KFC’s lights were all off when I walked past it along Matalino on my way back home. It did seem that McDo was running on generators, after an afternoon outpour knocked out the electricity at some areas in Quezon City.

The house was dark, and our youngest dog was all scared and quiet. He’s not used to the dark, I guess.

My mom came in and she and the household help started working on our dinner. Lights were still out so the candles came in

When I was a kid, my sister and I would play with candles’ wax in the dark. If we got a bright one, we’d try to play board games with mama and papa, listening to the radio for any clue if we’ll have to sleep in the dark without the electric fan on.

I thought, what the heck. Let us turn off the phone and save it for later, and then let us do something  that doesn’t need electricity. So I grabbed a book and tried to read.

To the right is the photo of that futile attempt.

Outside, I could hear kids running, one of them sounded like he or she had that wooden toy gun that you must wind to make a clicking bratatatat. Wow, kids still know how to play outside, at least those who don’t have tablets. So how will those techie kids survive this night when their gadgets and powerbanks run out of batteries? Will they discover the bliss of playing with wax candles, or running your fingers across the flame fast enough to avoid getting burned?

I was ready to have a candlelit dinner, but the lights came on. First thing I did was rush to go online and check if there was anything I missed.