Lions-on-Line Spring Issue 2021

The Blackout Fiction by Chandler Palmer It was the dog days of summer. The town’s residents didn’t dare go outside to the triple-digit temperatures as they were inside, staying cool in any way that they could: air conditioners on full blast, ice-cold lemonade, you name it. Not to mention the neighborhood kids who were playing either Fortnite, Among Us, Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty with their school buddies, with their bedroom fans on their highest setting. And then suddenly, in the middle of the blistering afternoon, the power cut off. The main cause, simply too many people were using too much technology at the same time. So, they all had to use old-fashioned ways to stay cool.

They all decided to go outside and collaborate with their neighbors. One offered a slip N’ slide, which she set up on her front lawn. That kept the neighborhood kids busy for the day as the adults tried to find out the extent of the outage. It was no use. Basically, the entire county's power was cut, and the quickest way they could find an area with power was to drive an hour east. There was no word on when the power would come back, which made them more agitated with the summer heat. And when the sun went down at nine o’ clock, the neighborhood was pitch-black.

Fortunately, the town was a modest (by comparison) seventy degrees at night. For the time being, the only option for dinner was over a campfire, which gave the community the obvious sense of roughing it.

The following day, the kids once again threw on their swimsuits to play on the Slip N’ Slide. However, this time, one kid had the bright idea of skipping sharp rocks on it, which ended up destroying it. The town’s kids were now shit out of luck with keeping cool as the intense warmth kept wreaking havoc. Fortunately, someone’s high-school aged brother remembered the super soakers from their 4th grade graduation party.

Some of the kids offered to use their pillow covers as flags, and suddenly, the kids were all engaging in an impromptu game of Capture the Flag with water guns. And that kept the kids entertained throughout the day.

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