Texas freeze – Part 1

Snow, ice and disappearing mercury gripped our home in Texas last Monday morning. Our neighborhood in suburban Fort Worth lost power and the temperature outside fell way below freezing. The wind blew through every crack bringing the chill indoors. Pulling the generator out into six inches of snow was nearly impossible, but I managed. Too bad my husband, Troy, was on the East Coast with his son from an earlier marriage. The generator wasn’t set up to power the whole house, but he had rigged a way to plug in the gas furnace’s blower to the generator. Power failures are common here. The generator worked until the power came back on. But the second time that the power went off, I couldn’t start it.

Our next-door neighbor, Vicente, a.k.a. Vic, is some kind of mechanical engineer, so I went over and asked if he could help. He actually got the generator started one time, but after the next round of power back on and then off, it just stayed dead. Vic and Veronica, his wife, were very sweet and invited me to warm up in their home, where the generator was working just fine. Tony figured out how to cut off my water and drain the pipes, so I wouldn’t have a leak.

Their generator couldn’t power their electric stove. So we arranged for me to cook on my gas stove and bring dinner back to their house. Their TV worked intermittently so we gradually realized we were in for the long haul, outage wise. Other than the heat, the TV and one or two lights, they kept the house dark. They had my 5 gallon gas container to help. Cell phones were being charged in the cars, but they weren’t much use because service was out. I was going to sleep in their spare bedroom. After dinner, we settled into an evening of conversation, snacks and wine. We had already given up on trying to keep masks on in the house. I was part of the family now, and shockingly, that took on new meaning as my visit progressed.

Veronica even offered me one of her nighties and a robe so I wouldn’t have to cross over to my now-dark house for something to wear. I was amused how sexy the gown was. I changed in the guest room and came back out. They had also changed into night clothes and robes. It did seem to me that Veronica was being especially nice to me, but it still came as a shock when she asked, “Carmina, have you and Troy ever tried swinging?”

I stammered, “You mean, like, … wife swapping … oh my God! Troy would never … Oh My God!”

I guess I revealed my inner conflict the way I said that. I hadn’t exactly been the faithful wife in my first marriage, though neither of my husbands knew about that. Troy’s first wife had gone out on him after 10 years of marriage and that led to their divorce, but as far as I knew he had always been a straight arrow.

Veronica crossed the room and sat close to me on the sofa.