Three Dog Knight by Alice Bienia

Author:Alice Bienia [Bienia, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alice Bienia
Published: 2021-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

I awoke to the sound of voices, and after a moment of panic, realized I must have left the TV on. A sense of relief flooded over me—the power was back.

I had slept fitfully and each time I woke the air had been frigid, the apartment devoid of the usual buzz of the fridge or the sound of the heating system. The TV screen a gaping black hole across the room.

I plugged in my laptop and dead phone, and listened to the TV news reports, the comforter still wrapped around me. An emergency had been issued for all southern Alberta. A massive cold front hit the city yesterday and had stalled overhead. It was being touted as the worst storm recorded for this time of year since 1924. The temperature had dropped to minus twenty-three degrees Celsius overnight, minus thirty-five with the wind chill. Not to mention the snow which forecasters were predicting could reach forty to sixty centimetres before the storm moved off.

Many businesses and all schools were closed, but everyone was working frantically to get things back to normal. Police were advising people to stay off the highways, the wait time for a tow truck still days. I hoped JumpIn Jalopies had gotten around to fixing my car.

I picked up my phone and listened to the one voicemail in my inbox. The Chevy had been towed to JumpIn Jalopies’ shop. They would contact me when it was repaired. With conditions being what they were, it might take a while.

I checked my email and text messages. There was one from Mike, telling me to stay inside and watch old movies or something. I smiled. Good old Mike. He was in Vancouver, delivering a training course, but must have heard about the storm on the news. I sent him a reply then texted Gab asking her if they managed to get the pizza baked before the power went out.

I scrolled through the remaining messages. Nothing from Azagora. Why hadn’t he reached out? My fingers paused over the keyboard. I reminded myself that I hadn’t reached out to him either. The little critic that lives in my head jumped in. Yeah, but no one is sending him black flowers and pictures of dead loved ones. The more rational voice in my head reminded the critic that I hadn’t told him about my dead loved ones.

I glanced at the window. Blowing snow obscured any sign of life outside. The rant in my head continued. Sure, I managed on my own. I always had. And my pals Gab and Mike were always there for me. But having two connections with the external world was disturbingly depressing. The kinder voice in my head argued it wasn’t true. I had other contacts. I mentally ticked off the names of all the people whom I could call if I needed help. I came up with seven. Azagora was one of them, but I was quite sure he’d be annoyed if I called him for help.

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