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It all started as a fairly typical day in the Twin Cities for late April, it was in the mid 60's, with mostly sunny skies
and the Minnesota Twins were playing at the dome* that night. After each Twins game, I would take my bike and head down
to the dome to work, because of the damn bus strike that had been going on for weeks now. Before leaving for work, I
had checked the latest forecast on one of the local TV stations, and there was a chance of thunderstorms that night.
After getting a second opinion from the National Weather Service/Chanhassen** website, it appeared that the storms might hold
off until after I returned home. But I figured that if it did start raining before I left, I could hang out at the dome
for a little bit until the storms passed. So, I hopped on my bike, and left to go to work.
While I worked, I began to notice flashes of lightning from outside of the ticket office windows. By this time,
I was nearly finished with the work for the night and I just had to hope that the storm would pass before I left. About
a half-hour later, the lightning and rain had stopped, and the skies were beginning to clear. I had just finished my
duties for the night and was ready to go home. Although the skies looked to be clearing, I was cautious about leaving
so soon. Since I was about 5 years old, I have been interested in meteorology. I knew that people should wait
at least a half-hour after the storm passes to venture outside***. The only problem was, I didn't know when the storm
had ended because I was finishing up with my work. I ended up waiting at the dome for about 15 minutes, just to be on
the safe side. After the 15 minutes, I looked out the front doors of the ticket office to see that the skies were clear
and the moon was shining. I figured that it was safe to go home now...or so I thought.
While I was riding home, a new thunderstorm had developed a little bit southwest of where I was. If I were at the
dome or at home, I could see the storm coming via doppler radar. But I was on the way home, and I didn't have my weather
radio with me. Otherwise, I could have pulled over and waited until the storm passed. By the time I noticed the
lightning, it had a strange orange glow to it. By now, I was only six blocks from home, and I figured I could beat the
storm home. I drove my 15-speed mountain bike to the limit until I was just a few yards from home. And then, there
was a flash of orange light, and then darkness.
A short time later, I awoke in a open field laying besides what was left of my bike. I immediately knew that I
had been struck by lightning and figured that I had died and gone to heaven. But then I felt a mosquito bite, and I
slapped the living daylights out of it. That's when I realized that I was still alive but was in a place that I had
never seen before in my life. The first thing out of my mouth was "I don't think I'm in Minnesota anymore". And
my hunch was confirmed when I looked off in the distance and saw a vixen walking through the field. But she wasn't a
normal vixen, she was a Two-tailed vixen, like the ones I have drawn in the past. I was so surprised that I almost pulled
a "Tex Avery" take and fell backwards.
While I lay unconscious in the middle of the field, the vixen saw me fall down and rushed over to help. Within
a matter of moments, an ambulance had arrived on the scene and took me to a local hospital for immediate treatment.
End of Act 1
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