In the dark of the night

 

I had forgotten how black darkcan be until we lost power about eleven o’clock last night. All evening I heardreports of rain nearby, some of it heavy, but our immediate area seemed dry andclear. Until about ten o’clock when I heard that first clap of thunder and,suddenly, Sophie was under my desk at my feet.

The wind rose, thunder rolledoccasionally, and then we got one of those amazing light shows—spectacular towatch. But then one big strike, a loud noise, and the world went black. I wasalready securely locked in for the night, sitting at my desk with my “go tosleep” glass of wine, my hand on my phone. When I looked straight ahead, Icould see a little out the windows, but behind me, deep in the cottage, it wasall black, impenetrable.

Pretty soon Christian came outto check on me, so without a light I made it to the patio door and let him in.He put away the meat that was defrosting, fetched my flashlight from thebedroom, and settled on the floor to comfort Sophie who was not as all right asI was. I lit my electric candles, and we had a nice visit, talking mostly aboutpolitics. After a while Jordan called to say their beloved Cricket was freakingout and sleeping in her arms. She wanted Christian back in the house.

Sophie and I went to bed,though I slept fitfully. If I didn’t’ mind the dark so much, I minded the heata lot. It hadn’t occurred to me until Christian and I were talking that the a/cwould be off too. I shed blankets and layers, but I was still uncomfortable.

And then suddenly, about threeo’clock, power returned and the cottage was ablaze with lights. I turned offthe computer and lights, filled Sophie’s water dish, and went gratefully backto bed. At five-thirty, Sophie wanted to go out. At six-thirty, she thought itwas time for breakfast. I told her firmly it was too early. At seven-thirty,she insisted, so I gave her first breakfast, let her out, and once more wentback to bed with that feeling that I hadn’t had my full sleep. Praise be, weslept until nine o’clock.

But the dark blackness of thenight stayed on my mind because I’d been thinking how little most Texansunderstand about what is going on in our world. They are in the dark.  Start with the Paxton impeachment proceedings:his lawyers keep protesting that he is the people’s choice, they elected himknowing all the accusations against him. Truth is, he won by a slim majority,not the major turnout you would expect for an established Republicanofficeholder in Texas. And polls have shown most Texans had no idea that he hasbeen under indictment for fraud for seven years, that his own office staffreported him to the FBI for bribery and other irregularities, that he had anotorious extramarital affair. The information has always been public—butapparently Texans didn’t read, didn’t care. Maybe now they do.

In Fort Worth, some millionsof federal funding for pandemic recovery has gone unused, so the countycommissioners have decided to transfer the funds from encouragement of lowincome housing and other services to the underserved to boost law enforcement,including increased use of a private prison over a hundred miles away. Amongmany things wrong with that plan, like the wrongness of private prisons tobegin with, is that many families, counselors, and lawyers will find it difficultto travel that far to visit and serve inmates. As for low-income housing, onecommissioner brushed it off with slight regret and, “It is what it is.” Doesn’tsound pro-active to me, especially since homelessness is on the rise. But mostTexans don’t know this.

And then there’s Clearfork—theupscale shopping/residential/office area on the city’s southwest side. And I domean upscale. Neiman Marcus, Burberry, Gucci, Johnny Was, Louis Vitton,Tiffany—you get the idea. Restaurants match the shops, and who knows how muchthose upstairs housing units cost. The City of Fort Worth is getting ready tosink millions into an expansion of Clearfork, including an upscale automobiledealer. Without a nod to the need for low-income housing. But most FortWorthians, let alone most Texans, don’t realize this.

I have a feeling I’m preachingto the choir here, but I don’t know how much or what else I can do to getTexans to wake up and realize the importance of knowing what’s going on, indepth, in our city, our state, our country. We hear repeatedly that the atmospherein this country resembles the thirties in Nazi Germany, and I think it terms ofpublic apathy, ignorance, call it what you will, it’s an apt comparison.

Folks, the power’s not goingto come on magically. We have already seen drastic controls on voting, onwomen’s rights over their own bodies, on freedom to love who we want, on whatbooks our children read, what version of history they are taught.

Oops sorry. I got preachy. ButI am so appalled by the darkness. The literal darkness didn’t scare me; themetaphorical darkness scares the heebie-jeebies out of me. Please help mespread the word that we must all pay close attention—and not stay silent.

Enjoy this cooler weather.Only in Texas is it cooler in the upper eighties. I love living in free Texas.I hope you do too.