Electric Romance (Lesson 19)

‘Good grief, that one sounded so close,’ Meredith said out loud to herself, instinctively jumping at the sound of a sudden, deafening thunderclap seemingly right outside the living room window of her third-story apartment. The power flickered off and then back on again. Off long enough for her laptop, cable service, printer, and other devices to all start spontaneously rebooting. ‘Oh, please, not the power – thank god it came back on again.’ The thunder reverted to its almost continuing rolling as it rumbled and growled across the storm clouded night sky, responding to the almost non-stop illumination from the flashing spider lightning. No sooner had she retrieved two candles, matches, and a flashlight to be ready for another possible power outage when again, her apartment was thrust into darkness. ‘Bugger!’ she shouted, remaining seated, waiting for the lights to come back on again. They didn’t. One minute, two minutes, ten minutes – she was still in darkness. She lit the candles then peered out her window, seeing the same darkness over most of her neighborhood.

A loud ‘rat-tat-tat’ on Meredith’s front door startled her. ‘Who in the world ….’ she wondered. A familiar and welcome voice answered her question.

            “Meredith? It’s Frank – are you OK? I thought I’d better check on you.”

            “Frank, Oh my god, Frank! Thank you so much for stopping by,” She said, opening the door and letting him in. “As if the storm itself wasn’t scary enough, now all the lights have gone out.”

Frank and Meredith had been neighbors for almost six months ever since he took the third-floor apartment across the hallway from hers, turning her emotions upside down inside her usual stoic and together persona. They were around the same age, late twenties. Both single, she had discovered. Frank certainly cut a handsome figure and Meredith, blonde with green eyes, turned many male heads, including Frank’s as it would transpire. At first, Meredith felt irritation at what she decided was her infatuation with her new neighbor. She had come out of a painfilled affair two years prior and valued the equilibrium she had finally achieved – until along came Frank and messed it all up. Try as she might, she could not stop her infatuation from growing into something else. Was it love? She couldn’t be sure – all she knew was she wanted him. Maybe it was down-to-earth lust. But that wasn’t like her – or so she kept telling herself.

            “I’m pretty sure lightning took out the local substation, and it could be a while before it comes back on-line. Probably best if I could just check your breaker boxes to make sure no circuits have tripped.”

            “Oh, would you? That would really make me feel safer. They’re in this closet behind the front door. I’ll show you.”

Frank followed Meredith, with her flashlight in hand, squeezing behind her into the small utility closet. Meredith could not take her eyes off the finely chiseled features of Frank’s profile lit by the reflected light from Meredith’s flashlight as he checked each breaker. “All is good here as far as I can see,” Frank told her, turning towards Meredith’s striking green eyes gazing at him with apparent expectation, only inches from him. He leaned further towards her, lowering his face to hers.

Frank’s cell phone buzzed noisily in his pocket as power was restored and the lights came back on, killing the moment. He looked at her for another second then answered the call. It was Ms. Sheppard from the ground floor apartment asking Frank if he could come and check her electric.

            “I need to go and take care of Ms. Sheppard – make sure she’s OK too. Sorry about that.”

After Frank left to visit Ms. Sheppard, Meredith once more berated herself and her reaction to Frank. ‘What’s up with me! Why am I so obsessed with this guy?’ Pouring herself a glass of wine, she sat on her couch, desperately trying to bring her rampant emotions under control. There was another knock on her door. It was Frank.

            “ I took care of Ms. Sheppard, and now the power is back on, she’ll be fine. I thought I would let you know.”

“Frank…” Meredith whispered to him, “you came back.”

            “I did,” he said, smiling. “I wondered if maybe you wanted me to check your breaker boxes again – if you want me to, that is?”

“Yes, Frank, I’d love that,” said Meredith, yielding passionately to his all-engulfing arms and eager, passionate, searching lips.