Imagine all of us, the whole fucking world, flipping switches, fumbling for flash lights, lighting candles, cussing as we open fuse boxes, ask neighbors if there’s a another black out or Nuclear meltdown. The longer the lights are gone the angrier some are at PGE. “Bastards,” screams old ladies and rednecks. Wives demand to know what their husbands did with the money for the utility bill this time, workers languish in a dark limbo and for some generators kick on making them feel smug about the investment as the solar panels do little more than flicker.

There is only so long the cell phones can stay charged and now no one can send information out about why electricity has forsaken them all.

“Thank god for propane,” someone says.

“And battered for flash lights.” .

Horders are gratified. “See I told you those broken emergency candies and kerosine lanterns would save the day,”

Grammarians will gleefully ask, “No where’s your spell check? “

Bibliophiles will mock tech freaks. “The cloud is beyond reach. But my copy of Ham on Rye is right here, with my book lights.”

After a week or two, we come to terms with it. We go on with our lives. We have a huge feast to avoid wasting food, we have a lot of bar b ques and give up on distance learning. We listen to records, use solar charges that take a day to get a full battery but there’s no texting or calling . No internet, no face book, to snap chat nothing. We can listen to music we keep and books we’ve downloaded. We can pay candy crush, photoshop, read kindle books. We can’t shop, look up trivia or find love anymore. We all go through various withdrawals. We become feral in our ways, retreating at sundown because we fear darkness.

We cannot reach our friend in Spain. Our psycho ex can no longer stalk us. The banks have no idea who’s money is who’s. Money is piss. Squatter find homes and bankers discover leisure. For a long time everyone just languishes. Cleaning guns, gathering and hunting food. Looting. Reading. Fucking. Swimming, sight seeing, coloring, flying kites in a plot to capture lightening again.