Blackout

Blackout

It should have been a normal evening. I finished eating supper, cleaned up the dishes, made myself a hot cup of tea, and sat down in my favorite chair waiting to watch that mystery show that everyone was talking about when the lights went out. 

This wasn’t one of your prepare yourself for a blackout lights out. This was a full scale lights out, power down, nothing worked, plan on being the dark for a long time blackout. 

I was on my own. Of course, if I had any emergency lights or flashlights they were nowhere to be found. However, I did know where I kept a candle. So off I went to find it. Having a candle is a great thing to have during a blackout with no battery operated lights. But one should note that it is also important to have something to light the candle with. As luck would have it, I did find a match that was useable. It was the only one left in the pack of matches that I inherited from my father who was a chain smoker. I hoped it would work. 

As old as the match was, it actually produced a flame, which in turn ignited the wick on the candle. There was not enough light to read by, so I just sat in my comfy chair and stared at it. 

The golden flame with its blue luminescent halo glowed unsteadily in front of me. Its shape wavering creating different images in my mind. A dragon, spurting breaths of fire in the air, towards a towering castle (which was my bookshelf). A wizard waving his wand casting spell upon spell morphing from one creation to the next. The bold knight who clashed in the dark with the evil queen before she could destroy his one true love. The golden firebird who with its dying breath was reborn in a flash of flame that sent wishes and adventures up in the feather-like plumes of smoke. 

All these images created by my ever wandering mind from the flame of ideas that emanated from that lone candle, in the still darkness of the black that surrounded me, and filled my consciousness. As the candle burned down and the light receded into nothingness, I fell asleep. But now I was no longer alone. I was joined by the company of all that I had seen igniting my mind with stories. Stories to create. Stories to write down. Stories to share. 

Some might call the darkness of a blackout a problem. A cage of captivity with nothing to do. But for me, it is the beckoning of ideas and adventure. And I love it.