Slice of Life

Accepting the challenge over at Two Writing Teachers, here's a Slice of Life Story for today:

The wind whipped my hair and my coat as I locked the door and headed out to the car. My husband already had the car running, and both children were buckled in.

“I think there’s going to be a thunderstorm,” my daughter said, “the way the wind is blowing like that.”

And as if to prove her right the sky lit up with a streak of lightening.

“I don’t like it,” my son said. He doesn’t like storms of any kind and would much prefer that he were inside, keeping his favorite things together and safe, than in the car heading to grandma’s house.

Another bolt of lightening flashed through the sky. And the street signs swayed in the breeze. We drove, avoiding blowing garbage cans and other debris in the road. I would have preferred to be safe inside too, but after we dropped our son off, we had a wake to attend. There are things you do, even when the weather is bad.

We got closer to grandma’s house and realized that the street lights, which had been flickering, were out. And there was a police car in the middle of the upcoming intersection. The power was out.

“Do you think the light’s will be off at grandma’s?” a nervous little boy asked.

“They might be,” we had to concede.

“I hope they are,” said our daughter, the brave big sister.

“Why? You’re not staying there,” I pointed out. She was coming to the wake with us.

“I know,” and she knows little brother is afraid of the dark. So sweet.

As we continued down the road to their house we noted that the power was still off. And then up ahead we saw street lights lit. It looked like the power was going to be on at grandma’s house after all.

“Whew,” said a very relieved little boy.

Now as we drove down the streets, although the wind still raged, the houses were lit from within, porch lights were on, all was right with the world.

Then we got to grandma’s street. There was an emergency vehicle blocking the end of the road. Looking down the street we saw a smoke and flashes of light. We stopped and told the emergency workers that we were only going a couple of houses in and they let us by.

Grandma and Grandpa were in their driveway, in front of a dark house, looking at the live wire that had fallen in the street a few houses up the road. Sparks were flying, it looked like a fireball attached to a string in the middle of the street.

Our son hurried into the house. He didn’t care if the house was dark, he’d rather be there, than out here looking at a wire on fire. Our daughter wasn’t feeling so brave anymore, she hurried back into the car. “That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said as we continued on our way to the wake.