A bold Sole

Emeka Igbokwe
Pathways
Blog1
February 6 2011

    Its my first winter in Dartmouth Massachusetts and I'm rather enjoying it. The weather is just like I expected of an area near water. Loads of snow dumped all over campus and as a December baby I feel just at home. I never understood why people scorn snow so much. Snow is one of the most beautiful natural occurrences to me. I'm one of those people that can sit at a window and just watch the snow fall for hours until a get tired. The next day I wake up just as excited to look out the window and the powdered covered trees. Its such a sight to see for me. I'm one of those kids that never really minded shoveling because I would be playing in the snow at the same time.
    About a week after returning from winter break me and a group of friends were at the residential dining hall and it had been snowing for a few hours. That snow added to the snow that was already on the ground was the perfect amount for a snowball fight. It had been years since I last had a snowball fight and I was ready for this. Quickly, word of the snowball fight spread through the room. It was funny seeing people walk back and forth whispering in each others ears saying, “Snowball fight in the quad after dinner.” After the message was sent one of two responses was seen; either a smile and a nod saying yes they were going to be there or a I scowl and a look replying, “what do I look like playing in the snow its too cold for all of that.” Nevertheless, we got our group and headed back to the quad. The fight started as we walked to the quad. Unsuspecting girls got thrown into piles of snow while guys started tackling other guy. It was a fun ten minute walk that fueled us to want start right that moment an all out battle. Instead, we agreed to go inside and change into more comfortable clothes and come back out a 8 o’clock.
    When everyone came back out we decided to make the game man-hunt/ snowball fight boys vs. girls then we started. 45 minutes later were still playing hard. I get hit in the back and pursue who the group closest to me. The turn the corner behind the building I live in. so I don’t get ambushed a call two guys and the three of us start the chase. We get to the open field the my window faces and its nothing but a blanket of snow. In that blanket is the footprints of the girls that ran in this direction. I look closer and I can see the exact imprint of their shoes. It was three girls, two of them it was obvious what shoes they were wearing but the other was questionable. I saw it was a flat bottom shoe which was weird because its foolish to be running in snow with no grip; that’s how someone slips and hurts themselves. I follow the tracks a little more and I start to recognize the shape of the shoe. It was flat but I had a little heel to it. A few more feet ahead and what I see slaps me in the face. I exclaim, “Hey! Who wears Sperrys in to play in the snow?” I stood there and laughed; one of these girls is running around with a pair of Sperry Top-Sider Boat shoes on. She is officially a prime target! Wearing a pair of Sperrys in the snow is almost like walking around barefoot. Within ten minutes you'll have frozen toes. Sperrys are low too so if the snow is over three inches there will be snow in the shoe too. The now outside while we were playing was up to six or seven inches so which ever girl was out here in those would be in pain soon.
    I never found out who the girl was that night. She finally realized it was a bad idea to be running around in boat shoes. Boat shoes are stylish for sure, but they lack, highly, in the winter functional department. I have a few pair myself, but I would never wear them in that kind of situation. She would have been pretty angry if she got frostbitten toes.