Don't touch the Light Switch

 

How I Almost Fried the Electrician

My brother, Buddy, invited me to visit. (He lost his partner of eighteen years just nine months after I lost my husband, so we’ve been keeping each other company.)

I love his patio — I could practically live out there, and honestly, I usually do whenever I’m with him.

One sunny afternoon, Buddy left to run an errand, leaving me home alone. (Dangerous idea. I really do need a little supervision.)

The sun was streaming through the house, and I noticed the kitchen light was still on. Being helpful, I went to turn it off. I flipped every switch I could find. Nothing happened.

“Ohhh,” I thought, “maybe this is a smart house.”
So I tried the magic words:
“Hey Google, kitchen light off.”
“Siri, kitchen light off.”
“Alexa, kitchen light off.”

Nothing.

Then I spotted two hidden switches behind the back door. I flipped one and got distracted just as Buddy pulled into the driveway.

Later, while I ran out to grab lunch, Buddy returned to find the patio and garage completely without power. By the time I got back, he had an electrician crawling through wires in the three-car garage.

He asked me, suspiciously, “You didn’t flip any of the switches behind the back door, did you?”

I gave him my best innocent look. “All I did was turn off the kitchen light.”
(Which, by the way, was STILL on.)

Later, curiosity got the better of me. I peeked behind the back door again. Both switches were now OFF. Without thinking, I flipped them back on.

That’s when I heard a loud YELL from the garage.

Panicked, I rushed outside — fully prepared to explain to the family how we once had an electrician, past tense.

But instead of smoke and tragedy, the man was grinning ear to ear. “By some miracle,” he announced, “the power’s back in the garage and on the patio!”

Oh yes. A miracle indeed.

And as for how it really happened?
Well… what they don’t know won’t hurt me.

 After 60 years he already knows not to leave me unsupervised.

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