power outage!

hello hello cousins (and sister) - i am in panera right now and it's packed. a panera without bagels, a panera without fruit cups, a panera that is the only restaurant with power in 10 miles!!!

last night our power went out. we lit some candles and huddled by the heater (which isn't electric, so that's great). the rain was torrential. we were actually a little scared, especially with the flickering candles, the howling wind, and our graphically active imaginations. i wondered aloud what it would be like if we went to bed and woke out with our whole big old mansion floating out on the atlantic ocean. i said it would be frightening. hannah agreed.

"at least we wouldn't be alone, we'd have so many neighbors!"
"right, maybe a catastrophe like that is what it would take for us to meet them all."

this morning our power was still out. while i was washing my face i heard hannah talking to our neighbor, Deidra. Deidra is a airline stewardess with a rasping voice who keeps odd hours. it turns out she is also a TV commercial actress. in her 40s or so, she is very friendly and reminds me a little of a cricket. anyway, she had gone out to get coffee. as had Jen and Garry, our landlords. you can't make coffee without power! they were gathered around our doorway.

"the power's out for miles!" Deidra exclaimed.
"i'm just going down to the basement to check for flooding." Garry said, and tromped downstairs. seconds later Hannah said she heard him swearing. not good.

pulled on my flannel shirt and met them at the door. we chatted for a while before each going back to our breakfasts.

"hey, we actually did meet our neighbors!" Hannah laughed.

our classes were canceled for the day but we were desperate for power to do our ever-pressing homework. we went to panera. after waiting and waiting we found a booth that an older couple was just vacating. we chatted with them as they left (glaring askance at the other table-hunters pressing in). it turns out they had come all the way down from ipswitch (about 15 miles away) to find a place to get breakfast and coffee. now they were heading out to take a walk on the beach and see what was open in rockport. the power-outage has swept over the whole seacoast. we wished them luck and they left me wanting to go to the ocean.

people continute to crowd into panera even as i sit here. a group of high-schoolers just pushed by, laptops and a power strip in hand! a little group of heavily-accented older women with powdered hair and zippered bags paused beside me while looking for a table.

"maybe you think everyone has come here from the cold to get-a warm?" one of them wondered. they found a spot near me near an indian couple and a frazzled baseball capped mom of three that took one of "our" tables earlier and nearly exploded when she found out they didn't have bagels. just now the gordon students are trickling in (they are out of power too), also clutching laptops, looking a little frantic (i'm glad i powered mine last night). everyone's here sharing their power tales. some have lights but no phone or TV, some (like us) are relying on candles and flashlights and wondering whether they have enough batteries to make it. i'm sitting sipping my 1/2 decaf 1/2 regular coffee with soymilk (panera has soymilk if you ask!) watching people and wondering what your storm stories are? write a post and tell us!