Helen peered through a slit in the plywood and watched the gorgeous, glowing green show high on an electrical pole near the Coronado. Sparks in shades from tender lettuce to bright lime shot straight up. Then there was an eerie green glow.Suddenly the lights went out.“Transformer blew,” Margery said.Helen thought the destruction was beautiful. Some guilty primal part of her was thrilled to see trees crack and fall. She liked to watch gas grills fly through the air and coconuts turn into torpedoes.But when the green explosion died, everything in and around the Coronado went black. The darkness extended into infinity. The only other light was a single candle flickering in a distant window.That lonely sight unnerved Helen. She wasn’t frightened by the fireworks or the theatrical howling of the wind, but the isolation got to her. They were alone together in this little apartment. They might as well have been adrift on the ocean. Helen couldn’t even run to that single candle in the distance.
