Family Plugs in to Each Other When Power Goes Out

Just as the dishes from the supper table were being placed in the sink on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, the lights went out. There were a few teaser flickers, then the sudden realization that the Stroupes had been unplugged.

A quick trip to the front porch informed us we weren’t alone. As dusk fell on our neighborhood, not a light shone in any direction. Bein’s how it was quickly getting dark, we used our fading precious moments of light to locate candles, matches, and flashlights.

As is the tradition in our family when a crisis of any magnitude ensues, I uttered the infamous words, “All right! I’m the head of this household and I’ll let you know when to panic.” I paused for the customary five seconds the Stroupes have come to expect then hollered, “Okay, now everybody panic!”

Armed with sources of light, we made our way back to the front porch to check out the scene. In a futile attempt to entertain the masses, my middle son and I started tossing a rubber baseball up in the air to see if bats (those of the bird variety- not the Louisville Slugger type) would be attracted by the flying object. Much to the amazement of my family, the experiment proved successful.

At one point, a bat whooshed right past my head at the speed of sound. Another one buzzed my children’s heads on the front porch a few seconds later. Wow! What a wonderfully dangerous real life science lesson we lived through.

Science concluded, we moved on to literature. As the sky darkened, I placed the flashlight under my chin, producing an eerie countenance normally only visible when I first wake up in the morning. I then proceeded to use my deepest Daddy voice to recite great lines from literary works. Quotes such as “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” followed by “Out, out brief candle.” When I drew a blank after “candle,” my wife promptly concluded the Shakespearean soliloquy quite impressively, with deep voice included for effect.

Due to our extremely limited knowledge of classic literature, the exercise quickly degenerated into family members reciting lines from “classic” movies such as The Grinch, McHale’s Navy, and Dumb and Dumber. When that form of entertainment ran its course, I did impressions of everyone listed in the Contacts section of my cellphone while other family members played the guessing game as to their identities.

Once inside the dark house, we conducted an exercise where family members had to holler out the word “Crud!” (our family’s replacement curse word) every time he/she attempted to turn on a light or appliance. Our middle son was the first violator, attempting to turn on the bathroom light to brush his teeth. We were all allowed to thump his ear as punishment. My ear was thumped when I unsuccessfully tried to get a glass of water from the little dispenser attached to the refrigerator freezer.

We went to bed that night with no television, no computer, no music, and no idea if and when our house might light up again and scare the bee-jeepers out of us during the night. For the record, that moment occurred at 11:32 p.m. and considering the night’s events, believe it or not, one small part of me was slightly disappointed.