The minute Joanie walked into the office the next morning, the principal was looking immediately in her direction.
"We need to talk, Ms. Cunningham," the principal said in a tone of voice nobody liked.
"About what?" Joanie asked.
She could guess what he wanted to talk to her about, but had no clue if she was correct.
"Last night," was the principal's answer.
"What about last night?" Joanie asked.
"Last night was your turn to work here, wasn't it?"
"Yes, sir," she said.
"Well, as it turned out, you didn't get any of the work done on the paperwork last night. I'm sorry to break the news to you like this, Joanie, but you'll have to turn in your key. I'd like to have it," the principal said.
"You mean now?" Joanie asked.
"Yes, now. You were supposed to be working on your paperwork last night. What did you do? You up and left for a party with some friends of yours on your work night. What did your friends do about it?" the principal asked.
"Wait, don't tell me. I don't need to know what your friends did to you since it's none of my business," the principal told her.
Joanie said nothing more.
After that, she left the principal's office in tears for home. She spent the rest of the day on the couch, watching soap operas. She wasn't in the mood to chat with anyone on what happened last night or just now. She wanted to forget the thing until her friends could forgive her again.
There was a knock on the door. Joanie lost track of time and saw the time was now 12:00. She wondered where the sun had been this whole time because it was still raining outside. Joanie found Chachi at the door.
"I can't stay long, Joanie. I'm on lunch break," Chachi said.
"You're welcome to stay, but I'm not in the mood to talk to anybody now."
"What's wrong? You look like you've cried," Chachi said.
"I got fired this morning."
"It was because of last night, right?" Chachi asked as Joanie nodded yes.
"That's a shame. Do you want me to tell the others for you?" Chachi asked.
"Please do. I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone now," Joanie said, sniffling.
"That's all right. I guess Richie was a bit hard on you last night because of what happened. I've got to go. I'll stop by on my way home. Some storm, isn't it?" Chachi asked.
"Yeah. Makes you wonder when the sun will come back, right?"
"Right," Chachi agreed.
Joanie walked her Italian friend out of the house. She wouldn't mind being alone for the afternoon. The kids were in school so they were nothing to worry about until later. In between commercials, Joanie watched it pour outside. She knew this was a big – time storm and wasn't sure how much longer it would last.
A few minutes later, hail began to happen. After the hail, the power went out.
"Here we go again," Joanie said to herself once the house went blank.
