Stephen Hamlin
Contrill
Intermediate Writing
16 February 2009
Then This Weekend Happened
“I have four papers, two quizzes, one speech, and an exam next week. Why on Earth am I going on this Water Polo tournament,” I thought to myself in Matt’s mother’s silver Dodge Neon as our Water Polo team drove into Pennsylvania. These were my thoughts before the weekend started. They centered on responsibilities that I knew I would eventually have to face. The assignment that I was most concerned about was a personal narrative that I was struggling with. I was originally going to write a narrative about how my sixth grade English teacher had really helped me in school, but then this weekend happened. Now I think I learned a lesson about literacy that I would have never have expected to learn.
It was 10:30pm, it was dark, and I was disappointed that we would have to wait to enjoy Pennsylvania’s mountains until the ride home on Sunday. We still had 100 miles to go before we reached the Rode Way Inn by Penn State. We had gotten a late start on our trip because Matt and I were an hour late leaving. The team wasn’t quite happy, but then again we were always used to running things unorganized. What could one expect with a rebuilding water polo team of only nine members? We had been getting new players to play water polo, but they had all been coming in the two weeks leading up to the tournament. So needless to say, they could not come along on such short notice. On the trip with me were Matt, Jamie, Eli, Laura, Tara, Bonnie, Tasha, Tiffany, and her boyfriend, Lou from Buffton College.
I was riding in the car with Matt, Eli, and Laura. They were all singing to the song “Anyway You Want It” by Journey while I was still thinking about all the schoolwork I had to do. “Bah… I suppose I’ll manage. Everything should be okay. Besides my papers and exams aren’t due until this Wednesday and my speech won’t be due till Friday. I’ll manage just fine.” With this last thought I returned to singing along to Journey with my friends.
“Ooh, all night, all night. Oh, every night. So hold tight, Hold tight. Ooh baby, hold tight,” we all sang as we were all just anxious to get into the hotel. We did not care how tired we were. Saturday would come and we knew that we would probably lose every water polo game because there were only nine of us with only two subs available and no one good enough to play goalie. All of us were in a suspended state of responsibilities. We were gone from Bowling Green State University and all of our school worries were put on hold. Our eyes were just looking ahead to seeing some great water polo team play and have fun in a social atmosphere.
When we finally got to Penn State at 12:30, we did not collapse and fall asleep in the cheap hotel paradise of the Rode Way Inn. No, we stayed up till to 3:30 enjoying ourselves of course by talking to each other and watching Jurassic Park. Eli, Jamie, Matt, and I did try to sleep at 2:30 am but we just could not bring ourselves to do so when we could prank call the girl water polo players and quote Anchorman lines left and right. As a personal opportunist, I fully believe in the whole “Sieze the day” Carpa diem motto. Eventually, we all did run out of steam and fell asleep. Jamie and Matt got the air mattresses while Eli and I each had our own hotel beds for ourselves. We woke up 5 hours later to Eli cussing up a storm because he did not like my techno ring tone alarm clock. After we all laughed and got ready, we went to the water polo tournament. That day we enjoyed the Penn State Campus, lost our water polo games, and those of us who were 21 enjoyed a few drinks at Hooters and our hotel room. It was the excitement we expected to have for a Saturday and again we all had no worries about anything. We were away from school and we had the chance to enjoy each other’s company.
The next Sunday morning was not too different as we looked forward to a fun morning and then the long drive back home. We did have one more water polo game and I kept complaining to Matt that we should just go home. I complained my usual joking manner that he was more than well accustomed too for I’m often very sarcastic to him. He knew that I did not really want to go home and miss our last game. The last game against the team that we all had managed to get along with from Burlington, New York. They were the other water polo team that was most like us. Both Burlington and our team were co-ed and played at an intermediate water polo level. However, they did have more players than us. All of the Burlington players were laid back and easy to get along with in the few short conversations we had with them. I even admired how this one player said; “Have a safe ride home” as our teams shook each others hand after the game.
