November 7, 2009. Bristol, Va, Trauma.

There are consequences to not paying your bill. The electricity is turned off. The lights don't work. The stove won't turn on. The washing machine won't turn on. In other words, bad things happen. The timing was impeccable. We arrived home to the condo to discover that the light was not working, so after Ken spoke to the administrative people in the office, it was determined that our lights were not working because we did not pay our electrical bill. Now this was not a good thing, as we had invited Andrew and Christina and the children for dinner, also Susan Mims, our real estate agent and her husband over to our new condo for dinner. So, now here we are, company arriving at 6:30 with no ability to cook or serve food. Everything was getting dark.

The first thing to do was to pay our bill. We did not even know that we needed to pay an electrical bill, but it turns out that we did not pay enough attention. After a hundred or more buttons pushed on my cell phone, the bill was paid, and from then on, the bill will be automatically paid every month. The company guaranteed the power would be turned on that day. The question was, when?

I quickly drove to the grocery store for rotisserie chicken and rolls, as my real menu was rice and enchiladas. Then I lit the four candles left by the former owner. The dinner party turned out just great. With two flash lights and four candles we were able to dine with great atmosphere. Of course, everyone loved the idea that we did not pay our bills. Hard to believe, but true. It was a true story, certainly more memorable that a normal dinner party.