Listening to these caterwauling heffahs sing the blues about keeping still with some Negro in the dark can get your ass in trouble - especially if it's in the heat of the night! At least they had ROMANCE! Finding "what the others left behind" can be quite an adventure. Just light a few well-placed candles, burn some fine incense, crank up the old victrola and play some blues. Get a chilled bottle of white wine and drink it over one more time; every fear, every tear and every funny thing that you forgot to share with your significant other when your real life got in the way and made you forget.
And when the lights go out and the temperature starts to rise, be creative. Expertly rub a melted ice cube across his forehead, behind his ear, down his neck and across his nipples and then put them in your mouth and suck them. His nipples, not the cubes! Place one between his nutts and then watch him squirm. Remove it with your tongue and I'll bet you'll get a few sighs & sounds in the dark this time!
And then it will get even hotter and the humidity level will rise, and instead of fucking each other - FUCK ROMANCE! By this time, it'll just be HELLISH and time to get the hell outta the house especially if you ain't got no electricity and it's already 102 degrees outside with a heat index of 112.
After ELEVEN DAYS, we finally got the electricity back on this past Monday! On the 15th, I was sitting right here at the computer when I noticed a Duke Energy van drive up in front of the house. I thought they were coming to read the meter but the next thing I knew the electricity was out. There I was running around pullin' on my drawz and trying to find the house keys to open the door before the service tech got away. So I'm like "Hey, what's going on? My electricity is off" and he came back at me like "Well, when you pay your bill you'll get it back on." And when my look and demeanor said "YOU ARE OUT OF LINE" he corrected himself real fast and explained that he was just doing his job, and after all, it wasn't personal, you know!
I immediately placed a call to hubby at work and he said it was all a mistake! Wow! Some mistake, huh? Unbeknownst to me, we fell behind on the bill back in April while trying to catch up with last winter's expenses. I also didn't know that we had enterered into a payment plan with Duke Energy with a signed letter of confirmation to prove it. But they didn't care about that EVEN THOUGH HUBBY DID EVERYTHING THEY OUTLINED IN THE LETTER TO THE LETTER SINCE APRIL! They cut off the electricity very late Friday afternoon thinking we'd come home from work in the evening to no lights and no air and not able to reach them until the following Monday morning. At least that's what I thought they were thinking! It was like they were saying if you SUFFER through this hot ass weekend THAT WILL MAKE YOU PAY US WHAT YOU OWE US! After no less than six phone calls with those bastards, they said CALL BACK ON MONDAY BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING READY TO CLOSE AND YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO ... SUFFER!
They thought they had us in the fiery furnace! And I guess they did physically if not spiritually & emotionally. We vowed to get through it with love and bags of ice & two portable coolers in the kitchen. I had to give food (and throw) food away in order just to save it but it made us reconsider our diet for the week. We ate lightly and drank a lot of water. We moved in the scent of incense and through the shadows of soft candlelight while Clara Smith moaned on the antique Orthophonic Credenza Victrola. We pulled the mattress downstairs to the dining room. The trees outside with the pink flowers bathed us in its perfume as it floated on the night breeze and it was absolutely MARVELOUS! We talked, laughed, reconnected, and stayed cool with those ice cubes.
But in a few days it was hot as a MODASUCKAIR! I was getting up at 6:00 every morning rediscovering prayer through the flames of a candle, and getting the housework done before the heat of noon. But the dead and dark of night found me tossing and turning in the oppressive heat. The air from the marvelous breeze was gone and there was nothing left but night sweats, endless thoughts and nocturnal demons. I just don't have hubby's knack for zoning out and sleeping through Armegeddon.
Does anyone remember that fabulous blonde witch named Angelique on Dark Shadows? Remember how she used to stare into the flames to cast those spells over the folks at Collinwood? Well, baby, I had to light another candle and pray! Instead of witchcraft and complaining about all that was wrong, I thanked God for all the possibilities and all that was right. It still got to the point of STIFLING and UNBEARABLE, so I considered my health and my options and decided to go home to mother!
