[hider=NOTE TO READERS]Although the address below is the real world location of a business, I altered the name of that business slightly: [i]Wholesome Factory[/i] becomes [i]Wholesome Cafe & Grocery[/i].[/hider]

[b]April 3 2022, Sunday, 11:11 pm
[url=https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7614057,-73.9501333,3a,75y,125.03h,91.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suIIzsSHk9PWA_SMnPBKyAQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192]Wholesome Cafe & Grocery[/url]
530 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, Manhattan[/b]

[url=https://i.imgur.com/bNPbdQf.jpg?1]Maria Gonzales[/url] had locked the doors of her family's cafe and grocery barely more than two hours before the blackout; Sundays they ended their work day earlier than their normal 11pm closing time. She'd been deep into the weekly inventory and reordering for those items not on automatic replenishment when every thing around her went black.

A power outage would typically startle any young woman all by herself, but -- as happened with the Police Officers down the block from her -- this absolute pitch blackness was a new experience. In the windowless back storage room, Maria found herself fearful of breathing, let alone moving.

After finding her cell phone dead and, therefore, its flashlight App dead as well, Maria set aside her clipboard, reached her hands out before her, and swept them back and forth as she carefully made her way toward the door through the stacks of yet-to-be-sold inventory. She made it to the sales floor, then to the front door, where she looked out upon a thoroughly dark world. She found just what her friend, NYPD Sergeant Helen Davis, was finding down the street: a world without electricity.

Maria flinched and squealed lightly in fright at the sight of movement in the dark just beyond the glass. The figure moved up to the door and knocked. Maria recognized the uniform but not the face. Still, she opened the door and asked, "What's going on, Officer?"

"Blackout," the Police Officer answered simply and -- though she didn't know it yet -- not entirely accurate, asking, "Do you have candles? The station's emergency lighting failed, too. Weird." She shoved her hand out, smiled, and said, "Sorry. I'm Officer Naomi Wilde ... new to the Minnehanonck station ... first day actually--"

Taking the offered hand, Maria giggled at the officer's words. When Naomi donned a confused expression, Maria explained, "Most people don't know that word, [i]Minnehanonck[/i] ... not even the people who live or work on the island."

Naomi laughed, too, explaining, "I'm a bit of a history buff. Plus, I was told that if I knew the name and history, it would impress the locals ... [i]and[/i] my Sergeant."

"Well, consider me impressed, Officer," Maria responded as she gestured the cop inside.

"Naomi," the woman in blue corrected. "Please, call me Naomi. So ... candles?"

"Sure, of course," Maria said, adding, "Wait here. The store's so dark that ... well, you get it."

She made her way through the store carefully; her parents were always shifting displays around to highlight items they were pushing hard, yet Maria still managed to reach her destination only bumping into a few things on the way. Soon, she had a Bic lighter glowing before her, using it to light the path to the shelf offering emergency and decorative candles and more.  

"Here you go," she said upon returning to Naomi with a cloth shopping bag out before her. "No charge for our [i]women[/i] in blue." She giggled again: "I couldn't run them through the register if I wanted to charge you anyway."

"I don't think we're allowed," Naomi was saying, holding out the $20 her Sergeant had given her. "Helen, my supervisor -- she says she knows you -- she gave me this to give to you."

Maria was reluctant to take the money but did. She handed Naomi the bag; she listed its contents of emergency candles, decorative ones -- "French Vanilla," she explained, "You'll like that" -- Bic lighters, a small box of matches, and two small cardboard boxes. "They're little miniature souvenir oil lamps. Make sure you let them sit upright for at least five minutes before you light them. They'll last you through the night, in case the lights don't come back on by then ... which I'm sure they will."

While she'd been showing off the bag's contents, Naomi had been holding the lit Bic. Maria reached her hand out to take the Officer's wrist and maneuver the lighter up higher, enabling her to see [url=https://i.imgur.com/gXnTeX1.jpg?1]the new-to-Roosevelt cop[/url] a bit better. Maria smiled, liking what she saw; she'd spent her teens confused regarding her [i]sexual preferences[/i] and only recently -- after an encounter with a bosomy bleached blonde at a dance club -- had come to realize that that [i]preference[/i] most definitely was for women, not men.

"Hopefully we see each other again when it isn't so dark and scary out?" Maria said, her tone a bit suggestive thought not entirely flirtatious.

Naomi returned the smile, saying only, "Definitely."

They made their farewells, and Naomi headed outside again, but she only got a few steps before Maria called to her, "Naomi, do you know what's going on? I mean, what happened to the cars? And what were those explosions? Are we being attacked by terrorists?"

Naomi shrugged, then remembering that it was nearly pitch black with the exception of the lighter's flame, answered, "We don't know yet. None of our radios work. Cell phones are down. We're really in the dark, figuratively as well as literally." 

She began to turn but then hesitated. She took a step back toward the store clerk: "Maria ... it was Maria, right?" She got confirmation, then continued, "If you want, you can come down to the PSD with me ... or, if you have things to do here, come down later. The doors are always open, [i]'specially[/i] in a blackout."

Maria's smile reached its widest; she had a sense that Naomi was flirting with her as opposed to simply performing her duty: [i]protect and serve[/i]. She said, "I will, later, but ... right now I need to stay with the store until my parents get here. If the blackout is affecting them in Queens, they'll hoof it right over here."

"[i]Hoof it?[/i]" Naomi responded questioningly.

Maria laughed. "Family expression. They are both bike riders. They'll show up soon enough." Her line of sight rose, and pointing past the Officer, Maria asked, "Is that ... is that a fire?"

Naomi turned, studied the glow in the distance, and said, "Yeah ... I'm pretty sure it is."

They talked about the explosions from earlier, but with no evidence one way or the other, it was all speculation. Naomi finally said, we need to get up higher to look around. Know anyone who lives in one of these taller buildings?"

Maria smiled, responding, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."