The Blackout, Fiction by Chandler Palmer

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.

Day 3, and they were back at it with Capture the Flag. Except one of the kids added a new rule to spice up the game, and it was a doozy, to say the least! If hit, said player could trade an article of their clothing to get instantly thrown back in the game. Long story short, it turned to a bunch of minors running around completely naked. In their defense, the entire town probably had the same thought slip their mind at one point or another during the blackout. And the adults were too busy chatting over roomtemperature wine about how the outage could last for the rest of the week as two kids ran into each other head-first like football players. Then, screams, blood, an ambulance call, adults yelling at the kids for doing this as they shamefully put their clothes back on, and making the executive decision to call off the game and confiscate the water guns. On the bright side, it did give everyone some well-needed family time as they spent the rest of the day indoors playing board games.

Day 4, and it turned out that one of the kids from the incident from yesterday got a concussion. The other only needed several stitches. Needless to say, the two of them would be out of commission for the time being. The kids figured to take the day easy and watch clouds. And that sense of calmness flew out of the window as the familiar tune of the ice cream truck approached. The kids either rummaged through their pockets for their crumpled dollar bills or asked their parents for a few dollars as the truck came to a stop.

Luckily for them, the ice cream man was very patient as the kids were lining up around the block as if he were giving away free PlayStation 5’s. The kids were able to devour their assorted popsicles and ice cream sandwiches as they watched the sun set before the ice cream melted onto their shirts.

On the 5th day of the power surge, the immediate community was awakened by a loud thunderclap at six in the morning with extremely heavy rainfall. Surprisingly, this did not lay waste to the kids' plans, they threw on their rain slickers (despite it still being in the high 90’s) and decided to ride around in their bikes. While some cared more about splashing each other with the puddles, others preferred racing with one

another. But then, bored with the lack of competition, someone pulled a crisp ten-dollar bill from his pocket, offering it to whomever can make a lap around the block the fastest. To make it fair, he also officiated the race, and it was almost as competitive as the Tour De France. To everyone’s utter shock, the oldest girl in town won! Everyone gave the runner-up shit because they thought he let her win to be nice. They called him things like Simp and everything but the child of God. He claimed it wasn’t true, but it didn’t help his case as the victor gave him a wet kiss on the mouth as everyone else teased him the rest of the day.

The power outage riveted on the 6th consecutive day. The rain stopped, with the triple-digit heat returning with a vengeance. The neighborhood kids’ parents pooled together money (and drew straws to see whom had to make the long drive to the nearest Walmart with electricity) and got the kids a real-badass trampoline sprinkler system, a sixty-four pack of sidewalk chalk, LED flashlights, a new Slip N’ Slide, and a cooler with a shit load of food and cold drinks they were going to make for a cookout that night. The younger kids occupied the slip’ N slide and sidewalk chalk as the older kids jumped on the trampoline sprinkler. And this kept them busy all through the night until they gathered around the campfire for dinner underneath the star-filled summer sky.

Then suddenly, without warning, the lights came back on. Like roaches when exposed to sunlight, the kids and adults alike scurried back to their homes, catching up on all the screen time they missed over the past week. No one bothered to put out the campfire or clean up the trash from the dinner. The sense of community that happened during the blackout was gone, but never forgotten.