WHITE WIPES!

 “What did they say?” my mom asked as soon as dad showed up in the corridor. He turned off his flashlight and replied with a sigh, “They are not answering. Many other people are trying to contact but the signals are out of coverage.”

Our city, North Dakota, had just hit with a blizzard. They recorded to be one of the strongest of all time in four decades. Many lives were lost. The infrastructure was highly dented. Water pipelines had frozen. Power pipelines had cracked that had caused a blackout throughout the whole city. We had been stuck in our homes due to an emergency without electricity. Moreover, our house roof was also leaking and we did not have anything much to keep us warm. We did not have a fire either. I was sitting coiled up in my blanket listening to the conversation.

I slowly climbed out of the blanket and made my way to the window. It was frost, blurring the view to the outside. I ran my hand over the window and felt the chill run up my palm.

Everything outside was covered with a white blanket. There were so many problems. Our roof was already leaking, we did not have anything to keep us warm and we also needed food but we could not go out of the house.

“What are we going to do?” asked mom. “We do not know when the blackout is over so we should go out to camp.” Said dad after a minute though. “HUH?” I said. How could we go out and camp where? “We can go in the back yard with our sleeping bags,” suggested dad. I knew why he was thinking of camping in the backyard. Our backyard was nicely managed and we kept some of our dos without things there, besides we had sheltered it with polyester, flex, and Formica. “I should go and inspect if it is damaged by the blizzard,” announced dad. I stood there for a minute then cowered back in the blanket.

When I woke up, I could smell smoke. I got out of bed and followed the smell. Mom and dad were in the backyard. To my revelation, it was not that badly damaged by the blizzard. There was snow in some places but still, the grass looked fresh. Dad had managed to light a fire using the wood we kept there. There were a couple of sleeping bags there as well. I rushed to the fire. 

I thrust out my hands to warm them up. It was very cozy. As I looked around, I saw a radio laying there. We had for many years but never used it because there is not much use of radio in this era. “Mom, does the radio still work?” I inquired. She nodded and said, “We have added fresh batteries. We wanted to hear some news about what is going on.” I reached my hand out and picked up the radio. I turned it on, pulled out the antenna up high, and turned it on. It worked immediately and I could hear the anchor reading the news.

“Four thousand people victims of the blizzard while 700 go missing. Rescue teams managed to save people from the building that collapsed last night. Big issues arise due to the blizzard. Blackout and emergency bring all activities to halt and the government has announced that the power lines have damaged and may cause the blackout to last for some days.”

As the anchor finished I turned off the radio and looking at my mother I said, “Mom I am famished”. “I’ll prepare some soup” and saying that she got up and left.

As the warm soup ran down my body, I could feel my nerves soothing. Dad was also there. We ate out dinner quietly. It was beginning to get dark outside. Moreover, I could feel my eye sleepy. I climbed in the sleeping bag and closed my eyes. I slept comfortably due to the fire, as last night we had nothing to keep us warm. We spent the whole next day without electricity so dad decided that until the blackout was over we could stay in the backyard. My mom put some sheets for us to sit on during the afternoon. We also had to fix our roof that was leaking. As dad climbed up the roof, I went inside the house to see if mom needed my help. Both our phones had died out of battery and we could not talk to anyone. The workers had started to work on removing the ice and some of the town men were helping them too. That night I complained mom that the ground was hard for me to sleep on so she put one of her blankets under me. That night I could not sleep much as even with the blanket under me I could still feel the hard, cold ground. I thought of all the people who did have all these facilities in the primeval times. Life must be hard.

The next day was surprising as we had many brownouts all day so we had to shut all our electrical appliances. The radio told that the workers had started to work on the broken and damaged power lines. Mom had fixed some kind of tent in the backyard with rough clothes and inside laid a small candle, burning. As I went inside it, it felt warm. I fancied myself of being in a cave. I had explored many caves last year on the beach.

We ate our lunch in the backyard. We were running out of wood and as that had lost his job; we could not buy anymore so we had to put the fire out for the day. At night, I slept in a tent. It was not comfortable but better than sleeping on the hard floor. My mother had softened it with some dry hay. Also, covered it with a blanket but I could still feel it under me.

Next, the electricity came back and it was announced that the blackout is over. Most of the snow had removed as well. I slept in my room that day but I still missed the tent as I thought myself as an explorer who spent her nights in a jungle. “An explorer?” I thought aloud. I knew I had decided on my future career.

THE END