Where I Was When the Lights Went Out

Last night I went to watch a couple of "my girls" play basketball. The plan was that Sister would meet me there, and that we would leave the gym as soon as the girl's game was over and go to the Depot for supper. (In case you haven't noticed, almost every meal I consume during the week is from the Depot.) As it turned out, Sister was unable to do dinner; she barely had enough time to take in the game. She left as soon as the girl's game was over (they lost by the way), but I stayed for a few more minutes. I was sitting with Roommate and contemplating what I would do for dinner. After the first quarter of the boys' game, I left and went across the street. I enjoyed a lovely taco salad and good company. We (myself and the family that owns the Depot) had finished eating and were sitting and talking. The bus boy was in the kitchen washing dishes, while the remaining five of us were at the table. The talk was the "usual." I offered a play-by-play of the girls' game and an one on the part of the boys' game that I saw. We talked about a million different things.
Then, the lights blinked out. I said what I say everytime something happens, "Rah-row." The next second, the lights were on again. The next second - pitch black darkness. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face! It was so funny though, because Depot-Daughter-n-law said, "Ooo, it's dark in here... Hey! It's dark in here! It's dark!" Then almost simulateously, we all whipped out our cell phones for light. That's when we noticed that the entire town was dark. Bus boy was still in the back. He plays with his cell phone every second of the day, but stuck in the dark by himself, he forgot to use it. He just stood back there until someone went to get him. We lit emergency candles and just sat back and took it easy. Thankfully, the Depot has gas heat, so we were able to keep warm. It was very cold last night. Generally, we look out the window and across the street to the sign at the Bank to find out the temperature. However, since the power was out, we had no way of knowing how cold it was outside. But it was cold. We contemplated what could have knocked the power out all over town. Maybe someone wrecked into a power pole. Maybe the wind blew too hard. Who knows around here. This past summer, about once a week the power would go out in the middle of the day for an hour or so at a time. It was a nuicanse. Someone "in the know" told me that it is because our local power company hasn't had the necessary upgrades to keep up with the growth of the area and the extra energy that each household now uses. Sad, but not shocking. That was understandable for the summer, when it is so hot outside and every house and business is using energy to cool their homes/ businesses. But when it's 40 degrees out, why now?
It occurred to me that there had not been sufficient time for the boys' game to be completed. I called Roommate to see if she was still there. She was in fact; sitting there in the dark, praying that her daughter hadn't been the one to trip the breaker. She was somewhat relieved to find out that the whole town was suffering, because that meant that her kids didn't do it. She managed to find her kids and then she joined us at the Depot. In the meantime, we saw the red lights begin to flash next door at the Volunteer Fire Department. Those guys were just so excited - they had a "mass evacuation" to do at the school! They drove all the way over there in their medic van without their headlights on! This was not surprising to any of us. Most of the time, everytime they have to take one of their trucks or other vehicles out on a call, we can hear them struggling to get the engines cranked. We just shake out heads and laugh when that happens.
After they had the gym cleared, they came back to the Fire Hall. One of the volunteers came over to the Depot. He informed us that an owl had apparently landed on a cable on a sub-transformer, causing the transformer to blow, thus leaving the entire town without power. When he described that, we all had a good hard laugh. That poor owl. That would have been kind of cool to watch, I think. Anyhow. During this discussion, we had determined that the power at our house was feed from a transformer in a different location. The same went for the Depot family. But there we were, sitting in town in the dark. We played with the wax on the candles, played tricks on each other in the dark, and found out a few things we never knew before. For instance, the big-strapping fire fighter also is licensed in cosmotology and reflexology. That took us all by surprise. It was beginning to grow late, so we left. I went straight home, but couldn't go to sleep for several more hours.
The most random things happen to me. Have you noticed this pattern? It's funny, really. I thought I was just going for a routine dinner, and then all of that happened. It just never fails.