Hot, sweaty, steamy, bored out of my mind as I lay there in my bed. Wondering when the power is going to come back on. I am stuck in this tiny, dark condo on Radio Island with no lights and no power because we are building my new house.
When Hurricane Ophelia knocked out my power I thought that it would only be out for a couple of hours but it has been four days now. I am hot and sweaty. My face and collar of my shirt is drenched with sweat. I would do anything for a shower that wasn’t in complete darkness. My whole family is miserable. I wondered how everyone else felt on Radio Island. Then I remembered that everyone else on this island is a tourist who can go home. I would go home, but this condo is my home.
“Stop touching me!” was commonly said over this four day stretch. When my sister and I would try to do something together we would always fight.
Then my mom had a great idea, “Hey, lets play poker.” So we got out some cards and chips. Mom, Dad, Emily, Jason and I gathered around the kitchen table. I plopped the cards and chips on the table.
“What’s poker?” my sister Emily asked.
“It’s a card game that allows you to win some money,” Dad said. This made my sister happy so we picked up our cards. Dad sat at the head of the table, dressed in a pair of shorts and an old ratty, sweaty t-shirt. I could tell that he was exhausted from the storm but was trying to do his best to keep us occupied so that we wouldn’t be at each others throat. He made sure that my brother Jason was seated next to him so he could keep his smart-alec comments in check. Next to Jason was my mom. She sat in-between Jason and Emily so that she could help Emily with the game and give Jason dirty looks when needed. Emily’s face was filled with excitement and the dim candlelight flickered off her golden hair. I could tell from her eyes that the storm really didn’t matter. Her face was overflowing with apprehension and I could tell she wanted to beat everyone in the family. Even though she didn’t understand the game, she was lucky and she was not very good at hiding it. It was obvious when she had the winning hand because she would giggle or smile.
She often asked, “Is this a good hand?” Before I knew it she had the most chips. This made us try harder to beat her and it kept our mind off the situation. After several hands of poker my dad asked if we wanted to go jump in the pool to cool off. Emily immediately responded with a sharp “No.” At that point we all realized that we have spent a couple of hours playing cards and not thinking about our situation. We were having a good time as a family and that made time pass quickly. Finally mom sent us all to bed. We all tiredly made our ways to our bedrooms and eventually fell asleep on top of our beds. It was just to hot to sleep under the sheets.

I woke the next morning and made my way out of my bedroom. After a couple of minutes, I smelled bacon cooking. Mom and Dad were fixing a breakfast of waffles and bacon. It smelled really good. It was amazing to me that we had been without power for that long in a tiny condo. When I saw my parents cooking it seemed that it was just yesterday that the storm hit. In just a few days I learned the importance of being with the people you care about. The most miserable situations can be made enjoyable if you are surrounded by the people who are important to you.