"Midnight Jaunt"

My parents have gone away on a week's vacation to Mahone Bay, which is about an hour or so away in an area with no cellular reception. Since Sunday, I have pretty much been incommunicado, which is just fine with me. I needed the break myself.

So last night I worked 5:30-midnight, and there was a severe thunderstorm while I was working. Alas, the power did not go out in Bedford, so I had to continue working. By the time the store closed, the rain had stopped completely. Good. I didn't have my umbrella, and driving in the rain at midnight sucks.

When I pulled into my subdivision 20 minutes later, I noticed that the familiar glow of my street in the distance was absent. I pulled onto my street to find that the entire neighbourhood from the street my house is on all the way to the back was out of power. "Great," I think to myself, "now I have to fumble around in the dark looking for the flashlight." The power had gone out a few weeks ago, and I did not remember exactly where I had put the flashlight after the power came back on.

Anyway, as all this was running through my mind, I pulled into my driveway, gathered by stuff together and got out. As I walked over to the garage door keypad, I realized that hey, the power's out. You can't use the garage door opener. I freeze, remembering that the deadbolt garage door cannot be unlocked from outside with my key, as my key is bent. I never bothered to get a new one since I always just go in and out through the automatic door. To compound this, the screen door is closed and locked on my front door from inside. It locks with one of those little hooks. My bent key could theoretically open the front door, but I'd have to destroy the screen door to get to it, which I knew would get me killed.

So, it's half past midnight, and I'm standing in the pitch dark in my uniform with no food and no source of light beyond my cell phone's screen, which I keep pressing buttons to illuminate. I remember seeing two NS Power workers down the other end of my street, about 20 houses down. I decide to go and ask them what happened and when I can expect power back.

So I take off running down the street. Remember, it's the middle of the night and I'm sort of freaked out by the dark anyway, let alone being stranded outside in the dark by myself. Hence the running.

I finally reach the workers (God, my street is alot longer than I thought it was), and out of breath ask what happened. Apparently, during the thunderstorm lightning struck one of the transformers, blowing it. Not only that, but it sent a power surge that shorted out two other transformers. They were getting three new ones sent over, but didn't know how long it would take to get there, let alone how long to properly install them and reactivate power.

So, with no other option, I start walking back to my house. I try calling my dad's cell, just in case a miracle should occur and the connection go through. No dice. So I think, where can I go? I can't just sit outside in the dark by myself for who knows how long. Stephanie works tomorrow morning, so she's out. The only person I can think of who wouldn't be thoroughly irritated by my calling so late would be my guitarist Brandon. But he had to open the store the next morning, so he might have gone to bed early. Besides, I don't want to wake Sarah, who is most likely already asleep.

I decide to try the garage door again. Using the light from my cell phone, I get the key in, and try to turn the deadbolt. Nothing. I start slamming myself against the door, desperate, while turning the key. I hear a click, and the key turns. Somehow, I managed to angle the key in during my beating the hell out of the door.

Okay, so I'm in. Now I can use my phone's light while I search my house for the flashlight. As I open the door from the garage into the back foyer, my cell phone beeps. My heart stops when I look at it and see "Battery Low". I have one icon of battery power left, which means I have approximately ten minutes to scour my house in the feeble light of the cell phone to find the flashlight.

I drop all of my stuff on the floor and start a mad dash around my house. Every 30 seconds my phone beeps again, letting me know of the possibility of complete darkness. Eight minutes later, I finally find the flashlight, kicked under my bed from the last time the power went out. I grab it, and turn it on. Two minutes later, my cell dies completely.

I fall into bed, stressed out beyond belief, and exhausted from the last hour.

When I woke up this morning, I discover that the power is still off. They finally restored it around 10 o'clock. If I hadn't been able to get into my house, I would have been stranded outside for 10 hours.