Snowball Fight

2000.

Pennsylvania. Was it Sharon Hill where this apocalyptic showdown occurred? It might have been.

I went with some friends to hang around on a snowy weekend day. What was significant was that it wasn't with my usual friends. (Perhaps one of my crew was there. I'm less sure now.) I went with guys I had met in high school and hung around with for a brief while. There maybe 6 of us in all, but I only recall 2 guys by name: EJ and Schwenke.

I recall we were in a parking lot of a shopping center where I had only really gone with my folks before. But we didn't go to a lot of stores. It was cold but I can't recall how it started, but we ran into some other guys we both knew from high school. The other group of people had maybe 8 or so similarly aged kids. There were some jokes, some ribbing, some light insults exchanged.

And then commenced the throwing. Who knows who threw the first ball? Snowballs came hurling from the other side. Retaliation came from my side. We broke for cover, throwing snowballs back. Getting hit with a single snowball does not hurt very much. Getting hit with a single ball of ice with some snow packed around it hurt a good deal. Getting hit with many of either can result in some serious hurt over time. So, the battle was on. Their side was largely throwing some pretty tightly packed snowballs. Getting hit with those from someone with a good arm stung a lot, especially if caught in the face. Despite presenting a large target when I aimed and threw, I didn't get hit in the face a lot. My large brown leather coat did an excellent job of protecting me and keeping me warm throughout the encounter.

This would be a good time to point out that throughout my entire life in Pennsylvania I had never learned to make a snowball. Ammo wouldn't have been an issue since there were still about 5-6 inches on the ground. They tried to show me how, but I couldn't quite get the feel through my heavy gloves. But even if I could form the plentiful snow into projectiles, I was pretty severely outclassed.

EJ was a pitcher for the high school's baseball team and some of the guys on the other side were also ball players. Schwenke, I recall, was a catcher. The other guys were fit and thin. Schwenke was bigger, but also fit. Anyways, for some reason, he ended up throwing a couple of snowballs at me. I was running out of small chunks of ice to throw at people. I had seen a small boulder of ice by me. I tried chipping some pieces off to throw at people but found it too slow a process. I decided it was then a good idea to pick up that boulder and charge Schwenke with it. He pegged me with a couple of snowballs before bracing for impact when I stood over him with my boulder. As I smashed it down on his back I cried out in victory. He cried out in pain. He then found a similarly sized ice boulder and smashed it down onto my back. We both collapsed right there.

The encounter continued. I'd see a snowball land around my general area now and again, but I just laid on my back for awhile. After maybe 15 minutes, the last ball was thrown. EJ came by and helped Schwenke and me up.

It was fun. This was just about the only real snowball fight I have ever been in. This was also just about the last time I hung out with that group of people from high school.

To have it to do over again, I'd have learned how to make a snowball before that fight.