At the home of Gary and Vera Canfield on Sunset Drive, Gary
Canfield was out in his garage sawing wood for the pinewood
derby track with a circular saw when the power went out, which
halted his work in progress. Everything from his saw to the lights
shut down.
"Oh great," Gary muttered, "That's all we need at a time like this,
a power failure."
Gary had nearly completed the supports for the track when the
power cut off, not knowing how long it would be down. He walked
out of the garage and thought, We may have just blown a fuse is all.
He thought just a little too soon as his next-door neighbor Bill Hall
called out from his back door with, "Hey, Gary? Did your power just
go out?"
"Yeah, it sure did," Gary called back in reply, knowing now, much to
his chagrin, that it wasn't a fuse.
And Mac will be over here any time now to help me with the track,
Gary thought, then added, I wonder if Mac's experiencing the same thing?
As Gary headed to the back door of his house he began to notice people
starting to come out of their homes and start asking one another what
was going on. As he approached the door, his wife Vera came from
out the door and asked him, "Gary? Is the power out all over?"
"Looks like it hon,' " Gary replied matter-of-factly, "Did you notice
the neighbors all milling around about the neighborhood?"
"Yes I did," answered Vera.
"Well this just throws a monkey wrench into the works."
"Oh, you mean the pinecar track?"
"I'm afraid so unless they restore the power soon."
Gary and Vera walked back inside the house to get out flashlights
and candles when the two Canfield children, Brian, 12 and Dawn, 9
came up from the basement.
"Hey Dad," Brian called as he emerged from the basement door, "I
think we blew a fuse."
"No Brian," Gary called back, "the power's out everywhere."
"Oh."
Curious, Brian and Dawn went out the front of the house and
noticed people of the neighborhood walking and milling about
as if confused.
It must be out everywhere, Brian thought.
"I think I hear sirens," Dawn said finally.
"Yea Dawn," Brian said, "I hear them, too."
As Brian and Dawn stepped down from the front porch of their
house, they suddenly heard someone shout, "Hey look over there
toward the west, smoke just billowed up!"
"I wonder if that could have something to do with the power outage
here?" a woman asked.
"That must explain the sirens you heard, Dawn," Brian put in.
" Yes." Dawn answered.
Gary came to the front door to call Brian and Dawn in when Brian
called, "Dad, look over there, smoke!"
Gary came out and looked over to where Brian and Dawn were pointing
and began to think uneasily, That's over to where Mac lives.
"Okay kids, let's go back inside." Gary said and then thought, I'm going
to make a phone call to Mac.
As soon as they were back in the house, Gary got out his cell phone to
call Mac. He dialed Mac'c regular phone number only to get his answering
machine then tried his cell phone number to no avail.
"Something's wrong," Gary thought out loud.
This concludes Chapter Four.
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