Turn On the Lights

The lights went out last night. It’s not an unusual occurrence; in fact, this won’t be the first time I’ve written about it. Still, it’s a bummer when you can’t see anything and you have to trip around your room, sweating, of course, because the fans have gone off too. The spoiled American in me still gets annoyed when the power goes out, even though it does tend to happen on a regular basis (as regular sometimes as every day). But I get especially irritated when it goes out at night.

I’ve actually been lucky enough to experience most of my power outages during the daytime. Then, although I’ll be even hotter than normal, at least I can still see what I’m doing and continue to go about my business. But last night, with the lights off for about two hours, beginning at 7:00 p.m. what was I supposed to do? I mean, I couldn’t just call it a night and climb into bed! (I did think of that, though.)

Instead, I decided to get out of my room and walk around the building. Even though it was dark, at least there’d be more of a breeze coming in through the windows and the open courtyard. I wasn’t the only one with this idea, either. Lots of people had begun to gather outside, where the air was moving (if only so slightly) and there were a few lights shining in from the street outside.

And then, miracle of miracles, the night guard came to save the day. Well, I suppose he’s there to save the night, but whatever. He flipped a few switches, and lights came on in the hallway. I went back to my room, fumbled around for a few minutes in the darkness, and found a magazine. Sitting under the light in the hallway, I kept myself occupied until my bedroom light came on a couple hours later.

Only to go out again a few minutes after that. But by then, at least I could justify going to bed. When the fan came on a while later, I awoke from a dream I was having about all the things I will never take for granted again!