The Night the Lights Went Out in Cowtown
Sep. 10th, 2002 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqSitting in my apartment, I heard someone on a bullhorn outside. Going out onto the balcony I see that there was a half dozen fire engines in front of Century Garden Apartments (AKA the Crinkle building), an apartment tower adjacent to Continental Towers, where I live.
The person on the bullhorn did not repeat themselves, so I have no idea what was being said. The fact that people were streaming out of Century Gardens gave me a pretty good idea that it was an evacuation order.
The commotion brought a lot of people out onto their balconies, showing that the monkey reflex is still good and strong in Humanity. It also brought my next door neighbor, who spends the bulk of his days arguing with his wife very loudly. He was wearing a T-shirt.
That's it - just a T-shirt. No pants, no underwear, nothing. And the T-shirt wasn't very long. His twig and berries were just swinging in the breeze. It's not just that he was pant-less on the balcony - it's that he was in full view of several hundred people.
Terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought, I retreated into my apartment.
That's when the power went out. In addition to about 2000 people being put into the dark, it also cut A-Channel off the air. Thank heavens for my UPS, which gave me the time and battery power I needed to shut my computer down properly.
So instead of cooking supper and watching Buffy & Angel, I ended up having a banana and a cookie on the balcony while reading a book. I was driven inside again, not by nakedness, but by the sun going down. Ten minutes later, the power came back on. For me at least - the folks in Century Gardens are still waiting to get back into their homes.
The person on the bullhorn did not repeat themselves, so I have no idea what was being said. The fact that people were streaming out of Century Gardens gave me a pretty good idea that it was an evacuation order.
The commotion brought a lot of people out onto their balconies, showing that the monkey reflex is still good and strong in Humanity. It also brought my next door neighbor, who spends the bulk of his days arguing with his wife very loudly. He was wearing a T-shirt.
That's it - just a T-shirt. No pants, no underwear, nothing. And the T-shirt wasn't very long. His twig and berries were just swinging in the breeze. It's not just that he was pant-less on the balcony - it's that he was in full view of several hundred people.
Terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought, I retreated into my apartment.
That's when the power went out. In addition to about 2000 people being put into the dark, it also cut A-Channel off the air. Thank heavens for my UPS, which gave me the time and battery power I needed to shut my computer down properly.
So instead of cooking supper and watching Buffy & Angel, I ended up having a banana and a cookie on the balcony while reading a book. I was driven inside again, not by nakedness, but by the sun going down. Ten minutes later, the power came back on. For me at least - the folks in Century Gardens are still waiting to get back into their homes.
