THE FREEZE BELL

I got to thinking the other day about something that happened way, way back when I was in Elementary school. Now I'm not sure if this was a common practice in other cities but at my school in Pasadena we had something called "the freeze bell". Huh? What the hell is this freeze bell SAXOMAN? Well basically this was a bell that would ring signaling that recess time was over. Now as a kid I can tell you that recess was the most enjoyable part of school (at least for me). We would all be running around playing dodge ball, baseball, basketball or causing general mischief during the recess period and then RING!!!!! Yep, the dreaded freeze bell. What this meant was that whatever you were doing you had to stop as soon as the bell sounded and freeze. They would then have a couple of hall monitors or teachers pets collect all of the balls and stuff we were playing with. What I remember most about the freeze bell is that my friends and I would freeze in the most overly exaggerated poses as a way of making fun of this ridiculous practice. We would freeze on one leg with arms stretched out like we were trying to catch a ball or any number of other wacky poses. Anyway, that's my take on the dreaded freeze bell.