She lit the candle and went to the closet door to get her robe from the hook on the door. It was the third time this winter that the power went off so it was becoming a routine now. Carefully, down the steps, she was a little groggy and the candle wasn't exactly the optimal light source. Down another flight of steps to the basement and over to the breaker box. She had an electrician check out the problem the last time this happened and was told she needed a new breaker box. The Main breaker was weak, and it wouldn't handle load it was designed for anymore.  The circuit breakers were no longer made for her old unit.. He also told her she needed some other wiring repairs and that whole thing would run about 2500.00. She didn't have that. So for now it was, go flip the breaker every time it popped.

    She tried to open the door to the breaker box but it was locked. " What the fuck," she muttered.  Had the electrician locked it when he was there last.? It was 2.30 AM so she knew that he wasn't going to come out to help. She was kind of pissed now so she went up stairs to the kitchen. She grabbed the container of pickled eggs and a soda from the fridge. She sat down at the table. She loved pickled eggs and she couldn't sleep now anyway. So she ate three of them. Sprinkling each one with pepper first.

    While she ate by the candle light, she thought about her predicament. Her husband left two years ago, and since then it was a struggle to keep the house. She didn't have enough money to do maintenance, so it was slowly falling into disrepair. She didn't really miss him, he was a selfish, self absorbed jerk. But she did miss the financial stability. She thought about
 buying a flashlight, since, after all, it was the twenty first century.  She thought about dating services. Maybe she could find a nice guy to move in with her. She hated herself for thinking that way. What was she? A prostitute for house funds? But she was after all, only human.

    She fell asleep, slumped on the kitchen table. Next morning she felt like crap. At least it was a Sunday, she already knew an afternoon nap would be required. She  fumbled around the kitchen and cleaned up for a few minutes. There on the counter in the corner of the wall and the fridge was a note from the electrician. It said " Call me sometime if you would like to go for dinner or something." She always liked the guy, and hey, he's got a good job too. She said out loud "This could be my key to the future." She was so excited she bumped into the kitchen table and knocked down  the salt shaker that NO-U had given her as a Hanukkah gift. Which was a little odd seeing as she was  Methodist.