It was a beautiful day. Cloudy, sunny and rainy all at the same time. One could hear all those morning sounds, like the chirping of the birds, or rustling of the leaves in the wind; and that familiar smell of the slightly wet roads in the dew. The comforting calm of the Sunday morning was disturbed by the hustle in the corner house. The croissants were in the oven, and Natalie was busy vacuuming her home.
‘Who wakes up at 6:30 on a Sunday morning,’ Natalie thought to herself, as she tidied up her gallery. She then found the perfect spot on the bench, where she felt the warmth of the sun, while enjoying the cool breeze. The silence was eerie, almost unnatural as compared to the droning of the vacuum-cleaner. At first, Natalie felt strangely uncomfortable in her own house – all alone on a Sunday morning, no one to speak to, and nothing to do.
Suddenly, the beautiful morning smell transformed into that of burning plastic. Natalie sprung out of her discomfort, almost naturally feeling happy at the thought of some impending drama. The oven wire was sparking, and a buzzing sound came from the socket. Without a second thought, she unplugged the oven. And, slowly, she heard the silence of the house grow even louder. The fans went off, lights were out, and the smell of fresh croissants was now overpowering that of the burning wire. It was a beautiful morning, all alone at home, and the power had just gone out. ‘Can’t call the electrician on a Sunday,’ thought Natalie, as she stood aimlessly in the middle of her kitchen, staring at the little fumes coming out of the oven wire. That was the most eventful thing that was going to happen all day, and it was already over!
Today was supposed to be her day off – a day of serial baking and binge watching her favorite tv shows. Guess she couldn’t do that anymore – thank you, electricity! She thought of cleaning the rest of the house, only to realize that even the vacuum is now redundant.
The smell of the croissants was still overpowering. So, decided to make some chai-tea, and plated up the croissants. As the tea brewed, she went to her book shelf and tried to find an old book she had been meaning to read for a while now. Over the years, Natalie was so caught up in life, that she had slowly lost the habit of reading. Once an avid reader, and book collector, Natalie’s ‘to-read’ list only grew longer over the years, as her desire to essentially pick up the book and start reading seemed to have died. Today, she decided to reignite her passion.
She started digging through all the ‘intelligent reads’ she had collected over the years, and reached her stash of guilty pleasures. These were the books she loved reading from time to time, but found it so hard to admit to everyone, being the book-snob that she was! She placed her copy of ‘Tale of the Cities’ on the table in her gallery, and went towards the kitchen. Chai was ready, and so was she!
Tale of the Cities was one of those soapy reads filled with unexpected, but rather convenient coincidences, sassy dialogs, opportune deaths, and of course bubbly romantic humor. Natalie plated her croissants, and poured chai into a rather comforting size of mug. She ran pranced through the remainder of her unkempt house, trying to silence the part of her mind that said she absolutely had to clean it.
Well, the book was tucked at the back of the shelf, and was free of dust. Natalie opened the book, and started reading it. After the first two paragraphs, she started instagram-ing pictures of her cute mug, and oh-so-delicious croissants. ‘I have to read,’ she chided herself, as she turned her phone to silent, and kept it out of sight.
After hours of reading, and many ohs, ahs and oh-my-gosh moments, Natalie finally kept the book away. She felt so good. After many years she had dedicated time to herself, doing things she truly enjoyed. She had almost forgotten about being all alone on a Sunday, and even the fact that the power had been out for four hours now. The sun was shining brighter, but a soft breeze made its way through. For lunch, Natalie decided to order some pizza. ‘The cheesier, the better,’ she thought.
While she lunched, Natalie played some old music on her phone, and was listlessly looking around her house as she noticed a picture of her mother hanging on the wall. She realized how the picture had always been there; though, its location was too nondescript to ever remind Natalie of her mom. She stopped the music, and called her mom. Although it was a normal phone call, she felt a bit queasy. ‘Could be the pizza,’ she thought.
‘Hello, mother,’ said Natalie, unsure of what to say next. ‘Hi dear, how have you been?’ her mom enquired. ‘hmmm I’ve been good. And you?’ she asked. ‘Natalie dear, are you okay? You sound like you wanna say something.’ Natalie mustered some courage and said, ‘Would you like to spend some time with me?’ Her mom instantly replied ‘why of course. I’ll be there in couple of minutes!’ Natalie mumbled an ‘okay’ and the phone clicked. ‘WOW. I didn’t even tell her that there’s no electricity here!’
She didn’t know what to do. She spent the next seventeen minutes tidying up the rest of the house to please her mother. When her mom arrived, the doorbell didn’t sound (of course! No power, duh!) and so the thudding on the door disturbed Natalie’s disarrayed chain of thoughts.
‘Hey mom,’ she hugged her. After some uncomfortable conversations and few glasses of wine, mother and daughter eased up. Natalie’s mother had brought a few old photo albums, which they both went through, sometimes reminiscing the good ol’days, at other times arguing over how the events had gone down! It was a beautiful trip down the memory lane. As a few hours passed, Natalie offered her mother some of the croissants she baked, along with the pizza.
Her mother was ever so happy to be present, Natalie realized that she ought to do this more often. It was evening, and now that her father was back home from work, the women decided to call him over for dinner to Natalie’s. ‘But there’s no electricity here,’ interjected Natalie. ‘No problem, dear, we’ll light a few candles,’ said her mother. It was a while before her father came home with some chinese food in boxes. He also brought some cheesecake for his daughter. ‘Your favorite,’ he said. Natalie realized how much her parents remembered about her likes and, the fact that they still cared to take care of her little needs. She felt really nice.
As the family sat in the gallery, the moonlight and streetlights (of course) were sufficient lighting for the evening. Though, her mother insisted on the candles and some light music, for the sake of ambience! The family enjoyed a rather simple meal, talking about old things and new! They reopened those old photographs again, trying to remember what actually happened. There was more chuckling, and of course, more wine! Natalie never thought she was old enough to drink with her parents, although they felt otherwise. They treated her like nothing but an adult. It was awkward, mostly because she felt very protected around them, and at the same time, she had the liberty to enjoy herself. She glanced at them again, as they talked, and smiled to herself, just enjoying the moment. She even clicked a few candid pictures from her phone, and this time, she promised herself she would get these printed, and not let them pile on like e-garbage!
Her father then brought the cheesecake, which Natalie thoroughly enjoyed with the rest of her wine! It was a combination she really loved – creamy cheesecake with a glass of red wine! All the talks and giggles grew dimmer, as Natalie started to sleep a bit on the chair itself. Her father cleaned her bed for her, and her mother helped her change into something comfortable. They tucked her in bed, and thoughtfully opened the window just enough for the breeze to flow in. For the first time in the past decade, Natalie didn’t care if her phone was around her.
She woke up the next morning around ten. She was not used to sleeping in. Her father had called the electrician, and the power was back on. The house was neat, there were no signs of their small party last night, and her parents were seated at the gallery, enjoying the croissants she’d made. It was such a comforting sight.
Natalie glanced at her oven, praying that the power went off again. She had found the light in her life.
