Read Online Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Free Book Online
Authors: Susan Beth Pfeffer
and McDonald's, and...
One thing Matt did say to me was that no matter what the future is, we're living through a very special time in history. He said that history makes us who we are, but we can make history, also, and that anyone can be a hero, if they just choose to be.
Matt's always been my hero, and I think it's a lot harder to be one than he's saying, but basically I know what he means.
But I still miss ice cream and swimming laps and feeling comfortable looking at the night sky.
May 29
The electricity came on this morning around 9 and Mom did what she always does when we realize it's back on. She started a load of laundry.
It was only on for about 15 minutes, and it stayed off all the rest of today.
About 10 minutes ago, we all woke up because of this strange roaring sound. We all raced toward the sound, which turned out to be the washing machine going back on.
Who knew the rinse cycle could be so scary?
Mom says she's staying up until the clothes can go in the dryer. She doesn't think the electricity will stay on long enough to dry the clothes completely, but she figures it's worth a shot.
I really wish we had electricity at 2 PM rather than at 2 AM. But I guess I should think of Mom as a hero of the all-night laundry.
May 30
I don't always know how long the power has been off. It went on in the middle of the night, but by the time I woke up this morning, it was off again.
We're spending more and more time outdoors, just because it's nicer outside and the sun provides natural light. We're all used to seeing the moon now, so that isn't bothering us like it used to.
But we leave a light on in the living room window, so when the electricity does come back on we can go inside and do what we need to do. Today it came on around 1 and we raced in.
Mom went on the Internet, which kind of surprised me. Usually she vacuums or starts a load of laundry.
She's given up changing the time on the clocks.
But this afternoon she skipped all that and went to the Internet. She had heard on the radio this morning that they were starting to list the names of the dead.
She found the names of most of the editors she worked with, and her agent, and a lot of writers she'd met over the years. She found two friends from college and one friend from a long time ago, before we moved here, and Dad's best man and his family. She also found a couple of second cousins and their kids. In less than 10 minutes, she found over 30 names. But one good thing: She checked on Mrs. Nesbitt's son and daughter-in-law and their kids and didn't find them on any list.
I asked her to look up Brandon and she did but couldn't find him. Of course there are still millions of people unaccounted for, but at least there's still hope he's alive. I don't get to go on the board very much, but when I do, no one seems to have heard anything. I can't help thinking that's a good sign.
There were names of people I know that I could have looked up: kids I went to summer camp with, and kids I know from swimming, and old friends from elementary school who moved to New York or California or Florida. But I didn't try to find them. They weren't everyday parts of my life anyway, and it feels wrong somehow to find out if they're dead when I didn't much think about them while they were living.
Jonny looked up baseball players. A lot of them were listed as known dead and a lot more were listed as missing/presumed dead.
Matt looked up kids from his high school class. Only three were listed as dead, but a bunch were listed as missing/presumed dead.
As a test, he looked us up, but none of our names were on any of the lists.
And that's how we know we're alive this Memorial Day.
May 31
The first day without bus service. So naturally it poured.
It wasn't scary rain like it was that other time. No big thunderstorm, no tornado winds. Just good old-fashioned pouring rain.
Matt ended up driving Jonny and me to school. Mom stayed home to take advantage of electricity and work
One thing Matt did say to me was that no matter what the future is, we're living through a very special time in history. He said that history makes us who we are, but we can make history, also, and that anyone can be a hero, if they just choose to be.
Matt's always been my hero, and I think it's a lot harder to be one than he's saying, but basically I know what he means.
But I still miss ice cream and swimming laps and feeling comfortable looking at the night sky.
May 29
The electricity came on this morning around 9 and Mom did what she always does when we realize it's back on. She started a load of laundry.
It was only on for about 15 minutes, and it stayed off all the rest of today.
About 10 minutes ago, we all woke up because of this strange roaring sound. We all raced toward the sound, which turned out to be the washing machine going back on.
Who knew the rinse cycle could be so scary?
Mom says she's staying up until the clothes can go in the dryer. She doesn't think the electricity will stay on long enough to dry the clothes completely, but she figures it's worth a shot.
I really wish we had electricity at 2 PM rather than at 2 AM. But I guess I should think of Mom as a hero of the all-night laundry.
May 30
I don't always know how long the power has been off. It went on in the middle of the night, but by the time I woke up this morning, it was off again.
We're spending more and more time outdoors, just because it's nicer outside and the sun provides natural light. We're all used to seeing the moon now, so that isn't bothering us like it used to.
But we leave a light on in the living room window, so when the electricity does come back on we can go inside and do what we need to do. Today it came on around 1 and we raced in.
Mom went on the Internet, which kind of surprised me. Usually she vacuums or starts a load of laundry.
She's given up changing the time on the clocks.
But this afternoon she skipped all that and went to the Internet. She had heard on the radio this morning that they were starting to list the names of the dead.
She found the names of most of the editors she worked with, and her agent, and a lot of writers she'd met over the years. She found two friends from college and one friend from a long time ago, before we moved here, and Dad's best man and his family. She also found a couple of second cousins and their kids. In less than 10 minutes, she found over 30 names. But one good thing: She checked on Mrs. Nesbitt's son and daughter-in-law and their kids and didn't find them on any list.
I asked her to look up Brandon and she did but couldn't find him. Of course there are still millions of people unaccounted for, but at least there's still hope he's alive. I don't get to go on the board very much, but when I do, no one seems to have heard anything. I can't help thinking that's a good sign.
There were names of people I know that I could have looked up: kids I went to summer camp with, and kids I know from swimming, and old friends from elementary school who moved to New York or California or Florida. But I didn't try to find them. They weren't everyday parts of my life anyway, and it feels wrong somehow to find out if they're dead when I didn't much think about them while they were living.
Jonny looked up baseball players. A lot of them were listed as known dead and a lot more were listed as missing/presumed dead.
Matt looked up kids from his high school class. Only three were listed as dead, but a bunch were listed as missing/presumed dead.
As a test, he looked us up, but none of our names were on any of the lists.
And that's how we know we're alive this Memorial Day.
May 31
The first day without bus service. So naturally it poured.
It wasn't scary rain like it was that other time. No big thunderstorm, no tornado winds. Just good old-fashioned pouring rain.
Matt ended up driving Jonny and me to school. Mom stayed home to take advantage of electricity and work
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