Lights in the Dark

I have recently been traveling to various locales - my daughter's to paint her new apartment among other things and to a girl's camp, camping in tents in the middle of nowhere.  I promised to bring back material to write about, and I do have a lot to work with.  However, it is here, in literally my own back yard, that I find material for today.

Yesterday, we had severe thunderstorms pass through our area.  Even before the first storm actually hit our house, our power went out.  I won't bore you with details of what we did for the next seven powerless hours.  Suffice it to say we played lots of games by flashlight and tried to keep cool with open windows when it wasn't raining.

About four or five hours into our outage we discovered that most of our neighbors had power!  We were part of a small pocket of about six homes without power.   At that point I called the electric company to report our outage in case we had been missed.  Although I'm fairly certain they knew that information, it felt good to take some kind of action, pointless though it may have been.

About quarter to eleven last night two electric company trucks pulled up across the street.  It was an awe inspiring sight, and not just for the obvious reason.  Yes, it was nice to know that relief was close.  But it was more than that.

Imagine this scene if you will.  The houses are dark.  The streetlights are out.  Tall trees are everywhere.  And then shining like an alien being are truck lights and a spotlight shining up into the trees.  You can follow the light along the cherry picker that is raised until it disappears into the dense leaves.  It is accompanied by the loud sound of a motor that seems to gun every few minutes or so as it powers the bright lights illuminating the linemen's task at hand.

I walked out in the rain to get a closer look, but I still could not see where the light ended, could not see actual workers up in the air near the power lines.  All I could see were lights shining in the dark.    It was eerie and comforting at the same time.  I wonder what stories it will inspire?