“The Lights Went Out”

10 years ago today the lights went out in the Northeast. I was out shopping Downtown Brooklyn with my children and after we bought what we wanted, we went to have lunch. We were having a great time talking while we ate. The lights suddenly blinked and the place got dark for a moment and then the lights came on again. A sudden feeling of dread came over me and I said, “I think we should go home.” They weren’t finished eating their food, but they both agreed to leave. We left the mall and I asked them if we should take the subway or the bus, but before they could answer I said, let’s take the bus. While we were on the bus, I heard people saying that the lights are out. A woman said she went to use an ATM and it went dark. Another person said the same thing. One lady said that she was happy that she had a metro card so she could take a bus or the train. Another lady said that the trains are not running, and some people were stuck in the subway. 60 million people without lights. It was a total blackout and attitudes changed. Inflation hit real hard because of the blackout. At the Food Mart and some groceries, the price of most items, were doubled even tripled. Candles that cost one dollar were now two or more dollars. Many people had to take a taxi to get home and the normal five dollars cab-fare was now ten dollars or more. When disaster strikes, attitudes change drastically.

As the sun went down I watched as the darkness creep up on us and it was really creepy. Pitch black is a horrible sight and that’s how it was outside. You could hear people bumping into each other saying sorry. My husband looked in the closet and took out the container of glow sticks. Broke some to make them glow and we went down stairs and handed them out to people. Where were you when the lights went out.