We left the Penn State rec center after watching an amazing game of Penn State and Virginia University play. Before we left to go back to Ohio, we all decided to eat and of course being the goofy team we were, we walked around Penn State a little bit more before finding a restaurant. I thought it was silly that we had to eat out before we left instead of picking up some fast food and leave sooner. Then I looked at my cell phone and saw that the time was 2:00pm.
“Matt, you realize that its 2:00pm now,” I said. “We probably won’t be leaving till like three now. This means we’ll probably won’t get home in time to see that NBA All Star game.”
“Ha, I know Steve. We just can never do stuff on time.”
I nodded my head in agreement. I was still skeptical of why we were eating out again when it would take us 6 hours to get back to Ohio but I just went along for the ride and got double cheese burger with pickles, onions, ketchup, and mustard. I also split a large fry with Laura too. As I chewed into my heart attack sandwich, I looked outside to appreciate that weather was very nice in Pennsylvania. All thoughts of leaving late left my head as I was glad that we could all fill our stomachs for the ride back.
After we ate Five Guys, we headed back to our cars. I looked at Matt and said,
“Too bad it had to snow yesterday and it is sunny outside today Matt. We had plenty of down time yesterday when we could have walked around.” Again I looked around the streets of Penn State. Man! The weather was so nice! It felt like that good mix of spring and summer, with the warm sun gleaming down on your back and the cool breeze hitting your face. The crazy thing was that it was the second week of February.
When we reached the cars, I decided to ride in Jamie’s car with Tara this time. As we started driving we talked a little bit, but we were all very tired. Tara and I kept dozing off and Jamie would say a few things every now and then, silly things like “This ride will be a minute” and “I have a feeling that our drive back will be an adventure.” We were making great progress as we drove. After an hour of driving we got behind a semi truck and the semi truck driver had radar in his truck that would warn him of any police. Jamie told me how many truck drivers happen to have radars with them. Thus Jamie drove 80 to 90 miles an hour with our three cars and many other strangers following close by. I was content. We were going by fast and I could enjoy the great mountain scenery of Pennsylvania. Yet as we entered into Ohio the sky was all gray all of a sudden and I looked to Jamie and said, “Damn dude! The weather in Pennsylvania was cheery now Ohio is all gloomy.”
“I know Steve. It’s depressing,” said Jamie. “Oh well, we’re halfway there at least.”
“Yeah, true story.” With that said I picked up my half eaten bag of Doritos and started chomping away and wiping my cheesy fingers on my jeans.
When it reached 6:00pm the weather in Ohio was snowy and much darker. It was a light snow but it was still completely alien to the weather of Pennsylvania that we drove from just a couple hours before. We drove for another hour and then went to a gas station near Youngstown, Ohio to refill our cars and then went back to route 80 West and by now the snow had stopped.
We drove five more minutes and then we hit the longest traffic jam I had ever seen. All three of our cars sat in the line for at least a half hour. The traffic was backed up at least four miles ahead of us, and about three miles behind us. While we sat there in our cars parked, Jamie called his dad to find an alternative route. A few minutes later, Matt in the other car noticed that in the left lane next to us, an ambulance was trying to get the accident. However, cones were blocking the ambulance’s path so Matt ran out of the car and dragged some of the cones out of the way. Jamie and I also pulled the cones that were next to us. Fortunately the ambulance was able to drive through and get to the accident up ahead.
Once Jamie called his dad back to hear the rest of the directions, he, Matt, and Tiffany’s boyfriend Lou decided to try to take the detour. So all three of our cars turned around in the detour lane and followed the directions. The plan was to take route 11 to 76 North, and then be able to be back on our way to Bowling Green.
We drove to route 11 and turned onto the highway entrance. Jamie was in the left lane, Matt was in the right lane behind us, a jeep was behind Matt, and Lou was a littler further behind by about 300 feet. I wasn’t worried about the traffic jam anymore and I looked back down at the bag of chips. Again, I was hungry so I reached for another Doritos chip when Jamie said,
“What, is there another accident?”
