Raining Glass
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Glass shards appeared to be lying on the frozen grass tops, but upon closer inspection, it was jagged ice, a byproduct from the oddest weather day yet this winter. Every few steps, there were more pieces, cast randomly about the ground as though a high-rise window above suddenly exploded and the pieces burst into the vacant field behind the office complex.
The day began with what weather forecasters called a “mix,” which, as far as can be told, means something similar to rain – an ugly concoction not frozen enough to be hail and far from liquid drops. As the day wore on, this ugly mix turned to freezing rain and sleet that shackled traffic for the morning rush hour and well into afternoon.
My office window looks out on six lanes of traffic and the various shipping centers and frontage roads that parallel the interstate. The temperatures gradually warmed throughout the day to the low 30s, but the asphalt was still spotted with ice. Those places that show smooth and black were enough to cause the traffic to move in fits and starts. As soon as it began to pick up, it settled down again as the drivers attempted to dodge slick spots or let them slip seamlessly beneath the middles of their cars.
Normally vehicles fly by in 70 MPH-plus blurs that hiss in sound waves with real weight that spill over the cement barriers as though they were ocean waves. Whish … they pass by, though a world colored entirely gray and lazy.
The cars run to north to south all day on this road that extends as far south as Mexico and as far north as Canada. This office complex where I sit with my back to this motion most of the day and type rests at the mid-point on the long passageway – the caravan of cars and trucks and diesels or some other vehicles that avoid description, all driven by different people with different motives. Each driver has various strengths and weaknesses behind the wheel, too. They are all ages with varying levels of vision and attention.
Some of the younger drivers, who are gifted with excellent eye sight and ideal senses compared to senior-aged drivers have another issue in that they are slaves to technology. I have seen drivers on Interstate 35 texting, using their thumb to press the keys and send a message to a recipient with a similar device that hopefully is not themselves among moving traffic, though it’s highly likely that is the case.
Mixing this weather with anything more complex than walking can be challenge. Like the streets, the sidewalks were frozen over in the morning and the ice and snow cleared away by crews working in the cold. Then as the weather switched to different moisture, the cement pathways from the office to the parking lot became slick again.
These glass pieces lying on the lawn were unmistakable. With nothing to protect, this bare spot of Earth was an open face for whatever the Heavens had a mind for dropping on it, be it rain or sleet or hail … or glass. These pieces were a symbol of how dangerous Midwest ice storms can be and a sign of the possible dangers to come on the drive home – entering out into the traffic that, no matter how fast or slow it appears to move, always seems calm and welcoming from the safety of an office window.
