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Sting!
Chapter 2
- High Voltage -

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Sting! -- Next Chapter

As the day progressed, my run-in with the static dress was quickly forgotten as everyone's attention turned to the weather. When I had left home for the three-block walk to the school, it had been cloudy and windy, and there was a Severe Storm Watch in effect. Every time I looked out the window, it got darker and darker. The rain came and went—just enough to get everything wet and muddy.
By the end of second period, it was so dark outside it seemed like night. There had been reports of tornadoes further upstate, and a Tornado Watch was put into effect. That was unusual for the end of April.
A High Wind Warning was also issued, and high-profile vehicles were told to stay off the roads.
Tornadoes or not, I knew there were thunderstorms in the area. That was for sure. I could feel it in my bones. I'd been able to predict a lightening storm with a ninety-percent accuracy since fourth grade.
But these don't feel that close or that powerful.
Between first and second lunch, the announcement was made over the P.A. system that there had been two tornadoes touch down within twenty miles of us, and we were being upgraded from a Watch to a Warning.
That meant school was adjourned … and that didn't hurt anybody's feelings. An early weekend!
The halls were soon packed with kids rushing to their lockers and racing out the doors. The dozen or so kids who got zapped on their way didn't even seem to notice. Or, if they did, they were in too much of a hurry to say anything.
Thank goodness for small favors. That's what Mom always says.
The buses were summoned early, and the payphone was lined up with kids calling home for rides. The parking lot looked like bumper-cars at Disneyland. I was glad I didn't have to worry about any of those options. It WAS going to be a cold enough walk home, though. I zipped up my jacket, slung my backpack over one shoulder, and went out to fight the wind.
Halfway down the front walk, I was startled by a big explosion, like a bomb, coming from across the street. I looked up quickly and saw a transformer on a power pole spitting sparks all over the place. A limb on a nearby tree caught fire.
Then I heard a scream and looked across the street to see a girl lying on the ground wiggling all around.
A seizure? I wondered. Then I spotted the thick, black wire running across her stomach. A power line! Oh my gosh! She wasn't just wiggling. She was bouncing up and down, and shaking uncontrollably.
There were two boys and a girl standing by her, and they were beside themselves, turning around, yelling, and screaming. I ran across the street and joined the gathering crowd.
"Don't touch her!" someone yelled. "You'll kill yourself!"
"I've got to get it off her!" one of the boys yelled.
I recognized him as our quarterback, Rodney Davis, and realized with a start that the girl on the ground was his girlfriend, Melanie. The other boy with him was his best friend, Dean, with his girlfriend Kirsten.
"Call 911!" someone yelled. Several kids headed back to the school to the payphone. Several others whipped out cellphones.
"Don't step on the grass! It's wet!"
Melanie was still shaking and vibrating, her eyes staring straight into heaven, and her tongue partly out. She had fallen on the wet grass, with her feet on the sidewalk. The wire ran parallel with the walk, about three feet into the grass, and went right over her waist, ending abruptly another four feet away. It made a soft, humming sound on the ground.
All the kids were gathered around on the sidewalk side. Nobody got anywhere near the wire OR the wet grass.
Rodney squatted down, balancing on the edge of the cement by Melanie's feet, and tried to reach the wire with the corner of a three-ring binder. There was nothing else available. He stretched, teetered, and almost fell on top of her, before Dean grabbed the back of his coat and yanked him back.
"Somebody DO something!" Rodney screamed.
Melanie's eyes quivered and fell shut, and the violent shaking settled into a pulsing quiver.
"NO!" Rodney screamed. His cries were echoed by nearly everyone there.
By that time, I had unknowingly worked my way around the crowd, trying to get a better view, and was a little surprised to find myself standing on the wet grass, just inches away from the bared end of the broken wire. I was also a little surprised that I wasn't being electrocuted in the process. Nobody else seemed to notice.
I looked down at Melanie's ashen face and her trembling fingers, and my heart just broke in two. A gigantic lump formed in my throat, and my eyes misted over.
I never really liked Melanie. She was always snotty and rude. And not just to me—to everybody outside her small circle of friends. But those feelings meant absolutely nothing in the face of a life and death situation. She was dying right in front of me. I had to DO something. I couldn't just stand there and watch her die.
Suddenly the thought came to me. Get that wire off of her!
I glanced down again at the end of the wire at my feet. I knew there were untold amounts of electricity in that wire. I also knew that touching it could be just as fatal for me as for Melanie. Maybe even more so, considering my other problem. And, of course, I knew better. We'd all been taught.
