Here's a funny Hurricane Bob story for you guys.
Back then I was a 7 year old kid. I would get up at 6 in the morning to play with Legos in the family room. My dad would leave for work a couple of hours before that time.
About 8am the day of the hurricane, my mom comes to me and says, "Watch your sister. I need to go the store for a few things."
"Okay," I said. I grabbed a VHS tape for my sister to watch, some crap like Rainbow Briite or My Little Pony. Then I continued to play Legos.
An hour later she returns with some supplies and groceries. Canned food, bottled water, crackers, duct tape, band-aids, and a flashlight.
"Whats all that for?" I asked.
"Oh, there's a hurricane comming today. We might lose power for a while."
I had no idea what a hurricane was, but there seemed to be a bigger issue at hand.
"So where are the batteries for the flashlight?"
"It doesn't have batteries, it's rechargable." she replied.
She then has me read her the directions on the package.
"Must be charged 24 hours before use." I read.
I look outside for the first time that day and see it's pretty nasty out there.
I asked her, "When is it supposed to get bad?"
"This afternoon."
"Hrmm."
I pulggged that flashlight into the wall, then left to play Nintendo before the power goes out.
An epic session of Mario 3 is cut short about 2pm, along with everything else that plugs into the wall.
Mom calls out to me, "Chris, get the candles."
"What candles?"
"They're in the closet, in the basement."
"What?!"
"It's no big deal," she says, "Just take the flashlight."
I take it out of the socket, and make my way to the basement steps. I open the door and hit the switch on the flashlight.
Well piece of crap lived up to its name, because that exactly what it did. It flashed....ONCE!
I stared into the downstairs abyss. Remember that scene in Jurassic Park when the blonde chick went down into that utility shed to restart the park? It was just like that. But what if there arent just Raptors down there? There could be a T Rex, or a Terminator, or a shark, maybe even Darth Vader!
I put on a brave face, and descended into the dark unknown. I made it to the basement closet without encountering those things that go bump in the mind of a 7 year old with an overactive imagination. But if I did, this damn flashlight would make one hell of a club.
I fealt my way from shelf to shelf, searching for anything that fealt like it might contain a candle. Paper towels, toilet paper, barbicue sause, hammer, nails, sewing maching, a bag of large bottle caps.
"Ma! There's no candles down here!"
"There should be a bag of them in there."
"A bag of candles?"
"Yeah. They're tiny candles."
The bag of bottlecaps! I grabbed it and turned for the stairs. What dangers await me on my return to the world of light? Ninjas? Aliens? Chucky?
Oh, the stairs are just 5 feet away and well lit. I was safe.
I make it back to my mom with the bag of candles, and hand it to her.
"Ma, next time just buy a regular flashlight. Oh, I'm going to make sure you never forget this."
I talked to my mom today about the comming hurricane.
"Are you all set for the hurricane this weekend, Mom?"
"Yes."
"Did you plug in the flashlight?"
