"Damn, it's hot!" Lauren Wick wiped the sweat from her forehead.
  It was uncheerleader-like to sweat, and eighty degrees in mid-December wasn't helping.
  "Hurry up, Lauren!" Kristin called a dozen yards away. "You'll be late for practice."
  Lauren picked up the pace and caught up with Kristin just as the two filed into the gym.

  "And Lord, thank you for this heat wave, and our opportunity to... To worship you, Lord. And thank you, God the father, for the praise band and their ministry here... Here tonight." Chris Melvin whispered solemnly before the dozen or so youth gathered before him. "And as we go out into the world, help us, God. Help us to see you, to believe you, to be with you. And in Jesus' name, amen."
  As the group dispersed, John Clower remained. His parents were in the choir and wouldn't be through for another half hour. He was sick of this heat wave. He wanted to get home, get the last of his algebra done, and go to bed.

  That night, while checking his E-Mail, John, as always, listened to the weather forecast. He nearly fell out of his chair.
  "The extended forecast," the synthetic voice continued, "Monday... Increasing clouds. Temperatures falling into the mid 30's. Monday night... Mostly cloudy with rain likely... Rain changing over to sleet or snow late. Lows in the mid 20's."
  Without a moment's hesitation, John sent an E-Mail to everyone he knew, which was about five people. afterwards he finished his homework and went to bed.

  That weekend, a great rain storm came through. Temperatures remained in the 60's for two days straight. Denton received more than seven inches of rain. Flash-flood warnings went on for half of Saturday and all day Sunday. Sunday night, the clouds cleared and a cold front began filtering out the humid, tropical air and replacing it with bitterly cold, dry air.

  Monday afternoon, John and Tyler stayed up at school for the history club and to work on their history project. Cold air had a tight grip on the city. By 4:00, temperatures were in the upper 30's and falling fast. Chamber practice was to start at 6:00 rather than 6:30, so the two went back to work and didn't see the first snowflakes begin to fall.

  "So should we have you coming in before or after the ninja scene?" John asked, looking up from his Braille Lite.
  "I think we need-aaaaaaahh!" Tyler's voice ended in a girlish yelp.
  He felt something hit him in the back of the neck. It was cold, wet, snow! He whirled in time to see Lauren Wick throw another snowball at him.
  "Wow!" He shouted. "Snow!"
  He dove past Lauren and came up with a fist-full of snow. The cheerleader was too busy talking to Kristin, thus she didn't see it coming. Needless to say that the snow was light and unplentiful at the time, so both Tyler and Lauren headed back inside for their orchestra rehearsal.

  Ironically enough, it was only the sophomore class that showed up that night. Mason and Anne had given each other monno and thus were at home sick with the flu. Stephen and Hani were at the National Debate Thingy Tournament Playoffs in New York, New York. In the second violins, sat Nicole Taylor, Lauren Besselman, Emily Sears, Holly Manning, and finally, in the very very very very very very very back, Kristin Zimmerer, who conned her way into chamber and shouldn't be there at all. In the violas, leading the section, was April Long. After her, there was John Clower, because he worked eight times as long on his tape compared with Lauren and Hani. Behind them, Lauren was on the second stand. In the cellos, there were just three: Forrest in first, James in second, and Jere in third. The bass section, the loudest and liveliest of the sections, was occupied by one and only one: first and last-chair bassist Tyler Browder.
  "Ok, we need to practice for London." Mrs. Veazey said cheerfully. "Hey, when someone is speaking, it's very rude to talk while they are talking. We won't even be going to London with that kind of behavior."
  John turned around and looked at Lauren.
  "I'm ahead of you, ha." He whispered. "Ha ha ha."
  Lauren hit him in the back of the head.
  "Lauren, what did I just say?" Ms. Veazey demanded.
  "You said that the coincidental deaths of Elvis Pressley and Jimmie Hendrix were a result of a communist ploy to adapt to American satellite-tracking technology." Lauren Besselman exclaimed.
  "Not you, the other Lauren!" Ms. Veazey replied. "The one that I shouldn't have made fourth chair."
  Lauren Wick hit John in the back of the head again.
  "She said it, not me." John protested.
  "You said that the third movement of the serenade is on our upcoming tape test?" Lauren said weakly.
  "Yes." Ms. Veazey answered. "Now, hey we're out of firsts. Nicole and Lauren, move over to the firsts."
  Lauren Besselman jumped into the first chair of the first violins before Nicole could and laughed evilly with apparent triumph.

