THE REST OF THE FALL SEASON... (PART 39f)

We left to go back to school right after lunch on Sunday. Just as I was slowing down to turn into Pauline’s driveway a dog ran in front of the car. There was no way to miss it and I can still remember feeling the ”thump“ as a wheel ran over it. I stopped immediately and got out to see how bad it was. It was just a little dog so I picked it up from under the car. As I did I was looking for a heart beat and couldn’t find it. With the car still part way into the road, and Elle still in the car, I started walking towards Pauline’s house. I was almost up to the door when she came out and immediately screamed. Long story short... it wasn’t her dog but that of the neighbor. I took it over and had to go through the psychological trauma of giving the dead dog to them. I knew it wasn’t my fault but that didn’t lessen the pain I felt for the family. It was at least an hour before we got on the road. I really wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the trip. However, it went fairly smoothly, other than the traffic. There wasn’t much conversation and even when I said goodbye to Elle there wasn’t much in the way of passion. A ”lost“ weekend?

In a way I was glad to get back to classes. Some of the discord about my being dunked in the lake had calmed down and things were a little more cordial around the fraternity. The main item of concern was the social probation that the house had been put under. The house president and the faculty advisor had appealed that ruling and everyone was waiting for the decision due Thursday.

Waking up that morning I found that it was snowing... and it continued to snow for over 24 hours. I quickly found out that having a car brought with it some major problems. The town had an ordinance that whenever there was a snowfall of over 6 inches you couldn’t park on the street. All I remember is that there was more than a foot when it was all over. The K’s driveway only held one car, theirs. That meant that the other tenant and I had to find a place to park. I made a BIG error that night. The probation had been lifted and we had a party to celebrate. When I finally left the house I ended up leaving it at the gas station where I usually bought my gas, but without permission. When I went to pick it up the next morning I found it plowed in with snow. The guy who plowed the property did it before the garage even opened and he, supposedly, had no where to push the snow except up against all the cars that were parked in the lot, including mine. And it was packed in hard! I, of course, was mad when I saw it. But the owner of the station had no sympathy for me saying that since I hadn’t asked his permission to leave the car there, the fault was mine. I didn’t want to miss class so had to trudge my way to the fraternity without doing any digging.

As I mentioned, it snowed for over 24 hours straight. By the time I got back to the car the lot had been plowed again and there was even more snow packed in against the back of it. I dreaded the thought of having to did it out but I had no choice if I was going to see Elle that weekend. It actually took parts of two days. I dragged most of the Unholy Alliance down there to help with a promise of free beer. But was now Saturday and by the time we got finished and I ”paid“ the guys off it was dark. We’d heard that some of the roads that I used to get over to Elle’s were in bad shape and I ended up adding that to my excuse as to why I wasn’t coming over. I don’t remember her reaction. But truth of the matter was that I was in no shape to drive anywhere, let alone 40 something miles over back roads.

It seemed like that snowstorm unleashed a whole string of storms that covered the next two weeks. I don’t remember if it was only because of the snow that I didn’t get over to see Elle the following weekend either but I didn’t. We were both to finish classes on Friday, the 20th and I was planning on bringing Elle and the same two girls home, weather permitting. I remember that it didn’t snow the days right before but I’d learned that there could be a big difference in the accumulation of snow from one valley to another. Elle was two valleys away and when I called her the night before we were to leave she said that it looked good to her. That was good enough for me. I had my car packed and ready to go and was on my way minutes after classes let out. I shouldn’t have been in such a rush.

To be continued...