ready, set, go!

there used to be an old brick fire station in south minneapolis that was tucked into a busy corner. it is a bagel shop now but years ago it was home to shiny red trucks, miles of equipment and a few good men. the light fixtures flanking the garage doors on were made of thick wrought iron and had been there so long they used to burn candles instead of bulbs.

a snowy saturday morning in early march and even though it would melt soon enough, six of the the firemen shuffled out into the front lot and looked up and around at sticky snow on the roof and cars and branches. the men wore dark blue pants and dark blue sweaters and there were red patches on their shoulders that proclaimed their work. one leaned down and made a bare handed snowball and smacked his buddy wet and sloppy. they were all holding snow shovels and then one of them had an idea.

shoulder to strong shoulder, they stood in a tight line at one end of the yard, heads down and shovels poised. one of them shouted "ready, set, go!" and in perfect formation they pushed their shovels across the lot and in two short seconds, the whole thing was perfectly cleared. they laughed hard, slapped backs, high fives all around.

and then the light turned green

and off i drove.