only one left. I wiped my streaming eyes on the remaining Kleenex, then dropped it into the already overflowing trash can on
my right, all without tearing my attention away from the 2004 version of "The Phantom of the Opera". Before my rapt eyes,
Christine and Raoul poled away in the Phantom's boat, singing a soft duet. Eric, his now unmasked face a picture of tragedy
and sorrow, reached out for an ornate candelabra. I felt my heart clench with pain on his behalf as he raised the ill-fated
candelabra above his head and swung it into the even-more-ill-fated mirror with a heart-wrenching, ear-splitting - BOOM!
The unexpected clap of thunder startled me so much I jumped, launching my bowl of heavily-salted popcorn off of my knees and
across the room, and accidentally hitting overflowing trashcan full of Kleenex with my flailing foot, and knocking it onto
it's side. I ran past the popcorn bowl (which, upon landing on the floor, unfortunately had smashed,) to the window behind
it. Upon pulling back the drapes, I was shocked to discover that lightning was crackling against the sky, thunder was booming,
and rain was lashing at the windows. All in all, it was a very Phantomy environment. But now was hardly a good time to admire
the Phantomy-ness of the night. There were only a few minutes left of the movie, and then I would have the rest of the night
to admire the rain. I turned back to the television just in time to see Eric's eyes fill up with tears. Then the entire
house was flooded with darkness. I rolled my eyes and groaned. Just what I needed: a power outage. A branch must have fallen
on the power lines, or something. I began picking my way across the floor, giving a wide berth to the area where I thought
the smashed bowl might be. 'Well, it could've been worse,' I thought, trying to ignore the thunder (nearly impossible). 'At
least the dogs aren't here to try and eat the popcorn, and wind up eating the glass instead. Thank God I put them outside!'
I stopped dead. 'Oh God. I put the dogs outside.' And, in my side yard, in the dark and the thunder and the lightning and the
rain, two dogs began to howl.