elect tricity

K and I were having coffee. I was ironing some shirts for him...it was about 8 in the morning.
There was, quite suddenly, a huge flash of light and a terrifically loud explosion. It was followed by two or three smaller or more distant explosions.
K screamed: THAT WAS HERE. THAT WAS US.
There was a mad scramble as all three boys tore out of bed, phones were searched for and we realized we had lost power. (Me shouting: NO POWER! CELL PHONES!)
A transformer box on a pole behind our house had exploded and set off a chain of popping transformers down the block.
It was spectacular. Middle said he saw a blinding flash of purple, Youngest said he saw it through his curtains and the police said they heard it in the station (a couple of doors away from us) and called the power company before we did.
Several electrical lines were strewn across our yard along with debris from whatever exploded.
The fire department arrived along with the police and a couple of fire chiefs. Neighbors ran across to see if we were all safe, others came from down the block to say that there were wires and debris at their house and there was a small fire at one of the houses behind ours.

The middle part of the morning was pretty boring after that. Our yard was taped off with lots of that wide yellow emergency tape, the neighbors went home, K went to work, and Oldest went out for breakfast.
Middle, Youngest and I stared at each other. We kept trying to turn on lights. It was annoying.
We decided to go to the restaurant supply store to get beverages and, by the time we got back, there was some action in the yard.

I went outside to ask the guy in the hardhat and reflective vest what exactly had happened.
That part there broke and fell onto the live wires. It must have bounced a few times and blown the fuse and then that tripped the boxes on the rest of the street, he said, making it sound much less dramatic than it really was.
Do you know why it happened? I asked.
No. It's, you know, electricity, he replied.
So, I guess we haven't, you know, harnessed that whole electrical thing.

He waited a while for a second guy with a big truck to show up and the whole repair took about 2 hours. It was far less high tech than we imagined it would have been.
They hoisted new wires up with pulleys and rope, they worked on a ladder, roped to the pole and chatted amiably with each other the whole time.
When they were done in the yard they told me they would go to the corner to check the main transformer. About ten minutes later, one of them reappeared with a long yellow pole with a hook at the end of it. He reached up onto the pole and flipped a switch and our power was restored.
After the flash and house shaking noise you'd have thought it would take more than rope and pulleys and a pole to get us back up and running. But you'd be wrong.

Minutes later, the dishwasher, washing machine, guitar amp and computer were whirring away.
Middle, who spent part of the morning staring out the window murmuring C'MON ELECTRICITY walked into the kitchen and said: GEEZ, 1472 MUST HAVE REALLY SUCKED.