  During the second movement of the serenade, Tyler let out a girlish shout. When the orchestra turned, Tyler's hand was jammed in the holes on his bass. His wrist was swelling up, either sprained or broken.
  "Hello." Tyler said, completely embarrassed. "Wassssssuuuuuuppppp!"
  "Lauren, go get an ambulance." Ms. Veazey said frantically. "I'm off to my broom. Car, I meant car."
  Ms. Veazey ran off out the door and disappeared into the night.
  "I ninja warrior." John stood up, suddenly in a karate get-up. "Boy with hand in bass, removing hand I shall. Haaaauuuuu... Circling the bass, scrutinizing the bass. Now, must wait till least suspect, and tiah!"
  John slammed his fist into the bass, doing little damage.
  "Bass stronger than ninja thought." John cracked his knuckles. "I try again."
  Again he circled the bass and smashed his fist near Tyler's lodged hand.
  "Bass is more worthy opponent." John bowed slightly. "I bow to bass. Now, to be sane."
  The karate uniform disappeared, and John was back in his old clothes.
  "I'll get it out." Forrest walked up to Tyler. "Ok, Tyler, try not to look down. It could get bloody."
  Tyler nodded. With one foot, as big as mine, Forrest kicked the bass as hard as he could. The bass broke in two, and Tyler pulled his hand free.

  By 7:30, it became clear that Ms. Veazey was not coming back. Lauren Besselman poked her head out and found no cars there. Well the cars were there alright, but they were in a fresh snow bank. A few cars were only buried midway up the door, but a few were completely covered.
  "If any of you expect to get home tonight, you'd better go now." Besselman said, turning back into the warm band hall.
  Forrest and April leapt out the door simultaneously and headed for their vehicles. In another second, both were making their way slowly but surely home.
  "My car's buried!" Lauren Wick whined. "Nicole, help me dig it out."
  "No way! It's cold out there." Nicole pointed out.
  "Fine." Lauren slammed the door. "Then we're all stuck here, all night by ourselves."
  Jere laughed. Kristin slapped him.
 . "Shut up, Jere!" Lauren snapped. "Ok, first thing's first. We need to set up a chain of command. Now, I'll be in charge, because of--"
  "What the Hell!" James shouted. "Lauren, we're not dying here. We're just stuck in a band hall with no adults... Alone... Alone..."
  "No James." Besselman said sharply.
  "It's gonna be a long night." Tyler sighed. "Oh crap!"
  "What is it, Tyler?" John asked.
  "There's gum on the bottom of my shoe." Tyler explained.
  "There's gum on the bottom of your shoe?" John asked, with utter bewilderment in his voice.
  "Yeah, there's gum on the bottom of my shoe!" Tyler shouted.
  "There's gum, on, the bottom of my shoe. There's gum, on, the bottom of my shoe," the two began singing.
  Kristin and Lauren Wick joined in with their metronomic "gum" "gum" "gum."
  "Doo doo, doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo." James sang the melody.
  Jere joined in with James. Emily broke into a dance routine. Nicole cheered. Holly and Lauren Besselman just sighed and walked off as the eight sophomores continued.

  When Lauren Besselman opened the door around 10:00, she could barely do so at all. There was two feet of snow on the raised entrance to the band hall. This meant there could be as much as four feet on the ground.
  "People, people, people!" She shouted. "We're gonna be buried in snow pretty soon. The power may go out. We need to set up some place naturally warm."
  "The cafeteria's kitchen!" Tyler and John shouted and ran for the cafeteria across the hall.
  "While they get food," Besselman continued, "the rest of you ration out some food. I'll stand here and act like I know what I'm doing."

