Local resident reports being “halfway to crazy” with power outage, lack of coffee
“It just won’t stop rainin’ in these parts.” That’s what one resident said. “And those storms that blew through here stirred up a terrible mess. Branches, sticks, twigs every which way. Why, we were haulin’ wood like a family of beavers, cleanin’ up after that whole deal.”
She noted that two nights in a row, “The power went out. And those kids went a-runnin’ for the flashlights, then snuck around strobin’ my corneas near to blindness. I tho’t to strangle two of ’em, but I was worried about leavin’ prints.”
Another local mother reported being “halfway to crazy” in the aftermath of the storms. “Two words,” she told me. “No power. Two more–no coffee.” As I backed away slowly, one eye toward the exit, she added, “And two others–that stinks.”
One smaller resident in bright red Angry Birds pajamas had this to say: “I hope we don’t get another ‘funderstorm’ tonight. I was scared of the dark, and I couldn’t sleep ’cause I kept thinking about this one scary movie. So Mama and Daddy came up and laid down with me. All the windows were open, and we could hear the frogs, and Mama said, ‘I think the frogs are talking. They’re trying to tell us how many flies they ate today,’ and I laughed in the dark and Daddy did, too, and then I said, ‘Or how many hops they did today.’ And then we all laughed, lying in bed in the dark, and then I fell asleep.”
The mother of the Scared Pajama Boy confided to me that Mr. Schrock is her Number One Guy. “But right behind him, it might be the NIPSCO fellow who restored the power and after that, the guy who invented the Keurig.”
It’s been, she noted, “a real fun summer what with Little League and all. Those kids learned some real good lessons about how to play baseball.” Pause. “And how to ‘do life.’”
When a Pee Wee Little League coach looks at his players and says, “What are we gonna do to get ready for the next game? Here’s what–you kids take your naps, eat your vegetables and say your prayers,” that’s training for life. That’s what the mother shared. And this, “I think that’s pretty good advice for us big people, too. If we’d all just take a nap, eat our vegetables and say our prayers, maybe this world would be a happier place.” With, she added, less looting, shooting and hooting in the streets.
Yes, Wakarusa may seem like a sleepy little town. But from what this reporter can see, there’s quite a bit going on here, especially now that the power’s back on.