The Curse of Being Disconnected from the Grid (4)
1430 Words
The mother continues...
“But there's a silver lining. The rep said the installation will be done in a piecemeal process. That means the solar panels will be installed on one day, the conduit on another day, the meter on yet another day, and so on.”
The father concludes...
“So everyone... please be patient. This too shall pass. You both understand?”
For an entire freaking week, I will be enduring this no-sparkgrid hell.
I have the option to teleport myself back to the capital, but I just can't leave Luningning alone, even with the presence of her parents.
She might get all grumpy because she will be roughing it throughout the week.
To the announcement, Luningning and I respond...
“We understand.”
As her parents go to their own bedrooms to rest their weary bodies, Luningning asks...
“So now that we're done eating... what do we do now?”
“Washing the dishes, of course.”
“Yeah, that's mandatory.”
Ten minutes later, and the dishes are all done with our concerted efforts.
What next?
I inquire her...
“You have anything in your bucket list that you wanna do to pass the time?”
“About that, Walter... uh...”
It seems she's lost for words.
“Please take your time thinking. That's one way of passing the time, anyway.”
“Ah yes, I know! We can watch some short moving pictures on my own sphaeramnis!”
“Uh... is that sphaeramnis of yours even fully charged?”
“Yes. I ensure it stays that way most of the time!”
“Especially for a time like this, yeah.”
Still here in the living room, we watch some random short moving pictures that were apparently shared by her friends.
The first one portrays a man planning to do something.
“Hi. I'm Juancho Noxovilla, and this is Dry Paddling.”
The guy named Juancho and his merry crew row a boat on what is clearly a dry dirt road, trying to paddle through it.
As we would expect, they all have a hard time rowing, mainly because of the resistance of solid soil and dirt when compared to that of liquid water.
They even sing the nursery rhyme associated with boating even as they are screeching their teeth paddling, and some passersby are mocking their ridiculous stunt.
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.
And after they end their repeated singing of the nursery rhyme, they resort to some good old-fashioned slapstick comedy, where they beat each other up with their paddles happily.
“Ah! My groin!”
I even laugh once one of the paddles connects to the nether regions of one unlucky crew member.
She even elicits a good chuckle.
Once the paddle slapstick ends, the crew keeps on laughing as the camera zooms in on the crotch of the unlucky guy who got his family jewels slapped.
“You guys are freaking sick, you know! How am I gonna make babies with my wifey with that?!”
The short moving picture ends as it fades to black.
I react...
“Ahahaha. I never knew you are into this sort of thing.”
“Heh. Friends' influence and all that.”
We then watch more short moving pictures portraying the following: Cats frolicking with their owners, a child reviewing a set of crayons with weird color names such as “Pregnancy Test Blue” and “Void of Existential Anguish Black”, sailors and porters doing a weird but funny dance, a rant clip on how ridiculous it is for a pastor to stop earthquakes and tornadoes, a tutorial about how one can make their own coat of arms, a clip where a person finds awesome relics from the past from some person's recreation room that has been untouched for thirty years, a prank clip where a woman comes to a random stranger and hands them a gift for them to take care of temporarily (and the woman then screams as she pretends that the gift is actually a bomb, but is not), and a clip where a person dressed up in a raptor costume tries to jump through chasms (hint: he does it successfully).
She then notices that the charge level of her sphaeramnis is getting critically low.
“Aw, bummer. Looks like I'll have to get it charged at my neighbor's tomorrow.”
And thus, the first day of being disconnected from the grid ends.
Two days later.
Still bored as heck, Luningning chooses to sleep the day away.
And here I am, doing something because I have nothing else to do.
And that something is...
...reading books.
Of course, I secured permission from her beforehand.
Some of the books I'm reading consist of the following: A sappy paranormal romance novel where a woman falls in love with a man who has the genes of a vampire and a werewolf, a biography about a spy novelist renown in the entire kingdom, and a non-fiction book about how luxury brands became mainstream as well as the consequences of losing their niche appeal.
Just then, a technician accredited by the Royal Department of Energy arrives at the residence, notifying us that he will install the first piece of the puzzle: The solar panels and mini-power plant.
I let him do his job while I continue reading books and Luningning's parents continue training.
Three hours later, everything is complete.
Now I have to play the waiting game again.
Three days later, while Luningning and I are cleaning her family's prized sword collection...
The technician comes back with tools and materials needed to repair the sparkgrid conduit.
Again, we let him do his job as we are polishing the swords' blades to their brightest sheen.
Two hours later... the job is finished, and the technician leaves once more.
I remark...
“Augh... the wait is really killing me!”
She echoes the same sentiment.
“As well as me!”
“But still... we must have patience. I believe in our kingdom's public service offerings, for one; as efficiency is one of the ways to keep us all happy. His Highness is an exemplar of that.”
“Yeah, I believe you. If services were crappy, my family wouldn't think twice relocating to another kingdom.”
We are then done with the sword polishing.
It's time to put back the swords into their proper places, i.e. the sword display rack attached to the living room's wall.
There. Easy-peasy.
But not as easy as waiting even further.
Two days later...
The final piece of the puzzle, the meter, is now ready to install.
The authorized technician arrives once more at the Amistoso household, with a brand-new spanking meter in tow.
He tells us...
“In just one hour, the power will be flowing back to your household. So, you can just chill now and then celebrate later.”
And as promised, one hour of labor later...
The technician flips the sparkgrid conduit switch, and everything that relies on sparkgrid power comes back to life.
The stove, the icebox, the oscillating motorized fan, and the light bulbs that provide ample lighting at nighttime – they now all function as they should.
The nightmare, the curse of being disconnected from the grid, has just come to an end.
We all breathe a sigh of relief.
And I'm also pumped up to go back questing, too.
That will suck for Luningning, but I originally meant to stay for just a day... which turned into a week.
“Luningning... now that the no-power issue is over... I have to go now.”
“That's OK. You've experienced the best and the worst here in my humble abode... well, not the worst. Will you go on a quest again?”
“Of course. And you?”
“Uh... I'll stay here a bit more to spend more quality time with father and mother. I have to make up for the lost productivity while the power's out before I set out adventuring again.”
“Yeah, good point. Well then... goodbye and take care. May we see each other in different pages someday.”
“You always say that when you bid someone goodbye?”
“Yeah. Because I'll never know when I will bump into that person.”
“Guess you're right. So then... Bye, Walter!”
Finally leaving the now re-powered house, I bid farewell to the brunette dual swordswoman and her beloved parents.
- Writer
