I remember that we had a terrible snow storm one day in school. Most kids lived far enough away that they had to be bussed in and I was no exception. I had a 30 to 50 minute ride to and from school, depending on who was on and where the stops were. Most rides were of the 45 minute variety. This day, the ride was a little slower because a snow storm was coming in and the driver had a hard time staying on the road. We made it in to school and I just missed the morning roll call. I went to my first class and when it was over, I went to my second class. This classroom was near the side entrance where I went to catch my bus. While I was waiting, I saw groups of kids come in. The French kids spoke loud and acted in an exaggerated fashion. Quite normal for them. I was still waiting for my classroom to open up and when it did, something caught my eye. I saw two kids come through the door. They had all the winter clothing they could carry and they were of the same height. They didn't talk to each other at all. Not like the French kids. The English kids that I saw talked in quieter tones, but they still talked. Two kids together that didn't say anything? Kind of strange! They appeared to be waiting for someone as they just stood in the hallway. They knocked off the snow from each other and I saw that they had their faces covered. One had a scarf and the other one had a balaclava. Their hands were covered too. The one with a scarf had his toque low over his eyes. A few French kids came through the door as boisterous as ever and then two more kids came in. They were also covered from head to foot and I didn't see their eyes. Their friends knocked the snow off them and they stood to one side while other kids came in. When they saw an opening in the crowd, they walked down the hall, shoulder to shoulder. They were exactly the same height and walked exactly the same. Besides the two I mentioned before, the other ones had gloves or mitts on and one had a deep turtle neck collar on the jacket and the other one had a scarf. If it was aliens, they did learn to dress with variety. That is what makes us so recognisable. We all dress to our own tastes or cash limits. The aliens all seem to dress as utilitarian as possible. One uniform for everybody.

A few weeks later, I was waiting in the same hallway and it was at the end of the first lunch wave. ( We had so many kids in our school that lunch was divided into two waves. Half the kids in one wave and the other half in the next one. The ones who had the first lunch wave had a class to go to in the second lunch wave and vice versa. ) While I was waiting for my class to open ( the teacher was eating lunch ) I noticed a bunch of French kids joking around and being as loud and boisterous as possible. I watched them and then I noticed something else. There was an empty spot in the hall. ( If you understand crowds, there will always be open areas around each little group. If the group is active and moves often, it gets wider berth than the ones that are quiet and reserved. ) The trouble was that there was no room to move in this part of the hall. It was completely packed as far as I could see. ( There was a corner about 40 feet from my view, so I couldn't see very far. ) This empty spot was about 25 feet from me. It stayed put no matter how many people pressed into the hall. The people in the hall kept avoiding the spot like it was dangerous or something like that. I kept watching and I noticed one of the French kids go towards the spot. He went through groups of people rather than through the spot as if he didn't see an opening that would speed his progress. When he came back, he shouted to his friends and pushed his way through the crowd towards them. He had a hard time as the crowd pushed back. He saw the open spot and took his chance in it. He started jerking around and acting like he was having a fit. His speech was incoherent too. His friends couldn't understand why he was acting that way. They laughed at his antics and then stopped. The wondered if he had something serious wrong with him. they went to calm him down and he fell out of the open spot in the hallway onto the floor. His friends picked him up and he was gasping for breath like he ran up a full flight of stairs. They described his actions to him and laughed at this. He managed a weak grin and then laughed with them, but I could see on his face that he was concerned about what went on in that place in the hall. He investigated it, but by then , the opening had moved down the hallway and the physical spot he chose was covered in groups of people trying to talk or get to their lockers or classes. Just then, the bell rang and the whole hallway was heaving with people trying to move around. I went into my classroom, which had opened while I was watching this poor fellow's antics.