At what Cost?

Growing up in Foster City was really, really hard. I'd try to communicate to you how difficult it was, but I'm afraid the english language has no such words. Until "undifficult" becomes a word, I think I'll just have to abstain. One such undifficult summer saw Joe, Kevin, off-and-on 4th musketeer Steven, and I trying to find refreshment on a hot day. It was a blisteringly hot 90 degrees outside, and we had no money. Our parents, the sole source of money, were at work, and we only had water to help us. Joe had one option, though, and in his freezer for whatever reason was a bottle of Coca-Cola. The only problem was that, since the Coke was in the freezer, it had been, well, frozen.

It was a rock. We tried to get that coke out, and maybe just let it thaw to allow us to drink the coke slushee, but the coke wasn't having it. We tugged, pulled, twisted, banged, hit, sledged, punched, and every other violent verb you can think of'd that bottle of coke. We wanted that coke; we needed that coke. After thoroughly beating into submission, though, we realized that we just needed to let it thaw. As a last ditch effort, Joe took a butcher knife out of the cupboard and tried to cut it open. When he stuck the knife in, unfortunately nothing happened. We expected sweet sweet coke to drip out, but it didn't. Joe shrugged. Steven, ever the eager young man ready to tackle the word, opted to give it the old college try.

Steven saddled up to that bottle of coke much like a young Arthur trying to pull the sword from the stone. Unfortunately, unlike Arthur, things didn't work out for him. Oh, he got the knife out, but much more with it. Imagine that, for a moment, when Arthur pulls the sword out, that the very rock that held it shattered into a million fiery pieces because of the sheer magnitude of what had just occurred. Now, replace "million fiery pieces" with "Coke" and you can guess what really happened. The moment that air was allowed into the savaged Coke bottle, it erupted with the anger of a thousand Mount Vesuvii. Once the coke dust cleared, Steven was left dripping with Coca Cola, and a Steven shaped outline on the wall was left, as the wall took the majority of the damage.

We spent the remainder of the day trying to clean it up, but unfortunately, there was no escaping the grounding that occurred. Alas, when Joe's dad came home, the ceilings were sticky, and Joe was punished. I'll always have that moment, though. The hissing sound of the air escaping, the brown flash in the air, and the Steven shaped outline on the wall as we finally got all the Coke we wanted.