What if...?

Mike stepped back. “It sounds like it might be letting up.” He opened his phone screen and pulled up his weather map, showing it to Zoey. The dark red line along the front, filled with warning cones, was moving south and east of Rendezvous Falls now.

They headed up the stairs, led by the light of the lantern Zoey was holding. She took another from the kitchen cabinet and set it on the table, then handed a long black flashlight to Mike.

“This was Dad’s, and he swore by it. It’s got eight batteries in it, so it weighs a ton, but that thing is bright.”

Mike held it up with a grin. “This could double as a weapon. Let’s go see the damage out there.”

His SUV was safe—covered with leaves and twigs, but no damage. In the darkness and soft rain, it seemed the entire yard and driveway were carpeted in leaves stripped from the trees. A few larger branches were down, with one big limb leaning against the end of the barn. They walked over to look, but it didn’t seem to have hurt anything. Zoey let out a gasp when they turned to look down the driveway.

The ash tree was down. It lay across the driveway at an angle, with the top of the tall tree brushing against the front porch. Tears sprang to Zoey’s eyes. It was like looking at the remains of a giant old friend. While she mourned, Mike was more practical. He walked down to inspect the tree, the driveway, and finally back up to look at the porch. She caught up with him there. He shook his head in her direction.

“You lost a piece of railing and a section of the rain gutter, but nothing that can’t be fixed. It fell at just the right angle to miss the house and most of your dad’s sculptures. I can’t tell if it missed them all, but this is the top of the tree, so it may not have hurt them too much.”

“Losing Dad’s artwork would really make Karen Schiff’s day, wouldn’t it?” She glared into the darkness in the direction of the cement house. Looked like power was out over there, too, because everything was pitch-black. In fact... She looked down into the valley. “Wow—the whole town lost power.” Where Rendezvous Falls usually glowed with streetlights and houselights, there was nothing but darkness. The only light around the lake was the flickering lightning from the quickly receding storm.

Mike pointed. “You can tell who has generators.” Here and there, tiny points of light were appearing in a scattered pattern. “I don’t suppose you...?”