House Husbands in Suburbia

Boom! I looked out the window. Then I took my hands off the keyboard and went outside, standing on the doorstep looking and listening.

The street was quiet, not a soul to be seen in either direction.

Joe came out too, standing on his doorstep looking and listening. I waved and walked over. He had heard it, too. It sounded like a blown transformer, we thought, but we both still had power. I said it sounded like it came from across the street. He said he couldn't tell.

As we stood there under sunny blue skies surveying the power lines that run up the middle of the block across the street, Lance opened his door and stepped out in a long magenta robe with a towel on his head. He had lost his power while he was in the shower.

We shared our diagnosis with Lance, and he looked around, rubbed the towel in his hair, shrugged and waved and went back inside. Joe and I surveyed the situation a little more, noting that the transformers we could see looked fine. Then we talked about the weather, wondering when we'll get rain. Then we went back inside.

And we left behind a quiet street with not a soul remaining in either direction.

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