It was a regular Sunday night in the summer. Charlie was on the couch enjoying his favorite TV show. Suddenly, he saw a bright lightning bolt, and a moment later, he heard a long, loud roll of thunder. That was scary. We must be having a thunderstorm, Charlie thought. As he was thinking, it started to rain heavily outside, and soon after, the storm knocked out the power in the entire neighborhood.
“Brent, Brent, the lights went out! I’m afraid!” Charlie shouted. Brent was Charlie’s older brother. Although Charlie usually asked his mom to be with him on a stormy day, he couldn’t tonight because his parents were both on a business trip. Brent was in charge while they were gone.
“Calm down. It’s nothing serious. Our power is out. It may come back on at any time,” Brent said. Brent found two flashlights in the closet, and slowly made his way to Charlie. After handing one flashlight to Charlie, Brent went back to his room, lay down on the floor, and began reading a book with the other flashlight.
Charlie didn’t know what to do. He wanted to finish watching the show, but now he had to play on his own in a dark room. Charlie went to Brent’s room. He asked Brent if he wanted to throw a sock ball with him, but Brent was so involved in reading that he did not even hear Charlie.
Charlie wished he could be more like his brother, who didn’t seem to mind at all that the power was out. Every few minutes, Charlie heard Brent turn a page in his book. Charlie wondered what Brent was reading about. Was he exploring new ideas? Was he learning about exciting new characters?
After fifteen minutes in the dark, Charlie could no longer take it. He asked, “Brent, can I borrow one of your books?”
“They’re all on the shelf. Go and get one,” Brent answered, feeling annoyed by Charlie’s interruption.
Using the flashlight, Charlie picked a book that he thought he might like. He grabbed a blanket and lay on the floor next to his brother. “Can we read together under the blanket?” he asked. Brent pulled the blanket over the two of them.
Very quickly, Charlie found the book interesting. The story took him to a completely different world, one that was full of spies and enemy secrets. Charlie was so interested in the book that when the power came back on an hour later, he continued reading. The book was more fun than the television.
