flash

Pouring rain, early afternoon, all the electric lights flicker and then come back up. Out the window something flares, a pink fireball in the grayness. I get out of my chair. I am hoping to see it better, but it is gone before I am fully standing, and I cannot tell just where it had been, never mind what.

Two minutes later, sirens are audible, south and west.

Five minutes later, the fire engine rolls up the hill, past the front of the building.

Hours later, I still have no idea what happened.