Coca Cola Adventure

The day started off like any other normal day. My alarm went off, I lay in bed listening to the radio and then about an hour later I finally get out of bed and shower. The only difference was the howling wind outside. The news on the radio also said it was bad weather outside but I thought nothing of it. We live in Saskatchewan and nothing stops us! I was going to work no matter what!

After a quick breakfast I decided it was time to get to work. I opened my front door and looked out into what was the worst Saskatoon blizzard I have ever seen. The snow was about 1 ft high against the front door and my car had snow all around it. I shuddered, closed the door and was so thankful I worked from home!

The day progressed as normal and I occassionally glanced outside and watched as my entire front steps disappeared under a big snowbank. We no longer had a sidewalk as the snow was up to your waist. My wife phoned around 4:00pm to say she might not get home. I told her to just drive slow. She asked me if I had looked outside or knew what was happening in Saskatoon. I hung up the phone and quickly turned on the TV for a news break. There it was...the entire city of Saskatoon shut down. Schools were closed, businesses were shutting down early and everyone at once was trying to get home.

Now that was the city's first mistake. They shut down the schools, the buses weren't running and the schools decided that no one could walk home and that parents had to pick up their kids. So suddenly at 1:00pm EVERYONE at once leaves their work to go get their kids. Visibility is absolutely zero and the cars are gridlocked across the entire downtown. The police shut down almost every main road that people normally use and so the only way to get home was through the downtown. A regular 10 min commute was taking people 3-4 hours!

And I continued to sit in my home office and work. And then it happened. I wanted a Coke. I ran downstairs and looked in the pantry...no Coke. I looked in the fridge...no Coke. I looked at my antique Coke collection and picked up a bottle filled with the sweet nectar....NO!! I quickly put it down and ran back upstairs. I couldn't drink away my Coke collection. There was only one thing to do...venture out in the blizzard.

I put on my jacket, toque, gloves and headed outside with my shovel. I went out the back door and trudged my way through waist deep snow drifts to get to the front door. And I began to shovel, and shovel, and shovel. I was only wearing thin gloves and I suddenly could no longer feel my hands. The snow was blowing in my face and I barely made it back inside. If I was going to get a Coke it was going to be even more work than first anticipated. After thawing out my hands I ventured back outside with my shovel. I had to clear the parking spot so my wife could park when she got home and also clear a path to our front door.

I once again braved the outdoors and this time with thcker gloves. I was just finishing up the shovelling and had managed to clear a very small path to our doorway when my back gave out. I hobbled back inside thinking my Coke dream was over. But I refused to give up. I bundled up again with every piece of clothing I had and just as I stepped outside my wife came home. I thought my adventure might be stopped by some common sense, but no! Instead she decided to join me and our quest to Extra Foods began.

The wind was howling, the roads were slick and the Extra Foods seemed a long ways off. We walked in the middle of the road as the sidewalks were non-existant. As we trudged along I continually kept wiping out again and again as the roads were so icy. As my eyes began to water, my cheeks blown red by the wind and my nose as red as Rudolph's I suddenly saw the glorious lights through the blowing snow...no it wasn't heaven, it was Extra Foods. As we neared the front doors we were so happy to be there we ran to them just to get inside. As we approached the AUTOMATIC doors at full speed we realized too late that they weren't opening. We both crashed into the glass knocking ourselves to the ground. As I lay on my back and looked up I questioned my own sanity, but when I glanced through the glass window of the store there I saw it...a 2L of Coke just waiting to be bought. I staggered to my feet and we had to manually push open the doors like we were breaking into a sealed vault. Once inside I grabbed my Coke and made for the exit.

After once again prying open the doors to get out we headed home, but this time against the wind. Conversation was non-existant as we trudged on home, heads down and hoping that no car would hit us. As we rounded the corner exhaustion was setting in. My wife was up ahead when I hit some ice and slipped to the ground. She never saw me and as I lay there face down in the snow I realized my time had come. People had always told me that Coke would kill me and it was finally coming true. I was slowly drifting into unconsciousness when a thought suddenly struck me. If I die, I can't drink any more Coke. With renewed vigor I pulled my face out of the snow, staggered to my feet and forced one foot in front of the other as the journey continued. We rounded the final corner and our house could be seen. As the door was unlocked, I stepped inside and collapsed on the floor.

My wife, being the EMT, knew just what to do. She ran to the kitchen, filled a cup with ice and poured me a glass of Coke. She knelt down and touched the glass of Coke to my lips. The wonderful sweet nectar flowed down my throat and I sprang back to life. I held the wonderful cup holding the magic life giving potion and settled onto the couch for the remainder of the evening. As I slowly drifted off to a peaceful sleep, the last words going through my head were "It was worth it!"