Blackout
It was a Saturday night, just after eight o’clock. A few of the regular customers were enjoying themselves having drinks at Tessie Cal’s bar, including Tessie herself. She had been at the racetrack that day and lost her money (as usual), and now was drowning her sorrows with a bottle of vodka. The police had just left after breaking up a fight between two 80 year old guys that started fighting over a bet they had made between themselves. They bet who could get DUI Dee to sit next to them. When she moved over from across the bar and sat in the middle of them they began to brawl.
Just then ,One Beer Tom, the jokester, stopped in ordered a small glass of beer and said
“Here is the joke of the day”:
A dying addict gathered his three best friends at his bedside and handed each of them an envelope containing $25,000 in cash. He made them each promise that after his death and during his repose, they would place the three envelopes in his coffin. He told them that he wanted to have enough money to enjoy the next life.
A week later the man died. At the wake, the three friends, each concealed an envelope in the coffin and bid their old party friend farewell. By chance, these three met several months later.
Soon the first friend, feeling guilty, blurted out a confession saying that there was only $10,000 in the envelope he placed in the coffin. He felt, rather than waste all the money, he would spend it on a trip to South America to get cocaine. He asked for their forgiveness
The next friend, moved by the gentle sincerity of the first, confessed that he too had kept some of the money for a wild party. The envelope, he admitted, had only $8000 in it. He said, he too could not bring himself to waste the money so frivolously when it could be used to have a great time.
By this time the last friend, a pot head, was seething with self-righteous outrage. He expressed his deep disappointment in the felonious behavior of two of his oldest and most trusted friends. "I am the only one who kept his promise to our dying friend. I want you both to know that the envelope I placed in the coffin contained the full amount. Indeed, my envelope contained my personal check for the entire $25,000."
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It was raining hard, and talk of a tornado was reported on the television. Tessie shut off the television and played the jukebox instead. She seemed to be in a bad mood, and she acted as if everyone in the bar was getting on her nerves. She told Ann to go ahead and close up around midnight since the weather was bad, and so was business.
A few minutes later, the lights went out and the jukebox stopped. Tessie thought that Ann had turned off the switch in the back, and Ann had thought that Tessie had hit the switch on her way out from behind the bar. The four customers left, Maureen, DUI Dee, Don, and Greg, sat at the end of the bar finishing up their drinks. Tessie had noticed while setting the alarm that the electricity on the block was out. “This is a blackout,” Tessie declared, Greg had already figured this out since there was no light in the men’s washroom.
Ann found a few candles and lit them. Greg took a candle and went into the men’s room. Maureen had been in a tornado once before and said, “The color the sky is now is the same color it was right before the tornado struck. It destroyed homes and took cars and trees right off of the ground.”
Tessie put the locks on the door, and they all headed down to the basement. She gave everyone something to carry on their way down the stairs. Maureen was given a bucket of ice, Greg had five bottles of whiskey, Don carried folding chairs, Ann had the glasses and pop to mix the booze with, DUI Dee grabbed a carton of cigarettes, a few ashtrays and some potato chips, and Tessie brought vodka and the keys to the walk-in cooler where the beer was kept. “We should have everything we need,” Maureen said as they all descended the stairs towards the basement. Bouncer led the way.
There was a small flashlight downstairs, and they set up the chairs around an old table. As Ann poured them all a drink, she said, “Well, if we have to be stuck in a tornado, I guess this is the best basement in town to be in.”
The wind was howling outside, and everyone there felt like this was the end of the world. Maureen talked about how if she got the chance to live her life over again, she would do it all differently. Greg started making out a will, Don was saying the rosary while throwing down double shots, and DUI Dee was blabbering on and on about her family. Ann decided not to drink anymore because if she died in the tornado she wanted to meet God sober. As Tessie opened a bottle of vodka she said, “If you’re not drinking Ann there will just be more for me.”
