them broke off from the group. He picked up a piece of ice that froze like the glass windows on the side of the store, that used to be called Chrysalis, which is now some travel agency, and carried it off. Inside the restaurant, you can see a group of men sitting by the French door windows doing double and triple takes with amused expressions on their faces. You could tell they were thinking, “What in the world are those kids doing?” The kid carrying the ice said he’d smash it over a girl’s head who replied that after she’d regained her conscience, she’d beat him. Finally, we ducked into Signature Stationers, a store with the most expensive pens, overpriced notebooks, and attendants that stare you down to make sure you don’t steal anything because you’re a teenager. It’s not the most desirable place to be, but we go there partly because my friend wanted to get a notebook, mostly because we just couldn’t stand walking that slow. When we came out, we saw the ice smashed into little pieces on the sidewalk. Maybe they did smash it on the girl’s head, we joked. We decided we’d attend the funeral Mrs. Joe style from Great Expectations, then steal the flowers, if any, afterward.