Darkness fell over the land early. A storm was coming. Thunder like distant cannon fire echoed from the sky.
She rolled the generator onto the porch; if the electricity went out, it would power the sump pump and a lamp — or maybe the Wi-Fi router — were all the devices charged?
After she plugged everything ins she picked up her book and continued where she’d left off. Some ancient royal was having his way with one of the ladies while her husband was off to war. A light rain began to fall, and the cat jumped into her lap. She stroked the little beast as she read about the royal tryst.
A sudden, nearby clap of thunder made her start, and the cat meowed and jumped for cover. It was only when the pounding on the front door was repeated did she fully realize that someone had knocked at the same moment as the thunderbolt.
Slowly she slid back the dead bolt and opened the door. A gray-haired man stood in the threshold, slightly taller than she, looking her over with a strange glint in his eyes.
After a moment, he spoke. “Do you believe in the hereafter, lovely lady?”
Her mouth twitched. “Why, yes. Yes, I do.”
He grinned a wicked grin and stepped toward her, raising his hands.
“Then you know what I’m here after.”
Another clap of thunder sounded nearby, and she slapped his hand away.
“Get in here, you idiot,” she said, laughing and pulling him inside. “That joke was old when Rowan and Martin used it in the sixties. Come on, I’ll pour you a drink.”