A few hours passed by, and by now Tessie and Greg had passed out. Don was on his second case of beer and had already finished half a bottle of whiskey. Maureen was getting worried since she was nearly out of booze. She wanted to go upstairs to the bar and get another bottle, but she was afraid if she did the tornado would strike and carry her off to the land of oz. Instead she switched to beer and before long, passed out beside Tessie and Greg. Don then joined the rest and passed out as well, and DUI Dee rambled on about her family before falling into an alcohol-induced sleep. As Ann looked around, she noticed water all over the back part of the basement. She walked into a pipe, hit her head, and was knocked unconscious.
At seven o’clock the next morning, Tessie awoke with a hangover and wasn’t quite sure if the tornado had struck or not. She shook Don to see if he was alive, and as he picked his head up off the table he asked, “Did the tornado do much damage?” He then shook Maureen and Greg to wake them up from their drunken stupors, and they did not seem to know where they were at. “Look at Ann,” said Tessie, “She must have decided to drink after all.” Greg and Don picked Ann up off the floor and sat her in a chair. She looked very confused and was mumbling something about her own backyard, and not making much sense.
Tessie went upstairs to the bar to see if there was much damage. “Come upstairs!” she shouted, “Everything is alright!” Maureen turned on the television, and the news reporter was saying how lucky they were that the tornado never struck. Tessie turned on the lights and opened up the doors for business. Ann was on the phone talking to her husband, telling him how much she missed him and that she would never leave home again.
Then there was DUI Dee, passed out with the telephone in her hand. When she woke up, she said she wasn’t sure, but she thought she had a long conversation with her brother who she hadn’t talked to in years. She wasn’t too certain, but the thought of finally talking to her brother made her very happy. She just really wished she could remember the damn conversation.
Nobody seemed to know exactly what happened. Tessie decided, “The rain must have caused the blackout last night, but the vodka caused the blackout in the basement.”
Ann could not remember anything, but when she noticed the bump on her head, she realized she must have hit her head and then blacked out. She could not quite remember her dream while unconscious, but she remembered, “It had something to do with heaven and angels.” Ann was still talking in riddles as she walked out the door, saying, “In a blackout, never blackout, or you may blackout.”
Tessie decided to call her old boyfriend Danny, and found out that his phone was disconnected. This worried her and she went down the block to his buddy’s house where he was now renting a room. “No sign of him for about a week now,” said the roommate, “thought maybe he was back with you.” “I have not heard from him” said Tessie. You know he has seizures, maybe I’ll check with the hospital.” Tessie made a few phone calls only to find out that Danny was in Las Vegas having a great time with his buddies. “Last time I ever worry about him,” said Tessie, “he never would take me to Vegas. Hope he loses every penny he has. Hope he tries to call me so I can hang up on him. Hope he comes in the bar so I can tell him he is barred. Hope he misses his flight on the way back. Hope he misses me (as much as I miss him).”
Shortly after this happened Tessie felt inspired and wrote these three poems:
Waiting
A thought seems to occur to me
as I look into the mirror
The stillness echoes thru the room
I’m trembling deep with fear
when all at once a wondrous sight
appears before my eyes
further than the eye can see
It takes me by surprise
Radiant, the moonbeams through
everlasting, ever true
Desperately reaching, trying to find
the truth disillusioned deep in my mind
Sorrow, Anguish, and Despair
wondering if
I really care
I’m afraid that I can not abide
the time goes by so slow
Shortly the dawn will be outside
This for sure I know
While waiting it occurred to me
the stars shine all around
the echoing of a falling leaf
is such a lovely sound
Oblivion
Apparently the defeat became unimportant,
Nevertheless, obligations isolated with no morals
were thought deeply serious
Convinced that I was
in the state of oblivion
those were the circumstances
unlike individuals
who were in reality?
Becoming disillusioned by the circumstances
which were taken into thought
obviously had no meaning
no longer caring.
Gradually responsibility’s
abandoned one by one and
it seemed quite appropriate
to become isolated.
With no explanation, arriving
in the state of oblivion
and not remember going there.
Thunder
The roaring thunder
beneath the surface
Quite frequently
disappears and drifts away
Unexpected and uncertain
Suddenly dribble arises
A challenge emerges.
The thunder roars and
echoes through out the universe,
Through the stars, charming and equally dreadful..
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