I looked up and dropped my chip back into the bag. There were two cars stopped in the right lane that had already run into each other and then Tara pointed at two men by their car off the road and underneath the bridge to our left. They were jumping up and down yelling at us to get off the road. I was confused and I looked up ahead to see more cars crashed into each other. Our car was sliding as Jamie hit the breaks.
“It’s ok…it’s ok,” Jamie said as he swerved past the first wreck. Our car continued to slide as Jamie managed to get the car off the road but the car spun around. When we spun around, the jeep that was behind Matt’s car also had the same idea as Jamie but the driver hit our car on the right fender. It was only a light tap but it was more than enough to startle Jamie, Tara, and I. Jamie and I were silent but Tara yelled which made my nerves go haywire to hear it. Our car had stopped and we all sat dumbfounded. The two men, who were yelling before at us, were yelling at us again to get out of the car. As all three of us got out of the car Lou’s car hit a wall further down the rode on the right side. Tara started to cry and the two guys were yelling for every one to get away from the road and underneath the bridge, but I didn’t want to run. I just wanted to plop my ass down on the ground and yell, “What the fuck just happened?”
We ran any way. We ran underneath to the underpass of the bridge. I looked over across the underpass to see maybe fifteen people, and there were about seven us on our side of the underpass. I look back across the street this time identifying the people. I saw Matt, Laura, and Eli holding his hand. Then I saw Matt’s car. It had collided head on into a black car and on the other side of that car was another car that crashed into it, making it a car sandwich. I looked around for Lou’s car again and I see Tasha, Bonnie, Tiffany and Lou. I looked by me and I see Jamie, Tara, and the two men who tried to warn us. We were safe!
I then heard sirens. The police had finally showed up.
From this point on it was chaos of a different matter. It was the after math of a 22-car pile up and a semi that flipped over that caused the inevitable chain reaction. Cops were issuing orders to every one and write down reports and issuing citations. Tow trucks were taking cars away. Some cars were cheap old cars from the early 90’s. Others were cars that I dream about. All of this was the doing of a combo of black ice and a small hick town that did not get to salt their roads in time. Here’s a small article that Laura’s mother found.
The weekend snowfall caused slick conditions on Valley roadways, wreaking havoc for area drivers. According to reports, nearly 20 cars were involved in a crash Sundayevening. The accident happened whereRoute 11 andInterstate 80 intersectin Austintown. At least three of the cars ran into each other, with surrounding cars sliding off the road. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Traffic had to be re-routed until everything was cleaned up, but things have since returned to normal. (Multiple Vehicle Accident).
There is more to this story but I believe there is always more to every story which is why I will only tell you part of it. Before this past weekend, I had worries about a few papers. Now I worry about something different. I now worry about being ignorant. I worry that I look down to eat a Doritos chip instead of looking ahead for what could be black ice and two brave souls yelling and jumping up and down at the top of their lungs for us to slow down. And now I ask one question.
How short is life?
All of my friends, all of those people, survived. I thank God for that. When I think what could have happened, I wonder why I was ignorant and ungrateful in so much of my life.
Matt told me something that I am sure I will never forget.
“Looking back at Sunday morning, I just thought of one thing. What if some one had told me that we were going to be involved in 22-car pile up. Everything we are worried about now did not matter then. Now it’s a different case.”
I think about what Matt said and then I think about what I thought before this whole weekend started. I was oblivious to what could happen and now I am grateful that I learned. I now think about what learning is and compare it to different kinds of literacies. I have learned about driving literacies ever since I was sixteen years old. In Ohio, we are taught how to drive in snow and on black ice. In reality, how easy is that knowledge applicable in an underpass with black ice while 20 other cars have already crashed? I know that we use that knowledge we gained but I feel I that take it for granted and it makes me value the unlimited opportunities I get to learn from these literacies.