But still …
Another quick glance at Melanie, and I was stooping over before I hardly knew it. I grabbed the thick wire with both hands about a foot from the end, and instantly a tremendous burst of electricity shot up my arms. I almost dropped the wire. Everyone there gasped and jumped back, staring at me incredulously.
But I recovered quickly, and lifted the heavy wire into the air—pulling on it and leaning with my whole body, like in a tug-o-war, to stretch it tighter and higher.
"Pull her out!" I yelled between clenched teeth. Rodney almost did, but shrank back, not sure if it was safe. Dean and Kirsten didn't think twice. They grabbed Melanie by both feet and had her on the sidewalk in no time. I let the cable go slack.
After seeing that touching her didn't hurt his friends, Rodney went down on his knees and put his ear to Melanie's chest. Everyone held their breath in anticipation.
He straightened up. "She's not breathing," he said in barely a whisper. Everyone stared at Melanie's still form on the sidewalk. "She's not breathing," he said a little louder. Then he yelled, "She's not breathing!"
"Out of the way," a boy said, kneeling on the other side. "I'm an Eagle Scout. I know CPR."
Before he could hardly even finish his sentence, he had Melanie's jaw pulled open, her nose pinched shut, and was blowing into her mouth. One—Two—Three—Four—Five times, he blew. Then he held the back of his hand under her nose. Quickly, he laid his ear on her chest and listened.
"No pulse," he announced, and promptly began bumping hard on her chest with his clasped hands. He counted out loud to seven as he thumped. Then he breathed slowly three more times into her mouth.
I wanted to get closer. As I went to take a step forward, I realized that I was still holding the power line in my hands. With a grunt, I threw it aside like I would have done a garden hose, and stepped up near Melanie's head.
The Eagle Scout bumped her chest seven more times and breathed three more times. Then he repeated the cycle again before listening for a pulse.
"Still nothing," he said, thumping her chest again.
"Where are the paramedics?" somebody asked.
"Call them again!" Rodney yelled.
When Rodney spoke, kids listened, and three guys turned and raced back to the school. Football teammates, I was sure.
A girl in the crowd spoke up, "She needs to be zapped." Some of the kids looked at her funny. "With the paddles," she clarified. "Like on TV."
The word "zapped" caught my attention immediately, and I lifted my right hand and stared at my palm.
I wonder …
I could still feel a big buildup of energy in my body. I was sure that if I touched anybody right then, they would get zapped a good one.
But HOW good? I wondered.
Eagle Scout had his head on Melanie's chest again, listening.
"Still nothing," he said solemnly.
"Let me try," I said, taking one step closer before stopping. "Don't anybody touch me," I warned.
"You know CPR?" Eagle Scout asked. "You do the heart while I breathe." He bent over her mouth again.
"No. Get out the way. I'm going to zap her."
"Like heck!" Rodney threatened. I was glad he was on the other side of Melanie, or he would have been grabbing my lapels. "Keep your freaky hands off her! You'll kill her!" He made like he was going to step right over Melanie to get to me, but Dean and a couple of others pulled him back.
"She's going to die, anyway," I said, staring him in the eye. "Unless somebody does something pretty darn quick."
"The ambulance is on its way," someone else offered.
"Time's wasting," Eagle Scout said. Then he suddenly recognized me. "You're Sting."
Like that answered all the questions.
"Move back," I said, and knelt opposite the Scout. He backed off pretty fast. My reputation as the Stinger, and the fact that I had just been holding a high-voltage power line in my hands, wasn't a hard thing for anybody to put together.
I held out my hand and paused, wondering what the best way would be.
Tap her with all four fingertips, I decided.
I reached out, then noticed that the black, sleeveless Levi shirt that Melanie was wearing was covered with metal studs, and thin, dangly metal chains. Too much metal. I didn't know what effect that would have, but I didn't dare try to find out. I needed everything I had in me going straight to the heart, not through all that metal.
"Too much metal," I said, looking at Scout. "Unbutton it a little and pull it open over her heart."
Rodney made another aggressive move, but was restrained without a word. Scout fumbled with a couple of the buttons and tentatively peeled back the left collar, revealing the flesh over her heart.
I leaned forward just as the wind gusted and blew the collar back in place. Scout grabbed it and flipped it open again. Again, the wind blew it closed. He was obviously getting VERY uncomfortable messing around with Melanie's shirt.
"Move over!" came an urgent voice, and a dark-haired girl bumped Scout out of the way so hard he nearly fell over. She quickly unbuttoned the rest of the shirt, pulled the left side wide open, revealing a ton of bare skin and not nearly enough white, lacy underwear, and tucked the shirttail under Melanie's side. Then, sitting back on her heals, she looked at me and asked, "Is that better?" I wasn't sure if she was being snotty or what. I just wanted to help Melanie.
