Let there be light!

Other

We recently had an electric outage after a bad ice storm. The power in the area was out for four days. My sister and I coach girls sports at the local Y, so we both have keys. By the second day of the power failure at our home, we decided to go to the Y and shower thinking that power would be on in town. When we got to the Y, the building was vacant and without power. We went in anyway, thinking the showers might still have hot or warm water. I went in to the shower area and turned on a hot water spigot, but got only ice water.

My sister suggested that we could use the pool for a quick rinse off if the water was still warm. I really really had reservations about this idea, since we didn't bring swim wear. She is less modest than I am and talked me into it. We took off our clothing and wrapped ourselves in towels. We had to override the electric mesh gate to the pool area by using the chain, but found the water surprisingly warm. I was concerned about just dropping towels and jumping in, because two sides of the pool area have large tinted windows that are overlooked by an entire neighborhood. Sis reminded me that they are tinted so much, that you can't see through them this late in the day without the lights being on. I climbed in at the shallow end and my sister just threw her towel onto a chair and jumped. We ended up doing laps and having fun for almost an hour. Then disaster struck. We were in the middle of the pool and suddenly every single light in the pool area came on and the electric gate closed!

I froze in horror and my sister panicked. She swam to the wall nearest the windows and huddled up against it to cover herself. I treaded water trying to get a grip on what had just happened. She screamed at me to get our towels, which brought me out my trance, but I swam to the wall near the shallow end and grasped the wall to cover myself. We were hysterical about every house in the area being able to see us naked and not being able to move. I hugged the wall and inched my way down to my sister. I calmed her down enough to reason that we had to get our towels, get the gate open, and get dressed. My towel appeared to be the best option to reach. We quickly swam to the other side and she lunged for my towel. It was just out of reach without actually getting out of the pool. She frantically swam to the ladder, rapidly climbed out, doubled over and ran. She picked up my towel and ran to hers. She brought mine to the side so I could climb out. We rushed to the gate, but couldn't open it. We were mortified, clutching our towels and half doubled up trying to decide what to do next. I ran to the fire exit door to the lobby and burst through it, with my sister right behind me. Her towel snagged on the latch and momentum pulled it off. The door went shut and she couldn't pull it through. I screamed at her to get behind the lobby desk with me. We used the phone on the desk to call home and have my mom bring us something to wear. Since I had the only towel on, I had to race over to the lobby doors and unlock them when mom got there. She was not amused.

I can't imagine this being any worse or more embarrassing. I hope a reader will learn from this and stay smart.

Becky