Hubby was certainly welcome to come with me. In fact, he wanted me to go stay with HIS mother, but HE chose to stay home and be MR. MAN and pay some strange kind of penance in an old dark house that felt like Hell. While I was at my mother's watching the Natalie Wood film festival on TCM, he was at home gagging and hardly breathing in his sleep. As I kicked back in the air conditioning watching a full day of screwball movie musicals from the 1930's, he was outside cutting our grass, his parent's grass and washing cars on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR when the warning was out to beware of possible heat strokes. All of a sudden, the attic floor became of utmost importance! If it was 106 degrees outside THAT DAY, it was hotter in the attic but he decided to CLEAN THE FLOOR! <blank stare!>
We had a big argument! It was out of fear and there were tears, but all I wanted was for him to take care of himself. Then I felt the need to be with him so I came back home but I couldn't take it. If we fuss and fight at 11:00, thank God we have the wonderful blessing of being back in love by 11:45. He chose to stay home, and I chose to stay at my mother's but we still had romance without finance on the telephone and on the weekend. No, it wasn't all cute. In fact, there were some challenging and uncomfortable moments, but through it all I will say that I am thankful for the experience. As sure as Duke Energy needed to turn our electricity back on, this experience was all about a reconnection to God, self, hubby, relationship and life. I was able to snap back into myself because for awhile, it seemed as though I'd lost myself in my own anger and personal disappointments.
Like Duke, I want to show my control. But since I don't have that real kind of energy, I have to release all the stuff that ain't working for me. If hubby wants to be crazy, I think I can step back and let him do crazy without saying a word. There were lessons in the experience and I came out the better for it! Lord Have Mercy, do you know that one reader of this blog even sent us some MONEY in the mail? Hubby said SEND IT BACK! I didn't ask for it neither did I solicit it, but it came right on time like blessings do and I kept it. I sho' did!
The music? I first heard Lil Green's original version as a little boy at my grandparent's annual Christmas dinner. Lawd, those old folks pulled out that record and WENT IN! Over the weekend, I asked my mother to sing it for me and she just looked at me and laughed. I already knew that she had a "history" with this song like many young black women of her era. I like the Nancy Wilson and Della Reese versions but they're not on Youtube. (Romance) In The Dark is also simply known as In The Dark and should NOT be confused with the Billie Holiday song of the same name.
Well, Corey, I'm so glad you made it through this trial and tribulation. I'm glad you have someone special to go through it with. As you say, the ordeal made your marriage even stronger.
It's amazing to me that I can't stand the heat anymore. It was amazing until I read about the long term effects of drinking too much booze. Now, I understand. When I was a kid we spent every summer way down in Georgia and central Florida (do y'all know what central Florida is like July? HOT HELL, honey!). It never really bothered me back then. Now, I can't stand any heat at all. I used to work Trade on hot summer nights in the city--thought it was sexy with all the sweat, you know. Now, I'd tell a piece of Trade to get the hell away from me in this heat...go give that thaing to some female.
Well, I'll just have to suffer with the heat because I'm not interested in AA meetings--not yet.
I first heard Lil Green's "In the Dark" when I was 14 back in 1972 while playing some old 78 records. I fell in love with her. I've heard other versions by Dinah Washington and Etta Jones, but Lil's original is the best. Like all divas she was an interesting character. I believe Lil killed a man and served some time for it. She was a great talent and an innovator with phrasing-- like Lady Day. And she was probably more influential than she's given credit for. She created the song that years later would make Peggy Lee a star: "Why Don't You Do Right".
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | July 28, 2011 at 12:00 PM
"I used to work Trade on hot summer nights in the city ... now I'd tell a piece of Trade to get the hell away from me in this heat ... go give that thang to some female." CLASSIC DERRICK FROM PHILLY! LOL ! ! !
In The Dark? YES! I forgot Etta's version from that Lonely and Blue album! A VERY FINE VERSION, indeed! Dinah is like my favorite singer OF ALL TIME but I'm not partial to her version.