  Tyler and John plunged through the dark kitchen until they found the kitchen's stash of frozen Taco Bell burritos.
  "Burrito fight!" John shouted and threw a burrito in Tyler's face.
  "Oh, now you've done it!" Tyler shouted and threw one back in John's face.
  "Wow, soy-based crap!" John said with astonishment, opening a large TUB. "Hey Tyler, check it out, soy angels!"
  "The one you call Tyler is now gone." A voice said flatly. "And now, so are you!"
  "Tyler, my how your voice has, aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" A blood-curdling scream pierced through the band-hall.

  "Holy Cartons of Eggs, Porkman!" Robbie shouted. "Gumball and Cheese wheel are in trouble!"
  "At ease, Robbie." Porkman replied. "We'll take care of those cotton weasels."
  A bright flash of light, a shining sword of justice, and it's Porkman and Robbie off to save the day!

"Holy hailstones, Porkman, it's the worst villain of them all," Robbie frowned, "the Lunch Lady of Doom."
  "A bit of beans for you, Porkman?" Lunch Lady cackled.
  "Why thank you, Lunch Lady," Porkman replied, "but I eat my lunches out."
  Porkman threw the platter of beans at Lunch Lady and turned to Robbie.
  "Robbie, fast-food, stat!" Porkman said quickly.
  "Right, Porkman!" Robbie came up with a bag full of burgers.
  "Take this, Lunch Lady!" Porkman let loose the French fries, tacos, greasy cheeseburgers, and chicken nuggets.
  "Ha ha ha!" Lunch Lady lifted up a large bowl above her head. "Have some creamed corn, Porkman!"
  "No, not creamed corn!" Porkman shouted. "Robbie, help me!"
  "Holy clipboards, Porkman!" Robbie dug around in the bag until he came up with a secret weapon.
  "Yes, that's it, Robbie!" Porkman shouted. "Fire, fire!"
  "You're too late!" Lunch Lady let loose the creamed corn.
  "There, Porkman!" Robbie yelled. "I fired!"
  "No, not the ketchup packets!" Lunch Lady cringed as the ketchup began squeezing from the packets all over her hair net. "Oh, oh, noooo!"
  Porkman kicked the bowl of cream corn aside.
  "Thanks, Robbie!" He shouted. "Porkman away!"
  The two streaked away and left John and Tyler in a daze.

  The girls had insisted on sleeping in the main band-hall, while the guys went into the hallways that connected the practice rooms. .
  "Expect a wake-up call around 6:00." Tyler yawned.
  "The Hell you will." Kristin snapped.
  "Exactly." James replied. "See you in six hours."
  Before the girls could whine anymore, John, James, Jere and Tyler disappeared into the hallway.

  Outside, the snow swirled around as the city slept. No one quite knew the extent of the snowfall until the city awoke early the next morning. George LeMouton, disc jockey for the KRAP popular morning show, stepped outside to find himself waist-deep in snow.
  "Wow!" He grinned and laughed loudly. "I'd best get the plow."
  By 4:30, he'd dug a hole in his driveway big enough to get his car through.
  "This is LeMouton on the futon, spinning the sounds and making my rounds on the airwaves by the mares' graves here on 103.5: KRAP!" George practiced his trade-mark introduction. "Coming up next, a swarm of sound mixed in with an onslaught of groove."
  He smiled to himself. He was a genius.

  The snow banks were as high as six feet in some places. George's show started at 5:00, but he ended up not coming in until 5:30. Sal the Nighttime Pal gave him a glare as he left the studio.
  "Sal the pal's out for now." George said loudly, sitting down and turning on his mic. "This is LeMouton on the futon, spinning the sounds and making my rounds on the airwaves by the mares' graves here on 103.5: KRAP! Coming up next, a swarm of sound mixed in with an onslaught of groove."
  He turned on the CD and then went to the company fax machine. Without really looking, he pulled the sheet of paper from the fax, knowing full well what it said.
  "That was Glen Miller's orchestra with "Wow Cat, That's Some Crazy, Crazy Swing"." George said with a jazzy tone in his voice. "This just in from City Hall. All businesses, schools, daycares, etc. are closed for the day. The first blizzard in our city's history has left it paralyzed. All major roadways are closed. My recommendation is to curl up in your warm, soft beds and take a listen to this hit by the swingin' Bonny Joe called "My Heart, A Groovin' Swing"."
  As the song began, George LeMouton took a stroll over to the coffee maker. The coffee was done. He'd need it really quick. It was doubtful Tom-tom the Tom would be in at 9:00. He'd have to be on the air all day. This suited him. The more time, the more money. He smiled at the thought of the fat paycheck that would come for him at the end of the week and silently thanked the snow for freezing this city in its tracks.

