* * Sally needs her power

Sally Shupe is one of the nicest, friendliest, most even-tempered and uncomplaining people I know. But she could sure use some electricity.

The massive windstorm that swept through our area on June 29 left in its wake widespread power outages. The nature of the storm found local power companies largely unprepared. Hundreds of thousands of customers were left in the literal dark, forced to wait helplessly while their power was restored. Sally was one of the unluckiest ones. It’s now ten days later and she’s still waiting.

“It’s frustrating. I am annoyed, irritated, and aggravated. I’m feeling emotions I never felt before. We don’t mind waiting our turn like everybody else. But it seems like it’s never our turn. We go to restaurants that are swamped with people. They don’t want us to be there; we don’t want to be there. I’m angry and short-tempered.”

I met Sally a few years ago. She’s a voracious reader. She found my first book and loved it, but couldn’t resist getting in touch with me and pointing out a few grammatical errors. Since then, she’s devoted countless hours to the improvement of my other three books, working at recompense so meager I’m embarrassed to admit it. She’s an extraordinarily talented editor; she misses nothing! 

While she’s been suffering through this ordeal, at my house we never missed a minute of electricity. So my wife and I invited Sally and her husband to dinner last evening.

She said, “We live on the north side of Gap Mountain, just off US-460 in Giles County. For some reason, our power line comes over the mountain from Blacksburg. The power line corridor hasn’t been maintained in years. My neighbor complained to Appalachian Power Company some time ago, warning them about the type of situation we’ve now seen. Sure enough, when the winds came, the trees fell on it and down it went.

“The Saturday after it happened, we went to Pearisburg and none of the restaurants were open because they didn’t have power. We turned around and went back to Blacksburg.”

During the days that followed, Sally spent lots of time on the Internet and the telephone, trying to learn how the Power Company makes repair priority decisions and attempting to get a believable estimate on when her power would be restored. She understood that high-priority customers like hospitals, nursing homes, and water treatment plants were higher on the list. She also understood that if one downed line served 100 homes and another only served 10, the former would get more immediate attention. But still, “When I found out that another big storm was forecast for the Charleston, West Virginia area and the linemen working our area were re-directed up there, I got really angry.”

Apparently, her line serves very few houses. So it’s last on the priority list. The bugger is that when another storm hits, the higher priority areas can still move ahead of those still without power from the “main event.”

In the meantime, she’s been keeping some food in a cooler and looking for bags of ice every day. A small generator at the house powers a few lights and the TV. She and her family have bathed in water left to warm in a bucket outside in the hot sun. Fortunately, they had running water to drink and for flushing toilets, but no hot water. “Saturday after the storm, we had to throw everything in the freezer away. We were able to save some condiments from the refrigerator for a few days in a cooler, but it was so hot that stuff started spoiling, too. The house got SO hot! There was no breeze and what we had was hot. We’ve probably spent $500 so far to keep the generator running, buy ice every day, buy meals from restaurants, and keep a few things in a cooler.

“What’s most frustrating is that the power company keeps telling us when they’ll have power restored, but each deadline has come and gone. I wish they’d just be honest with us.”

After our dinner together, she and her husband left our house to return home to her dark, hot house, keeping their fingers crossed.

BREAKING NEWS! As I put finishing touches on this article the next day, Sally has reported that her power has finally been restored. She wrote on her Facebook wall, “What is that bright light in the living room? Why that's a light bulb. Hello Mr. Lightbulb. How’re you doing? It’s been a long time. It’s nice to see you again.” Apparently her humor has been restored as well.