Candles

We had just finished dinner last night when the power went out. We moved into the living room, put another log on the fire and lit a bunch of candles. Then what? Those that could started reciting poems, mostly of the humorous sort with an occasional uplifting Robert Frost mixed in. The kids asked what was so funny about the sort of limerick that starts “There was a young man from Nantucket.” After confused guessing about “bucket,” “pluck it,” “WHAT?? I don’t get it!” light dawned. And they died. Fell over on the couch, shrieking. You know how the verger reacts when she finally gets one of Geraldine Granger’s jokes? Like that.

When I drove home it appeared that the power was out in a whole quadrant of town. Instead of the stupid fake candles in windows, you could see people sitting around their tables by real candlelight. No streetlights, no traffic lights, a little light snow falling. Aaron Neville on the car radio singing Ave Maria. Perfect.

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