William Fredrickson didn't grow up in the northern latitudes. He had never built a snowman as a child, or learned to ski. He had never even gone sledding. So when the techie left his townhouse in Seattle on the morning of Friday December 23rd, 2023 to buy a coffee on the way to the bus stop, he had no idea what he was walking into.

The ice storm did not catch everyone by surprise. It was a fairly predictable weather pattern headed for a major metropolitan area. Emergency services had briefings the day before. Those who follow the weather and grew up in colder climates put on snow tires, found yak tracks for their shoes, or prepared to telecommute from home.

But Mr. Fredrickson, a bit of a junkie for social media, did not even check the weather report, let alone the news that morning. Catching up on TikTok, he didn't even register that the frosted appearance of his front window was ice and not fog. No–he put on his lanyard that held his name badge, put on his jacket, and left for work. And, as he walked down his front steps, he landed unceremoniously on his generous arse. 

The walkway, it seemed, was a sheet of ice. 

A bit taken aback, embarrassed (though no one was about to see his misfortune), and thankfully unharmed, he rubbed a sneakered sole along the remaining steps and confirmed that they were indeed all covered in ice. 

But he shrugged it off.

Mr. Fredrickson, undeterred by his gaffe and still not fully registering the full magnitude of the disaster Mother Nature had endowed upon the Emerald City, scooted down the remaining three steps and set himself upright on the grass beside the walk. 

Avoiding the walk, he tread upon the grass covered in over a light dusting of frozen snow for a block and a half to his neighborhood coffee shop. And–it being Seattle–said coffee shop was of course open despite the relative state of emergency.

He ordered his usual triple soy mocha with whip along with a Mighty-O doughnut and sat near the window to enjoy his breakfast. It didn't dawn on him that no cars went by during this time and, as he typically downed his obscene morning beverage in record time while scrolling through Instagram, he soon realized it was time to catch his bus to work.

He slid across the sidewalk like a novice ice skater wobbles across the rink and stood beside the sign for the number 50 bus. 

Still scrolling through his phone, it was some time before he realized his bus was more than 15 minutes late. Being a techie, he opened his app 'One Bus Away' to see what the problem might be and was shocked to read the words 'Metro Out of Service.'

It was then that it finally dawned on him that there was nobody on the streets, no cars on the road and nobody besides the dedicated barista in the coffee shop. He got a bit nervous, like a preppy kid walking into a biker bar, decided he'd better go home. And that is when he turned and slipped on the sidewalk, hitting his head, and  knocking himself out cold.

The barista came out wearing her glacier crampons, its thick metal spikes gripping the ice with ease, and called 911. 

A/N

Seattle fire and rescue responded to 312 911 calls related to slips and falls over a  40 hour period.