  James crept over to his girl friend. He and the other three guys had been awake for an hour now. He took Lauren's bow, which lay across the room, and plucked one hair from it. Silently he crept over to her and let the hair fall on the bridge of her nose. At first, Lauren didn't notice. Then suddenly, her eyes flew wide open.
  "Aaahhh!" She shouted with alarm. "James, what the---"
  Tyler burst into his girlish shout.
  "Browder!" Lauren Wick moaned. "Shut up!"
  "Aaaahhhhh!" John shouted from the entrance to the practice rooms. "That was so funny, I laughed like, like, three times."
  "Yeah, me too." Jere added.
  "Would the four of you just go back to sleep?" Nicole grumbled.
  "No way, aphro puff!" Tyler shouted. "It's 6:30. Rise and shine!"
  "No!" Kristin shouted. "Go back to sleep!!"
  "Hey Tyler!" John shouted across the room.
  "What, John!" Tyler shouted back.
  "There's gum on the bottom of my shoe!" John complained.
  "Do you mean to tell me there's gum on the bottom of your shoe?" Tyler asked.
  "Don't you dare!" Emily shouted angrily.
  "Yeah!" John confirmed. "There's gum on the bottom of my shoe!"
  "Oh," Tyler held the note for several seconds, "there's gum, on, the bottom of my shoe. There's gum, on, the bottom of my shoe. There's gum, on, the bottom of my shoe. There's gum, on, the bottom of my shoe. There's gum!"
  Both Tyler and John began singing as Jere fell in with "gum" "gum" "gum," and James sang the melody with "doo doo, doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo." Soon the girls were up, grabbing chairs and running at the guys.
  "Ambush!" James hollered and dove for cover as Lauren Wick and Besselman threw two chairs at him.
  "Dive for cover!" Jere dove under the table with the folders just as a chair hit him on the back. "Ha!"
  John and Tyler were in the open, and both were hit by three or four chairs thrown by Holly, Emily, Nicole, and Kristin.
  "To the market place!" John called to Tyler under several chairs.
  "To the market place!" Tyler repeated.
  Before anymore damage could be done, the two dug themselves out and bolted for the hallway.

  The school was dark, even darker than the inky blackness of darkness! The doors were blocked off with three or four feet of snow. It was clear that they'd have to survive in here for another day. After digging around in the kitchen, Tyler found the remains of a ten-layer cake that must have been used for DHS'S 50th anniversary back in the 80's.
  "It's "like a rock."" Tyler exclaimed, tapping the cake with a fork.
  "Oh, like a rock!" John shouted in his whiny falsetto voice.
  "Hey Jere!" Tyler shouted. "Get your butt over here!"
  "What did you do now, Tyler?" Jere asked, running into the kitchen. "Oo, a cake!"
  "Yeah." John replied. "Help us get it back into the band-hall."
  "Ummmmm, ok." Jere knelt down and lifted up one corner of the vast platter.
  With effort, struggle, teamwork, and the chance of a hernia, the three made their way back to the band-hall.

