Cars idled waiting their turn. Snow, icy and gray, covered the hilly road, stalling traffic. The first car in line, a light blue Chevy with a long hood piled with snow, shifted to first gear, stepped lightly on the gas, and approached the hill. The driver gripped the wheel as he started to climb. Tires spun on the ice, fishtailed, and then the car slid sideways down the hill. The next car, a blue and white Ford convertible with tire chains, swerved around him and spit ice chunks as the chains dug the road. He applied more gas. and struggled up the hill. Another car came and did not stop. Using momentum gained before he reached the hill, he steadily applied gas as he climbed. Reaching near the crest, the car slowed, losing traction he slid backwards. A red VW Beetle maneuvered for the run. With its rear engine chugging, the VW steadily climbed and disappeared out of sight. The light blue Chevy, determined to make it, approached again. The driver opened his trunk and filled it with cement blocks from another waiting vehicle and other odds and ends to make the rear end heavy. Some passengers piled into the rear seat while two others climbed out. As the car started to spin wheels, they pushed it over the crucial point. Then they hopped into the still moving car.
Children on a nearby side street enjoyed the icy ruts made by cars. They pulled their sleds to the top of the hill and raced down the icy road. Some sat and steered the wood sleds with their feet. Others came on their bellies steering with their hands. Then for added excitement they piled four deep, the largest laying flat on the bottom and the rest hanging onto shoulders; they flew with the additional weight, losing passengers on the way.
Others shoveled walks and dug out cars from driveways. Old rugs were thrown under car wheels for traction. Salt and ashes were thrown on sidewalks and streets. One car’s bottom stuck fast in the middle hump of the tracks made by previous car tires. Cars pulled children on sleds up and down the street. Teens, carrying heavy metal snow shovels with wood handles, canvassed the neighborhood eager to earn money by shoveling walks. The air exploded with sounds of laughing children, crunching snow, clanking chains, and scraping shovels on pavements.
