I was doing dishes and had just put in some Chinese leftovers to reheat for a snack, around 6:30, when the power went out. It was pouring out, and it was sunset, which meant it was basically dark in the house (but not quite dark outside).
I was pretty sure Kevin had used up all available sources of fire in the house, but I wandered around for a while using my Clie as a flashlight to make sure. Nope, no fire. And now it was dark.
I could go to bed, or… I could hop in the jeep and drive to the 7-11 and buy some lighters!
So, I put the dog in the car (why? It seemed like a good idea at the time. She was getting growly at neighbors) and off we went.
It hadn’t occurred to me that the power outage was larger than just my neighborhood, but oh, it was. I got to the edge of the neighborhood and there I got to make a left turn in the rain with no traffic signals and lots of traffic!
I drove and drove. The Safeway’s power was out. The 7-11′s power was out. Finally I drove towards work and as I approached Redmond, there were lights on. Though driving in the rain with my glasses on (thus poor vision) was still difficult. Oh, I’m in shoes and my ‘used to be a dress’ nightgown, by the way, just to make this image complete.
I got to the 7-11, I went inside, I bought one, two, three lighters. I paid, I went to the car. Oh no! I’d left the car lights on! I rushed into the car, shoved the dog into the back seat again, and started the car.
On the way home, I tested one of the lighters. Maybe the power would be back on when I got home? But nope, it wasn’t. So, at the house, I parked, I opened the door, I grabbed the lighters. One, two… two lighters. Where is the third one? My best guess is that it vanished during the scuffle with Hannah, but who really knows?
In the house, I lit an oil lamp, and then shattered its hood. I lit the next oil lamp, didn’t break its hood and blew out the first oil lamp. Then I lit a candle. Then I wandered around the house, lighting more candles. Then I went back to check on the lamp. One lighter. Where’s the second one? My best guess is that I put it in my pocket, which has a hole in it, and it fell out during one of my brief sojourns to Mars. Or maybe gremlins stole it. I have no idea. My remaining lighter is a scary semi-functional blowtorch thing that I can barely light a piece of paper with.
When the power came back on, I did locate a set of fireplace matches (but no lighters). I carefully put the scary blowtorch lighter with the car keys on the kitchen table, blew out all the candles, but left the oil lamp burning. Tomorrow I’ll go buy more fire sources but for now, I’m playing it safe.