On Comm. Ave. in Boston, there is a charter high school that sits in what used to be a car dealership. While it’s hard to imagine what it looked like when seeing at the grand main staircase the splits halfway up into two smaller staircases designated for up traffic and down traffic, it’s quite easy to picture in the big hall that has floor to ceiling windows that open up onto one of Boston’s busiest streets. It is in this big hall that I encountered hail for the first time. Over this past summer, I took part in a four week teacher prep course that actually paid me to become a better teacher. ( Teacher Launch Project for any aspiring first or even second year teachers out there, I cannot recommend this program enough). One afternoon, a cloud so dark and ominous rolled over the city as if out of a cartoon or movie and some divine being was going to cleanse us with rain. While no deities were witnessed, that is essentially what happened. Pearl sized hail pelted down upon us, and never having encountered it before, I was fool enough to go outside to experience it. For about 5 seconds before taking a piece to the head and not enjoying it anymore. Once the hail died down, the rain picked up in the wind creating white bursts like surf obscuring our view from these big windows we were all pressing our faces against. We watched as Comm Ave put on it’s best Charles River impression, and I noticed two huge patio umbrellas from a Dunkin Donuts across the street had been blown asunder (note the only time you ever see Asunder is with torn or blown) and were blocking the train tracks. Former Dunkin Donuts employee and avid T rider I am, I asked “Someone has to go rescue those, should I do it?” I was scoffed at and called crazy. Yet the temptation was too strong, and I went out into the onslaught of rain, across the fully flooded street in my khakis and button down shirt, and grabbed the first umbrella. Too frenzied and hyped up to close it, I held it fully open behind me, fighting the wind for every step. Carrying a large metal rod was safe in this storm because there was an umbrella on top, right? I was met at the door of Dunkin Donuts by an anxious and very gracious middle aged woman working there who relieved me of the umbrella as I went out for the second one even further down the tracks. In the final stretch of returning it, I noticed a train coming and was even more glad I undertook this foolish endeavor. With about twenty feet remaining, I had to plant my feet and stand my ground or become the world’s wettest and worst Mary Poppins impersonator. Reclaiming my balance, I was met at the door by the woman again, and the assistant manager who lived across the street but had come down to slow to match my heroics. I was given all the food and drink I could ask for, and told to come back whenever for free food and drink, but I didn’t even care about that, and “saving” the train was nice too, but ultimately the experience of the hail and driving winds and rain were the real reason I did it. The T driver will never thank me, the “free food and drink” turned into a measly senior discount from the actual manager later that week, getting on the air conditioned train in soaked clothes made me shiver like no other, but the exhilarating rush of running through giant umbrellas in hand such a force of nature was worth it.
Video footage of the second umbrella as proof.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDK6kYL3qrA
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