Control in a Small Town

Celia sighed as she thought back on her horrible day. First she was late for class because her car ran out of gas, then she got a D on her French midterm, it was raining buckets all day, and, to top it all off, she just overdrew her bank account in order to pay the rent on her tiny little apartment. She couldn't even afford to pay the heating bill. All in all, things could have been going better.

As she got home she went straight for the fridge and grabbed a beer. Taking a big sip, she plopped down on the couch and put her feet up. Finally, she thought, I can relax for today.

She decided that she wouldn't tempt fate for more misfortune and she'd stay in tonight. With a pizza on its way and her favorite romantic movie in the DVD player, Celia settled down under her electric blanket to relax. She thought must of dozed off because she awoke when a large crack of thunder shook her building and she saw a bright flash of light, or at least that was all she remembered when she woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the next morning. The smell of electric burning was strong and the electric blanket wrapped around her didn't seem to be working and she found herself shivering.

Celia shook her head and took a look at her watch. She still had an hour before her next class. Wow, Celia thought, the house must have been hit by lightning last night while I was sleeping on the couch. Shaking the sleep out of her eyes she got up to check that her laptop hadn't been plugged in and heaved a huge sigh of relief when she found that it was fine. On closer inspection, the only casuality of the weather events of the night before seemed to be the electric blanket which was regrettable, but not a huge deal. She stood and stretched to shake off the last of her sleepiness and tried to come up with a plan for her day.