Lil Green? Thanks for that tidbit of of info from the Diva Annals of Bad Behavior. I love it and will check into it! Her original Why Don't You Do Right is only one of two Lil 78's that I own. Hey Derrick, Why don't you do right and get up off of that In The dark 78? LOL!
Posted by: Corey | July 28, 2011 at 12:26 PM
i'm glad you and hubby made it through.
Posted by: JNez | July 28, 2011 at 02:26 PM
As much as you were worried sick about your man working in the heat, I must say that I come away from this story with much awe and respect for him, both for his physical being as well as for his spirit. A big thanks goes to your mom for taking you in. Glad to read that you have managed to use adversity to your own good, strengthening all that is right in your world.
Posted by: way2ec | July 28, 2011 at 02:35 PM
As someone who lived for years in the hottest, most humid city in the American South without any air conditioning, I know what it’s like to have the man you’re with squirt out of your embrace like a wet seal, in the dark.
Glad you’re cool again, Corey.
Posted by: Jim | July 28, 2011 at 02:45 PM
@Way2ec! Thank you for zeroing in on hubby's tenacious beauty of spirit and strength. He deserves all respect and I am still in awe of him even after all this time, myself!
@Jim! "...I know what it's like to have the man you're with squirt out of your embrace like a wet seal in the dark." Hmm ... would you mind elaborating on that comment, sir? Smile!
Posted by: Corey | July 29, 2011 at 09:18 AM
I dont know how it was in Ohio...but back in the 80s when I was little, when it was soo hot in the house-even with air on--we would go down to Lake Michigan and spend the night in the park--and there would be hundreds or thousands of people there. Anything similar in your experience?
Posted by: Brandon | July 29, 2011 at 05:45 PM
I cant believe how candid, honest, and open you are. it makes me smile because the humor is coming from a real place. A lot of times we sure have to laugh to keep from crying. Bills are like stalkers when you do not pay them...its like every corner there's the envelope or every email there is the notice. Im sure BILLS could be the perfect scary movie.
Posted by: Spellbound By The Fudge | July 29, 2011 at 05:55 PM
@Brandon! That "Lake Michigan" experience sounds like an EXPERIENCE, indeed! No, I can't say that I have any that compares to that.
@Spellbound! As for the honesty and being candid, I've gotten that same response A LOT over this "In The Dark" issue! In it, there is a suggestion that having the electricity cut off suggests failure on our part, but I don't necessarily see it that way at all. It was the first time in all of our years that something like that ever happened to us, but I certainly learned that we were not, are not and won't be THE ONLY ONES! But we ARE talking about it! At least I am. When it happened, and I was staring that service tech in the face, I heard a noise outside the door only to look and see my neighbor on the porch listening to every word. YES, I was embarrassed at FIRST, but then I remembered all the REALLY serious issues she has with her husband - and I got over it real quick. Getting behind in a bill cuts into that veneer of Fabulosity that some of us have built up around ourselves that we KNOW ain't the truth but we still want OTHERS to believe in!
Posted by: Corey | July 29, 2011 at 07:04 PM
@Corey: Some men just sweat more than others, and when the heat index is still 87° at two in the morning, it can get pretty slippery. (Why do I suspect you knew that already?)
As far as embarrassment is concerned, society just loves for us to feel shame for things over which we have no control. (As gay people, we should REALLY understand this.)
We need to get used to the fact that not only can injury, illness, or death lay us low at any time, but also the arbitrary power of a corporate or government bureaucracy or a rich mf who can afford lawyers.
All of us who aren’t rich are vulnerable 24/7. That’s just the way it is. No shame.
Posted by: Jim | July 30, 2011 at 01:07 AM
Corey, your honesty is beautiful and apparently cathartic as well! I know it feels wonderful to release yourself from the bondage of what others think of you. This honesty in living takes your "fabulosity" to new heights!
I'm glad you and Marvin had a chance to reconnect, though! Good for you!
Posted by: Thomas | July 30, 2011 at 09:08 PM
This song my mother loved LOL I always got it confused with Holidays "Romance in the dark"
Posted by: jahlaune | August 07, 2011 at 04:33 AM