Birthday Evening

Happy birthday to Fiorella. Her brother and his wife drove all the way out to Georgetown to bring her flowers, and Fio truly appreciated the gift, the visit, and the compliments on her outdoor work. Of course, everyone but Sonya was wearing a mask and carefully keeping a proper distance, but the love carried Fio through the rest of the evening and Fiorella went to sleep happy--until she woke up when the phone rang in the middle of the night with some weird message, then cut off.
     The Nancy Drew in her knew something was wrong, but she was in the dark as to exactly what--literally IN THE DARK. Luckily, she knew where a small flashlight was and found it by feel, then tried to call 911, but that phone was out too. And so were selective parts of her cell phone. Yep, your girl--and her dog--were all alone in the dark of the night.
     She considered driving down to the police station, then realized that, with the electricity out, she wouldn't be able to open the garage door, so she felt her way into the kitchen and located a larger flashlight and a glass bottle she could defend herself with if she came under attack.
     Finally, she decided that her best chance of survival was to sit tight. After all, although her alarm system was kaput, her house was locked up, she had two flashlights and a heavy bottle to defend herself with, plus a large dog who followed her around like...well...a dog.
     But there was no way she could just lie down and go back to sleep. For one thing, the air had gone stale. For another, it was just possible that some horrible person had turned off her electricity so he would ram one of her doors and attack her. So, like when she was a kid and read under the covers, she grabbed an old Linda Howard book and lost herself in romance.
      Suddenly, the electricity came back on, maybe because Fiorella had reached a hot-hot-hot episode in the book, maybe because the whole neighborhood had been affected and someone had somehow been able to notify the appropriate office.
     Whatever, Fio is going to try to get whatever shut-eye she can before morning. Sweet dreams!