I am Stella, Queen of the Olde English Bulldogges. Did you see him, Wiggles? Did you see him?
Wiggles: I did better than see him. I smelled him. And his big rolling box.
Me: What’s going on, y’all? What wrong?
Tiger: That is the question. What is wrong, Lady Human? There is a stranger outside. And now you have put little boxes in front of us and they are blowing air, but you won’t let us chew on them.
Doodlebug: And the lights are off and the Picture Box and most important of all…
Miss Sweetie: Me! Me! Me! I get to say it! What was it that I get to say?
Stella: THE COLD AIR BOX IS NOT WORKING! THE STRANGER OUTSIDE STOLE OUR COLD AIR! CALL THE POLICE!
Me: Okay. The little fans are stirring the air to cool you all down. And no, you do not get to chew on them. The stranger outside is not a bad guy. He is working on our power line so that it won’t be threatened by the big trees down the way.
Stella: Someone was threatening our power line? Let us at ‘em! Wait. What’s a power line?
Me: It’s what feeds electricity into the house. And what are you all going to do to a bunch of trees overhanging our power line?
Wiggles: I can handle any tree! Where did our cold air go?
Me: The calmer you stay, the cooler you’ll stay. We are all right. We have ice. We have ice packs. We have battery fans. We have water. And the man outside knows what he is doing and he will have our line moved and reconnected in no time.
Stella: When is no time? Is that now?
Me: The power company told me about one hour.
Doodlebug: Is that now?
Me: No.
Miss Sweetie: Is it now?
Me: You will know when it is when the lights and the air conditioner come back on.
Stella: What is this power company you talk about? Why can they take away our cold air?
Me: Look.
Stella: Where?
Me: Sorry, that’s a human expression. If we don’t have the power line moved out from under the trees on the neighboring property, a limb could fall on it and disconnect our power. A storm could bring down one of the trees and take out our power. A strong wind. Ice during the winter. So, we asked, and the power company said they would move it so none of that would happen. All we have to do is sit tight for about an hour and the power line will be safe. And we can do that, can’t we?
Tiger: I guess so.
Doodlebug: Maybe. Can I have another ice cube in my water bowl?
Miss Sweetie: I still don’t understand what’s going on. I’m going to take a nap. Maybe when I wake up, I’ll know.
Wiggles: Can I wait? Yes. No. Maybe.
Stella: Will you stay with us here until that thing you call ‘power’ comes back on?
Me: I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here.
Stella: I guess we’ll be all right then.
Me: Oh, look at that! The power’s back on. Here comes air conditioning!
Tiger: And lights.
Doodlebug: And you can take the little fans away. They are creepy.
Stella: And here comes the Picture Box.
Wiggles: And I am not even hot.
Me: That only took about 30 minutes.
Stella: Hey, the power humans said it would take an hour. Whatever that is. I think you should complain, Lady Human.
Me: I think I will be thankful for electricity and air conditioning.
Wiggles: Will the strange man stay outside?
Me: No, he has other people to help.
Wiggles: That’s too bad. I wanted to scare him with my awesome bark.
Copyright 2018 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.
Bulldoggy 