I Can See the Light

It is twenty past five on Friday, November 23rd. I have just arrived home from work to a dark house and no power. My trusty camping lantern keeps me from being plunged into utter blackness. I am without Internet service and there is 88% power left on my laptop battery. I dare say that it is only a matter of time before I find myself without the benefit of any sort of technological advancement at my disposal.

The house is still warm. I’m in no danger of freezing any time soon. I am dining on potato chips and Pepsi rather than the spaghetti and meatballs that I had been looking forward to all afternoon.

The word of the day just arrived in my Blackberry in-box. It is “sustainability.” I find that ironic somehow…

My plan for the evening – besides a spaghetti dinner – included a movie and popcorn with a friend. I have not used the remaining power on my Blackberry to cancel as of yet. I will not give up while hope still remains.

Six minutes have passed. I am beginning to squirm under the weight of being disconnected from the Internet. It presses on my psyche like a book on a freshly picked pansy. I am cut off, severed from the cyber world on which I have become so deeply dependent. There is no Skype, no Facebook, no Google +, no Blogger. No Angry Birds! The anguish is growing within me, writhing, like a living thing.

It has been ten minutes. I am debating calling my friend to cancel our movie plans. Hope is dwindling…

Eleven minutes and I feel I must make a decision. The blackberry has enough power to get me through the evening, if not the night. I will try to hold on a little longer…

Fourteen minutes have passed now. The laptop battery power is at 74%. At this rate I have less than an hour until even that is gone. I’m not sure I’ll make it.

Sixteen minutes and the stillness that has enveloped Alegria is starting to chip away at my sanity. There is no hum from the refrigerator. The furnace is as silent as the night that surrounds us. The cats seem unbothered by the situation. They scamper around me as if it was a bright summer day.

Twenty minutes. I am clinging to the last bit of my sanity. I fear that all hope is nearly lost. I must devise some way of getting through this nightmare. I must hang on… I. Must. Not. Give. Up…

But what is left? How can I possibly survive? How did I ever manage without the Internet?

The only sound is the steady ticking of the wall clock, its tiny AAA cell mocking the diminishing capacity of the laptop. It will tick on much longer than this power-sucking device could ever possibly hope to. I fear that all is lost…

After twenty-three minutes, I have resigned myself to impending doom. Good-bye cruel cyber world. Why have you forsaken me?

Wait! What is that? I hear something…

The refrigerator has come back to life. The printer is re-setting itself. There is a tiny glow from beyond the living room…

Ahhhhh…

I can see the light!