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also had an X over it. “In fact, we
usually get our replacements from Paragould. It’s not far, so shipping is
reasonable. Even at that, they only keep one or two on hand at any given time.”
    “How many manufacturers are there?”
    Billy Dan rubbed the back of his neck. “Only
two—one’s in Paragould, and the other’s all the way out in Albuquerque.
    “Does the one in Albuquerque keep more on hand?”
Randolph removed his stare from the unlit cigarette, to peer at Billy Dan. He’d
never realized until then how much his friend smoked.
    “No, neither place warehouses or stocks these
transformers. They build them when we order them.” Billy Dan reached for his
lighter, fired up the cigarette, leaned back, and took a long drag. “There
isn’t much call for these transformers, even nationwide. Even if every electric
company who uses these would replace them, you’re still only talking a few
thousand.” He blew a long column of smoke toward the ceiling. “Both of those
factories focus on building whole house and portable gas generators ’cause
that’s where the bulk of their business comes from. They only build these
transformers as a service to the electric companies.”
    Randolph took a long drink from the glass of water
that Krista had brought him. His mouth had gone very dry. Everything Billy Dan
said reinforced the dread settling in his gut. He swallowed more water, forcing
the acid back down.
    “If several transformers went down at one time, how
long would it take to get replacements to the substations?” Randolph watched
Billy Dan scrutinize the sheet.
    They both stared at the drawing while Billy Dan,
running his hands through his short silver hair, shook his head, obviously
trying to calculate. “Longer than a month, probably more like six weeks.”
    They were interrupted by a grumbling Hefner brother
who shuffled to the table and snatched up his cap. “Ferget my danged head if it
weren’t attached,” he said, cramming the cap low over his forehead. Hefner
moseyed away and continued grousing all the way to the door.
    Randolph sat forward again when Hefner left. “What
happens if several transformers go down at the same time? For instance, all the
substations in Southeast Missouri? ”
    Billy Dan took a moment. “When a single substation
goes down, the power is re-routed by computer within seconds. The customer
barely notices a quick blink of power. If two or more substations go down at
the same time, that would cause an overload on the next substation in the
chain. That would in turn cause it to shut down, resulting in what’s called a
cascading failure, or a blackout. In fact,” Billy Dan continued, his voice now
barely above a whisper, “a chain reaction of shutdowns could cause not just
Southeast Missouri, but the whole Midwest grid to shut down.”
    Randolph took a deep breath, and forced himself to
stay calm. He reached for his cup and sipped coffee that had now gone
flavorless. “What about the bigger cities? They don’t tie in with us rural
counties do they?”
    “The cities like St. Louis and Kansas City and even
Springfield have their own generators and don’t use the same type of system we
use. However, they’re keyed into the same grid we are. If all our substations
go down, it would create an overload. Theoretically, they’d fail too. That
failure mechanism is built in to the grid system to prevent permanent damage.”
    Neither spoke for a minute. Then Billy Dan added in
a low and serious tone. “If the Midwest grid went down, well.…” He didn’t
finish. He didn’t have to. The implications were clear to Randolph. 
    Billy Dan had verbalized Randolph’s fear.
    Randolph said, “What you’re saying here is if the
Midwest grid fails, then the entire country could suffer a major blackout?”
    Billy Dan lit his cigarette, inhaled deeply. When
his lungs were filled, he expelled the smoke while he answered. He punctuated
every word with a puff of smoke. “If the tripping