powerless

Posted bySheila Morris 18 Comments on powerless

Yesterday we had a fierce storm with tornado like winds, driving downpours of rain and no electricity from about 2:30 p.m. until 9:00 0’clock this morning.

As darkness fell in our family room last evening, Charly had a mindful moment hiding her face in the absence of the television sights and sounds she was accustomed to seeing and hearing during a lazy Sunday afternoon. Pretty had no Wi-Fi  so no Facebook scrolling.  The winds were howling louder than the beagles behind our house.Was the world coming to an end, Charly wondered as she hid her face behind her favorite pillow in her favorite chair?

Thank goodness Pretty saved the day, or night, with her lamp she purchased from the Thrift Store on one of her many pilgrimages across the river to her version of paradise. I tend to be less than enthusiastic about her treasures carefully picked among the donated items, but I was thrilled to have this bright light shining through the darkness of powerlessness.

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We exhausted our conversation ideas that included wondering what in the world the people of Puerto Rico were doing without power all this time while I played Scrabble against the computer since I also had no Wi-Fi, and Pretty read a book.

The lamp was a life-saver.

We went to bed early.

Stay tuned.

Published by Sheila Morris

Sheila Morris is a personal historian, essayist with humorist tendencies, lesbian activist, truth seeker and speaker in the tradition of other female Texas storytellers including her paternal grandmother. In December, 2017, the University of South Carolina Press published her collection of first-person accounts of a few of the people primarily responsible for the development of LGBTQ+ organizations in South Carolina. Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home will resonate with everyone interested in LGBTQ+ history in the South during the tumultuous times from the AIDS pandemic to marriage equality. She has published five nonfiction books including two memoirs, an essay compilation and two collections of her favorite blogs from I'll Call It Like I See It. Her first book, Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing received a Golden Crown Literary Society Award. Her writings have been included in various anthologies including Out Loud: the best of Rainbow Radio, Saints and Sinners New Fiction from the 2017 Festival, Mothers and Other Creatures; Cowboys, Cops, Killers, and Ghosts (Texas Folklore Society LXIX). She is a displaced Texan living in South Carolina with her wife Teresa Williams and their dogs Spike, Charly and Carl. She is also Naynay to her two granddaughters Ella and Molly James who light up her life for real. Born in rural Grimes County, Texas in 1946 her Texas roots still run wide and deep.

18 replies on “powerless”

  1. Ahh, minus power is a big problem. We live in the country and people are always burning down / knocking down poles or some such. We decided that the only way to cope was to have a generator! Now, if we’re told power will be off for more than an hour, off we go and set it going. A real life saver when we were without electricity for 3 1/2 days 😀

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  2. We must have got the northern edge of the storm here on Sunday night. Freezing rain. Schools closed Monday, treacherous roads. Our power stayed on but lots in the city went down, along with tree branches and power lines. I think I would have joined Charly on the couch and cuddled up with a good book.

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    1. Charly was not having anything to do with us, let me tell you. I’m not sure she would have even read a book! I just hate it when the big trees fall in the storms…so sorry for the treacherous roads…hope all things better today!

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  3. How did you play “Scrabble against the computer”? Was it on your phone? I have no idea how those poor people can deal with no power. It’s almost impossible to live in our screwy world without power.Poor Charly.

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    1. I have a Scrabble game on my iPad that doesn’t rely on the wireless connection…the only catch is I can only play the computer where I can choose a level of play like easy, medium, hard, impossible, etc.. I’m definitely a medium.

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  5. We are so dependent on magical electricity even our pets realize something is amiss when the power goes out. Poor Charly!

    I have that same lamp! It saved my sanity for 2 1/2 days in March. I’m not cut out for roughing it

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      1. I’m still dealing with sorting through my March storm #3 cellar flood. Sump pumps are wonderful. Sump pump back up batteries even better, but a storm exhausted battery not so much. Here’s hoping the East Coast winter storm season ends before hurricane season winds up. Sigh…

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