When The Lights Came
written by: Diane Dachota
The lights had started almost a week ago. Katy had sat on the porch with her dad, watching the bright streaks across the night sky. At first, they came up with lots of ideas; strange lightning, meteor showers, drones. But now they knew that it was none of those things. Something had come to their small town of Crivitz, WI. The first night, they stayed up until dawn, trying to get a signal on the cell phone or even her dad’s old landline, but there was nothing. The television and radio seemed to be out too, and her dad said maybe it was some kind of solar flare and they should just wait.
On the second day, the radio and television came back on, but the radio played only music, and the TV only showed old cartoons and the kind of westerns her dad liked, Bonanza and Daniel Boone. They packed up a few things and planned to head to her brother’s house in Rhinelander, but the car wouldn’t start, and her dad said there was no point in trying to jump the battery, they couldn’t leave now.
On the sixth day, Katy got up after a few hours of fitful sleep, sure that her dad was out on the porch, watching. She checked the old clock by her childhood bed, and it said 3:00AM. She had come up north to take care of her dad after he fell and broke his leg in two places. He was doing much better now, and Katy could have returned home, but it was too late. She grabbed a blanket and went out on the deck, where dad was rocking on the old porch swing her mother had loved so much.
The lights seemed to be increasing tonight, zig-zagging against the dark sky. “Dad?” She said. “Do you think they are only here in, Wisconsin?” “I imagine they’re all over now.” He answered, patting her hand. “I think the animals are gone too,” he said gently, “ No insects or birds singing, and I haven’t heard the cows from Mellor’s place in two days.” Katy had already noticed; the only sounds she could hear were the slight wind ruffling the branches of the fir trees and the occasional plink of a pine cone hitting the lake. “I don’t feel scared dad, is that weird?” She said. “I think they did something so we wouldn’t be scared. Maybe through the air, or I don’t know.” He ran his hand over his face. He had stopped shaving, and normally Katy would have told him, You have to still take care of yourself, but it didn’t seem important now.
“Do you think Brian and the girls are ok?” She asked. “I imagine they are ok, Katy,” Dad answered. Katy just hoped they weren’t scared, her little nieces were just 4 and 6. Of course, they were probably the same, something had been done.
Since the lights came the days had seemed very long. Katy and her dad had stopped doing things like washing clothes or pulling weeds. It was very hard to wait. At least the old shows gave them something to do when they weren’t playing cards or, in Katy’s case, rereading her childhood books that her parents had kept stacked in boxes in her bedroom.
She made them both a cup of hot tea as the night air was cool, even though it was still summer. She thought vaguely about all of the things she hadn’t done yet, got married, had children, travelled to Paris. It was probably a blessing she didn’t have children, though, and that made her think again of her little nieces, Harper with her constant humming and singing, and Piper, who loved to draw and tell stories. She knew Brian and his wife Charlotte were taking good care of them, watching cartoons and giving them lots of hugs. It was hard being stuck with just your thoughts. Katy was used to the noises of the city, and even in the country, it was never quiet. There was still the wind and the sound of her dad’s voice, and there was a certain peacefulness to that, along with the terrible sadness.
“Dad, how much longer do you think?” She asked, it seemed somehow that things were speeding up. “We have enough food for a few more days, and I don’t think it will be longer than that.” He said. Dad had never been one to share his thoughts. She wondered if he thought about her mother, who had died suddenly five years ago, falling to the ground in their vegetable garden. Katy had been 30 years old when her mother died, and had been so sad at the time to think her mother would never help her pick out her wedding dress. Her Dad said nothing during the funeral, but on the way home from the cemetery, she saw him with tears running down his face, he had turned towards the window and didn’t want her to see. Now she was happy that their emotions were blunted, she couldn’t bear to see him crying or to make him upset by crying herself. She felt sad but also resigned. Maybe whoever brought the lights was trying to be kind, but it was more likely they didn’t want anyone to fight back.
She fell asleep for a bit, leaning against her dad, with the cool breeze caressing her face. She could smell the rich scent from the ring of fir trees that surrounded his small house, and now and then caught the fishy smell that came up from the algae striped across the lake. She woke up as the sun was rising, leaving sparkles of gold and purple across the water. There was no birdsong to greet the dawn, but somehow that was alright-it was fitting that they would be last, the last ones. She tucked the blanket around her snoring father and went inside to start the coffee.
- When The Lights Came - September 5, 2025