  Inside, James was making out with Lauren Besselman.
  "My eyes have been violated!" Jere shouted. "God, James, go get a room!"
  "We'll do that next weekend." James protested.
  Lauren elbowed him in the stomach.
  "Shut up, James." She snarled. "No means no!"
  Tyler burst out laughing. Jere chuckled nervously. John just stood there like an idiot.
  "Oh no!" Lauren Wick groaned. "Oh no, no, no, no."
  "What!" John called from the doorway.
  "Me and Kristin and Nicole gotta take a shower!" Lauren whined.
  "Go swim in the snow." Jere suggested.
  "Hey, yeah." John agreed. "Ha ha, that'd be funny."
  "Not as funny as you liking--" Lauren began.
  "No!" John shouted. "I will not humiliate myself in my own story... Yet."
  Lauren Wick laughed inwardly.

  The snow continued to fall all morning. Though they weren't able to shower, the girls did wash their hair in the girls' room sinks. Emily was one of the first ones out of the bathroom, and, taking up a hobby she'd embarked upon several months earlier, began to juggle. Tyler dove at her and snatched one of the bean bags while Jere snatched the other.
  "No!" Emily whined. "They're mine! Tyler, no!"
  She leapt at Tyler, who threw his bean bag to Jere. Then she turned to Jere and leapt at him. The two tossed the bean-bags back and forth until Emily finally had had enough and punched Jere in the face. Her punch knocked him out, and Tyler gave back the bean-bags.

  "Hey Tyler, check it out!" Jere called several minutes later from a room down the hall from the band-hall.
  "What is it?" Tyler asked, peering out.
  "I found a strobe light, a slide bass, a synthesizer, and a guitar!" Jere shouted. "It's a disco set!"
  "Let's go break it down, Tyler!" John shoved Tyler out of the way and ran over to the slide bass. "Come on, Jere. Get funky on the prerecorded samples."
  Jere turned on the synthesizer and began playing around with a groovin' disco beat.
  "Get on the guitar, Browder!" Jere shouted.
  Tyler took no time in running over and plugging in the guitar.
  "Hi, everybody," Johnny C, world-renowned disco star and M.C. shouted into the mic, "I'm Johnny C of the Fleas from Denton, Texas. We not only can sing, but we can dance just as good as we can walk. We wrote this new song called "Break It Down," and this is the music we break it down with. First, let's break it down on the drums. Come on, drummer. I want ya to break it down for me now."
  Jere began hitting the buttons on the synthesizer, producing a cheap drum beat.
  "Oh yeah!" Johnny C, world-renowned disco star, M.C., and dog-trainer continued. "Now, let's break it down with the bass. Oh yeah!"
  Johnny C began sliding around on the bass, springing forth a swinging sound, a sight unseen in San Francisco or Cincinnati's south sides.
  "Now, and now," Johnny C, world-renowned disco star, M.C., dog-trainer, and telephone repair-man went on, "let's break it down with some guitar. Come on, Tyler. Break it down!"
  Tyler went into twelve-bar blues, in the key of G, and Jere let out a shout of joy.
  "Oh yeah!" Johnny C, world-renowned disco star, M.C., dog-trainer, telephone repair-man, and Santa Claus smiled. "It's gonna break it down! Everybody. Break it down now. Break to the left. Break to the right. Break it down, now. It's out of sight."
  The girls began clapping their hands to the beat as Johnny C, Tyler B, and Jere V tore it up and broke it down.

  They broke it down all over town. All day the snow froze over the school. The temperature pinnacled at a mere thirty-five that day. All afternoon the orchestra slept. When Emily Sears awoke around 6:00 that night, the sun was out and the school was silent.
  "Hey!" She shouted from Miss Veazey's office. "Ms. Veazey has a snow plow!"
  "All aboard!" Tyler bellowed, kicking the door.
  Emily and Tyler worked together until they'd cleared a path large enough for Lauren's Besselman and Wick to get to their cars. Kristin, Nicole, and Emily went with Lauren Wick. James, Holly, and Jere went with Lauren Besselman.
  "What do we do now?" Tyler turned to Johnny C, world-renowned disco star, M.C., dog-trainer, telephone repair-man, Santa Claus, and lumberjack.
  "We goin' sledding!" Johnny C shouted as Tyler grabbed two rolly chairs.
  The two opened the doors and slid down the street, shouting and shrieking with joy as Lauren Wick passed them on the right and Lauren Besselman on the left.