Zardoz tries thunderbolts: Decides to stick with arming the indiginous peoples. A quick story for you ...

So I was roped into into attending a School Board meeting last night. Not the full meeting, thankfully, but still about a half-hour's worth. As you might expect, I was fairly anxious to get out of the building I'd been in all day and get home.

As I walked to my car, I was hit with a couple drops of rain. Nothing unusual there; it had been raining intermittently all day. By the time I'd gotten in my car and driven to the edge of the parking area, I'd had a good look at the western sky. It was kinda that sickly green hue that makes a good ol' midwestern boy nervous. The kind that says "Those poor bastards west of here are getting nailed, but good, by thunderstorms, hail, and lord knows what else." I decided I should probably head straight home.

I continued to drive around the edge of campus and reached the exit to the street. I turned left (west) and by the time I reached the bridge over I-80 (having only travelled roughly the distance of a football field) I was engulfed in sheets of blinding rain, pea-sized hail, and booming thunder.

After what felt like about five minutes of driving, I reached the far side of the bridge. Pansy drivers (you might call them "safe" or "cautious" drivers) were pulling over to the side of the road to wait for everything to subside somewhat. Not me. By then I could see the lights of the upcoming intersection roughly another 100 yards past the end of the bridge. That was more than I was able to see while driving over the bridge, so I was good to go.

Right then, two things happened almost, though apparently not exactly, at the same time: I saw a bright flash and heard an extremely loud "boom". As the flash faded, I saw a shower of sparks cascade off of the top of some pole or tree down at the intersection.

"Holy (*#$!!" , I said and proceeded to get the hell out of there at the blindingly fast speed of 10 to 15 mph. I'm not an idiot. I still could barely see the road. Just didn't feel like sitting around and waiting for the next cheap shot from the heavens.

That'll teach me to go to School Board meetings.