9/11 Short Stories

During the stormy spring, wind shook the trees and rain flooded the streets. Charlotte and Ben Dormes pouted in their room, playing with their phones and video games.
“This is such a lousy way to spend Spring break,” sighed Charlotte, twiddling her thumbs at the keyboard in front of her.
“It really is,” replied her brother, “I’m supposed to be practices my pitches for this season, but all I can do is sit around and do lame stuff inside.”
Before Charlotte could reply, a loud bang erupted through house and all of the lights went dead. there was a sudden gasp, followed by hurried footsteps to the door. Ben and Charlotte’s parents met them partially down the hallway, and felt around for each other.
“Dad, what’s going on?” Ben asked, panicked. …show more content…

“Yeah! She said that they’re a voluntary organization that offers jobs to all people who are up to the task. They also help their members operate their houses and businesses better. And they come to local schools to help teach kids about electrical safety. That’s where I learned all of this,” she proudly stated.
“We could give them a call, I suppose,” retorted Mrs. Dormes, who was back from lighting candles.
“Darling, I doubt that they’ll come out here in this weather, or to our little town, just to fix the lights,” her husband replied.
“No Dad, they will. The co-op will come out to help their members in any location, even in extreme weather conditions. We could also get electrical assistance to fix that flickering in the kitchen.” Charlotte reminded him.
Mr. Dormes sighed and scratched his head.
“I guess we could call them. These people sound like saints. They must cost a fortune,” he pleaded.
“Charlotte said they’re a non-profit program, created to help people afford electricity,” Ben stated.
“Yeah, so our money would go into paying revenue to invest in electrical systems for their members. And it wouldn’t be expensive on our part, either,” Charlotte explained, looking out the window at the rain, which was started to …show more content…

A nice woman at work told me all about these electric co-ops. They do a bunch of things for the community, too, not just families like us. They install heating, air conditioning, and lighting, conduct energy audits, and help with power factor recommendations. They even put Wi-Fi in at the local youth community center,” Mrs. Dormes said.
The rest of the family looked startled that Mrs. Dormes would know so much about electrical co-ops.
“But what does any of that mean?” asked Ben.
“It means that they do a lot more than just fix the lights. And if they’re cheap, non-profit, flexible, and available, then I’m going to call them,” Mr. Dormes replied.
“I like that idea. Maybe they’ll even help my coach plan the wiring for the new baseball field!” Ben exclaimed.
The family looked around at each other and nodded their head in agreeance.
“It’s settled, we’ll call them. Until then, we should probably call the neighbors and let them know about all the cool things the local co-op can do for them.” Mrs. Dormes said, cheerily. Charlotte gasped and pulled her brother towards the window.
“Ben! Look! The weather is clearing up! We should go outside and stomp around in the puddles!” she