Staking on thin ice gave me a cold

Thin Ice by Adam Johnson

I was always a bit of dare-devil when I was a kid. I'd climb trees, chase snakes, jumped off the garage roof with a homemade parachute...you get the idea. I live in Northern Maine and it gets cold early up our way, and, most kids (myself included) take advantage of the winter sports available to us including staking.

Like most boys in the area, hockey was a passion of mine. Our staking pond had just started to freeze over when I decided it was thick enough to venture out. I enjoyed myself that day, I had the pond to myself and I must have spent three hours out there without any problems or incidents. The next day I went to school and told everyone that the pond was ready and we had a plan to meet that Friday for our first game of hockey.

The dismissal bell couldn't come fast enough as we all wiggled in our seats in anticipation of getting out on ice. Finally, the bell and we all ran to the pond, stakes in hand. We played and played and played until someone really gave the puck a good solid whack and it landed way across the pond. Thinking nothing of it I yelled out that I would go get it. As I staked over I noticed that the ice was a little slushy in the other part of the pond, but, didn't give it a second thought. I got the puck and gave it a hard whack back to the gang. As I began staking I heard a loud "CRACK" and before I knew it I was clinging to the side of the ice and in the water from my waist down. As I tried to pull myself out, the ice gave completely away and I was now under water.

My friends panicked! A few came racing towards me and others went running for help. As my friends got closer to me the ice broke up further and further. Finally, someone remembered that they needed to distribute weight to have the safest chance at rescue. They laid down in a human chain and by the time the fire department had gotten their, I was out of the water and shaking from the bitter cold.

I was admitted to the hospital overnight for observation. I was released the next morning and headed off to school and along the way my nose started running. By first period I had a sore throat and by the end of the day, I was feeling pretty miserable. The next day I woke up with a rotten head and chest cold that keep me out of school for an entire week. And, from that cold forward my Mother reminded me about not getting wet.

Now, supposedly they claim you can't catch a cold from being wet and being exposed to the cold but, nothing else explains how or where else I could have caught one they day I fell through the ice. Even today I find if I'm exposed to rain and cold weather, a cold follows within a few days.

This might not be the funniest story you read in this blog but, it's certainly a true story. And one I will never forget!