The freezer was good for up to forty-eight hours as long as I didn’t open it. The back kitchen was pitch-black, with only the peephole in the door for light. I pulled a box over and propped open the door to the front. The sound of the howling wind was much louder without the hum of the fridge and freezer. My radio was also out. I had a flashlight and batteries somewhere in my office. What I needed was a light to get back there and find my flashlight. Noting the time on the battery-run clock on the wall, I had less than two hours to either get power back or discard everything I’d been working on today. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. A single-day buy-one-get-one-half-off special on baked goods was one thing. I peered into the dark kitchen. Without power I could lose a week’s worth of work. I tried not to think about disaster. Instead I concentrated on the positive. With the cold storm outside I could always put the dough in the van.
