Big Storm
Posted by Robert on May 25, 2022 at 22:21:35
So on Saturday, we had a huge thunderstorm in the area. Low and behold, Robbie was out with his friends at the time on their bikes. Cody and Derrick (whom I've talked about before), plus another kid, Zack. Cody and Derrick are already 17 and Zack will turn 17 late in the year (Robbie's birthday is coming up in July).
Just before 1 PM, my phone went off giving me an emergency alert about the severe thunderstorm. I tried to phone Robbie on his cell, but he didn't answer, so I figured they were over at Zack's house (that's where they were going) already and messing around.
So it is clear in everyone's mind, we live in a very small town near two "big" cities (not "the" big city that everyone knows about Canada - we are basically due west). We live on the one side of town (actually out of it a bit) and Zack lives on the other in the "urban-y" part. Zack has a huge pool in their backyard :) and I know Robbie was eyeing it for some fun since we don't have a pool. We do have the trail sort of nearby and the falls, but they've actually recently blocked off access to some of it due to the incident earlier where I noted that Robbie and some friends saved a girl from it.
Anyway, Robbie biked over to Zack's place and they were meeting Cody and Derrick there. He wore his Soak Me's so I know he was planning something :). For those interested, he was also wearing a plain white t-shirt with very short sleeves (his trademark, ha ha), and navy blue skinny jogging pants, along with white socks. It was hot on Saturday so he didn't wear a jacket.
I waited a few minutes and then the storm came. And boy was it a doozy. Our power was knocked out and there were trees down everywhere. When it passed through, I tried to call Zack's house (they have a landline) and there was no answer. Then I phoned Robbie's cell again and no answer. I was a bit worried so I got in the car and headed out to Zack's. Zack's mom answered the door and said that the boys had all left on their bikes just before the storm hit. She didn't know for sure where they were going. Damn, I thought.
So I went back home and went to the backyard with my wife and Sam to clean up the branches, etc. while the power was out. About 30 minutes later, three bikes pulled into the backyard each with a sopping wet teenager on them.
"Hi Dad, we got stuck in that storm," said Robbie, smiling like crazy.
"I see that," I said.
"We're just gonna go inside here. We had biked this way when the rain hit..." Robbie started to say when I interrupted him.
"Uh, the power's out, don't think you'll find much to do here. Unless you want to help clean up the mess," I said.
"C'mon guys, let's help my parents," said Robbie.
I pulled out my phone briefly to call Cody and Derrick's parents to let them know they were here and safe.
Cody and Derrick dropped their bikes, took off their helmets, and joined Robbie over with me and started to clean up all the branches all over our property. I think we were all out there for about an hour, but it had really cooled off and the sun had come out.
"Can we raid the fridge?" asked Sam.
"Uh, no. Nothing's gone bad yet," said my wife.
"But I'm hungry," said Sam.
"I'll bet Robbie and his friends are too but they said nothing," said my wife.
Once they were all done, we all went inside. "Normally I'd offer to dry your clothes off, but obviously nothing will work with the power off," I said.
"That's ok, we'll just mess around," said Robbie.
"Just what do you plan on doing 'messing around'?" I asked.
"Don't know," said Robbie, who ran inside the house.
By now, none of their clothes were dripping wet, but Robbie's white shirt was still kinda translucent. For those interested, Derrick was wearing a red sleeveless shirt with CANADA on the front along with skinny blue jeans and black basketball shoes. Cody was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with grey jogging pants (sort of skinny) and red/blue basketball shoes.
Next thing I knew, I heard squelching coming from the hallway. I knew it, they had gone into the bathroom to get wet. Our bathroom has a huge skylight, so some light was coming in. There wasn't going to be hot water for long, but it doesn't seem like they minded - they were all incredibly soaked again.
"Can we bike along the track?" asked Robbie.
Where we built the hockey rink in the winter, is now sort of a track for the boys to bike on. My wife also runs laps around it daily.
"All wet?" I asked, smirking.
"Absolutely, that's the best way!" said Derrick.
Derrick is definitely a wackywetter. Cody, not so much. But he went along with it. Sam had gotten wet along with them too, wearing his skinny faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt, along with his white Air Force 1s.
They went out, race-biked the track a few laps, and the "loser" came inside and got in the tub. Then went back out soaked and did it again. So for the next few hours, four sopping wet teenagers were making a trail from our bathroom to backyard and squelching water everywhere. It was an incredible site to watch. My wife eventually put towels down along the track as they were tracking tonnes of dirt in...
The power hadn't come back when Cody's dad came by to pick him up.
"Boy you got wet," he said.
"Yeah, was already wet so we just kinda had some fun," said Cody.
Cody's dad just smiled. We exchanged niceities and they loaded his bike into the car and went off. Derrick's mom came by not long after and never said a peep about him being wet and they left too.
"That was hella fun!" said Robbie.
"Yeah, definitely," said Sam.
"I was a bit scared there when we were caught in the storm - boy was it raining. It basically felt like I was standing under the shower, but out on my bike," said Robbie.
Both boys stripped off and left their clothes downstairs until the power came back on.
Before I finish, I know this storm caused some fatalities. So my heart goes out to all those people. By writing this I'm not intending to downplay that fact, just pointing out the things that did happen to us before we knew bad stuff happened to others.
I have some other stories coming up - we did have a party for Sam's birthday, and we had a plan to completely soak him in his nice clothes. But that plan kinda backfired and he barely got wet. I still have to write it up and post it, so give me some time.
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