Trio No. 3 – Today you can write about anything, in whatever genre or form, but your post must mention a dark night, your fridge, and tears (of joy or sadness; your call).
It was a dark and stormy night when the power went out. I knew the first windstorm would knock down the line. Why can’t Mass Electric take care of business before it becomes an emergency.
I stood with my head leaning on the refrigerator. The big, metal box was silent. Not a hum or a vibration came from his hulking presence. No little happy tune this night. The only sounds I could hear were the howls of the first winter storm of the year.
There was nothing I could do but continue to stand there. Lurking, occasionally emitting a soft, gurgling moan. Poor refrigerator. There he stands, messy — covered with magnets, the messages and events of a household on his metal hull while he waits. As do we all for the power to return. Waiting and worrying. How long would this outage last? If I call the power company, they would lie to me or tell me they “were working one it” and they would “let me know” when it was fixed.
Don’t they think I’d notice when the power comes back on? Like when all the lights come back? Not to mention the computers, the heat, and the well pump?
I, with tears of sadness and frustration trailing down my cheeks, knowing all my food is in that fridge … and the electric company is holding it for ransom.
Was my silent fridge crying too? Only the shadow knows and he’s not talking.
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Categories: Daily Prompt, Photography
Man I feel bad for the fridge especially the food inside. I think its really interesting how powerful the electric companies are. Great post especially the pictures. 🙂 And if you want to check out what I have to say on the topic (trio no 3) be free to check out my prompt. I would really like to hear what you have to say.
http://franzical.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/ode-to-a-condiment/
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Thanks! I like Nutella too, but there’s never any in the house. Too fattening, too tempting to keep it in reach 🙂
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Haha that’s true and not to mention expensive.
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I can see these power problems are everywhere. Sometimes the damage can be great. You write a beautiful story Marilyn; and it looks like it is making some people sit up. That is a sign of great writing – to bring change for the better.
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Thank you. I appreciate it. Living in the country, we really get clobbered by storms and outages, much more than folks in the city and suburbs.
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I live thousands of kilometers away but I can identify with you. We also get especially the cuts too.
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Governments, power companies and other utilities put their money where the voters live. If, as we do, you live in a thinly populated area, you don’t get the infrastructure upgrades. But we sure do get the price increases!
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It’s a pity many politicians always put their interest ahead of the interest of the people.
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Above the din of the storm I could still hear Freddy opening the back door…
I waited …… the creek of his footsteps on the stairs … then … as a flash of lightning illuminated the staircase … I shoved the huge fridge with all my might !!! sending the massive appliance hurtling downward down into the night … to meet Freddy head on – driving him to the bottom of the stairwell … and his shriek of anguish amidst a mighty clap of thunder. KLA BOOOOM !
Then silence …
I’ll fix those tears in the wallpaper tomorrow.
(yeah yeah I know, I cheated on the tears)
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Big weapon. How did you get the fridge to the head of the stairs? Or do you usually keep refrigerators in stairwells 😀
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The shadow also knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
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But ONLY the Shadow knows!
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You ever wonder if a woman just looked at him and went.. “Oh, Lamont, you just get me.”
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I’m sure someone did. I certainly wanted to!
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Lamont knows that Margo knows what the Shadow do.
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Lamont, baby! You’ve been OUTED.
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That last picture is very beautiful, and I am sure there is a story out that window 😉 This piece made me feel very melancholy, but I still enjoyed it 🙂
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Thanks :-)We are all in thrall to the electric company, whoever they may be. That pictures is a snowstorm. One of many last season as seen from my kitchen window. It was an especially rough winter last year. I hope this one is less awful.
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“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” and the electric company. But they ain’t talking either. I totally feel that pain. When hurricane Isabel came through Virginia in 2004, we were without power for two weeks, everything in the fridge was just… dead and gone after two days. We couldn’t eat it fast enough (thank god for natural gas). But our poor fridge just wasn’t enough for Virginia in September. There were tears… $200 of groceries out the door and in the trash. It was a mighty blow. At least when it happened in WA (snowstorm) we could move everything to the cold room and keep it somewhat frozen and fresh.
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No matter how many fancy gadgets we own, when the electricity goes out, we are totally screwed. And they know it. Which I resent, as probably does everyone. They know where the loose branches are and they could trim them before the storms. They just don’t. But they sure know how to raise rates!
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They had “most” of the power up within three days, but we poor folk weren’t a top priority. We were bottom of the ladder. Hence, two weeks.
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Losing access to my TV due to a power outage really is a nightmare 🙂
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For us, it’s not only the TV and the computers. It’s also the heat (oil, but electrically fired), refrigeration and freezer and the well pump. No electricity? No nothing.
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Draliman, I couldn’t bear such an outrage. No TV???? Oh, the horror!
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I think we all faced it at some point of life but reading it in your words makes it more real. The visual delight is at peak here.
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We just got back from the doctor and the grocery store … and surprisingly, it is still quite beautiful. I don’t know for how much longer, but a while anyway.
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You can tell we both live in rural areas and know all about power outages! 😀
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I think out here in no man’s land, we are more self-contained … and thus more vulnerable. When the power is out, we are … OUT.
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well done Marilyn!! I just love that last photo 🙂
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Thanks. That’s my kitchen window and real snow. We get to see that view quite a lot. Sigh.
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lovely!
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🙂
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