Blackout Blues I

July 12, 2007; Thursday

Shall we dance?

The darkness begins to seep into my head, it’s driving me insane. It’s been 4 hours of darkness and heat. My legs are infested with mosquito bites. Finally those blood sucking fiends get the feast that they oh so crave, A blood bath of sorts.
Staring at the ceiling has never been so entertaining. As I stare into the melancholic dreams that the darkness has painted upon its cold surface, the candle celebrates as it is finally free from its usual spot among the cobwebs and spiders. As it dances to the rhythm of the wind (one that I can’t obviously feel) it creates an audience of dark monstrous creatures, who in no time at all, lures me into the candle’s fire dance. Tantalized by its optimism, one can’t help but wonder ‘how on earth can a candle find so much joy amidst the dark abyss?’ One may even think that it feeds on the sadness that looms around her. The candle must be…

Wait! What am I saying? Happy candles? Fire dancing? With this, I am positively sure I am insane. The darkness has finally killed my brain.

Sigh.

The darkness that was once so new to my eyes now seems so familiar. Who could blame them? My eyes did have more than enough time to get acquainted with its new found friend. But that doesn’t mean I have to like them, Right? By now silence seemed to have crept into every corner. It seems even the rats got the message. Not a sound could be heard other than the sound of my breath escaping from my body. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, a talent we all seem to have.
This, my friends is what you call boredom. Boredom is actually quite interesting, for only in boredom can we think of things such as happy dancing candles. Only in boredom do we notice how the ceiling can entertain us. Boredom makes us crazy; it makes artists out of us. Funny how suddenly boredom becomes something worthy of praise. Funny how all these emerged in the blackout.

It’s funny what a blackout can do to a person. How it can change lives.

Then the sound of the pump suddenly goes on. The fishes escape their death once again. The silence disperses and the rats are released from its clutches. In no time at all, the television is opened, the fans, the lights and the computer. My legs, though it barely survived, was finally abandoned by those blood sucking flies, as the strong wind of the fans pushed them to do so. As soon as the lights went on the candles stopped dancing, and in seconds their optimism, their tantalizing dances all disappear as I blow away the remnants of every move it made. The shadows on the wall seemed so normal now. So still, so monochromatic. The ceiling, too, appears to have lost its luster. Its melancholic dreams brushed away by one click of the television. It has lost. Light once again ruled the household. It seems only darkness can rule once everyone can’t see it, Once everyone’s asleep. Until of course another blackout comes.

I realize now that light can’t survive without darkness, and darkness without light. I mean if the world had no darkness to distinguish the light, what purpose would light have? What reason? Light wouldn’t be light if there was no darkness. So maybe the next time a blackout takes place we could just all lie down, let the silence embrace us and let our breath empower every sound. To give the flies their feast, and once again, let the candle do its fire dance. Maybe it’s just the heat, or probably the darkness. But what the heck let them make me insane. I mean when do you ever see the darkness paint the ceilings?

So let the candles do their fire dance,

I mean it IS a free show.