I reached in quickly, and solidly tapped Melanie's chest over the heart. To everyone's surprise, including mine, there was a loud ZZZIPPTT, and her whole body bounced up and down—just like with the paddles on TV.
Before Scout could even move, the dark-haired girl had her ear on Melanie's chest listening. "Do it again!" she commanded, backing away.
I touched her chest again. But nothing happened!
Of course not! I told myself. I've already discharged! JUNK! I looked at Melanie with a sense of helpless desperation, then ran my hands through my hair and looked away. "Junk!" I cussed out loud.
My gaze fell on the black power line curled up on the grass just feet away, and I leapt to my feet.
"It worked once," I said, mostly to myself. Quickly, I grabbed the power line again—feeling the indescribable surge of energy course through my body. Dragging the wire behind me, I knelt back down at Melanie's side. Everybody backed away another foot or so.
Holding the wire firmly in my left hand, way out to the one side away from Melanie, I reached over with my right hand and tapped her chest again. Her body arched and bounced. The dark-haired girl listened again, and shook her head. As soon as she backed away, I zapped Melanie for the third time.
The girl listened again. "There's a pulse!" she yelled. "It worked!"
The Scout pushed the girl aside and held his fingers under Melanie's nose. "She's still not breathing," he announced. He began blowing in her mouth again. After five or six breaths, he listened to her heart again, and then looked up at me kind of funny. Then he went back to breathing in her mouth again.
Her heart's still going! I could hardly believe it. I was so relieved. I actually got it going! Slowly, I stood up and backed away, the thick line still in my hand.
After a few more anxious moments, with Scout patiently and methodically blowing in her mouth, Melanie suddenly coughed and choked. Her eyes fluttered open and shut, and she coughed again.
"YES!"
She was breathing! She was alive! The collective sigh of relief that came from the gathered crowd was almost stronger than the still-gusting wind.
The dark-haired girl took over again, and with Kirsten on the other side, they re-buttoned Melanie's shirt and started talking softly to her. Somebody offered a jacket to use as a pillow, and the dark-haired girl took off her own jacket and covered Melanie with it.
"They're here!" someone yelled.
Sirens were heard coming in our direction, and everybody jumped back onto the sidewalk as the red and white ambulance came to a screeching halt just a few feet away.
Within minutes, the emergency personnel had Melanie loaded on a stretcher, and the whole crowd followed as she was wheeled over to the waiting ambulance. Then, as fast as they had come, with lights flashing and siren wailing, they headed for the hospital.
As they drove off, everyone stood in the road watching until the ambulance disappeared from sight. Then, with the emergency over, everyone started milling around and talking amongst themselves. Somebody pointed out the Eagle Scout, and they all clapped him on the shoulder and told him what a great job he'd done. He'd save her life. Melanie was alive. Everything was going to be all right.
Nobody so much as glanced in my direction, and before I knew it, the crowd was gone. I was left standing by myself on the wet grass, the wind still blowing, the sky turning a dark greenish-black color, and the rain falling lightly on my face.
But I still didn't move. My mind went back over the previous few minutes, and I struggled to come to grips with the fact that I had actually manhandled a high-voltage power line without killing myself … and had zapped a human heart back to life.
And as I stood there, something really weird happened. I felt like I was being slowly drawn right into the power lines. I looked up at the power pole and the smoldering transformer, and I could almost feel the … what? … the pain of that wounded transformer?
Ridiculous. Transformers are things. They don't feel anything.
But I felt it. I FELT it!
Then I sort of … reached out … beyond the transformer, and it was like I was literally sucked into the power lines and propelled at warp speed through the vast electrical network running all through the neighborhood. I became a PART of it. Its life ran through my body. It was alive!
I FELT IT!
But how? What's happening to me?
My senses became so muddled and confused, and my mind so caught up in the euphoric experience, that I didn't even notice the man talking to me at first.
"It's okay. Don't panic."
I blinked and stared ahead, and a yellow hardhat came into focus. Then another and another.
"Just hold still, and we'll get it."
The men under the hats were wearing bright yellow coats and big leather gloves. Two of them had long orange poles in their hands. The first one advanced slowly toward me, and I backed away.
"Easy, young feller. Easy now."
What are they doing? What are they talking about? It finally occurred to me that I was still holding the power line in my hand. They're trying to get it. They think I'm being electrocuted. I lifted my arm and looked at the wire.
"Watch out!" another man cautioned. "He's spaced out. He's in shock."
In shock? I thought, somewhat amused. What does HE know about shock?
I threw the wire on the ground and turned to run, but tripped over my backpack and went tumbling to the ground. Sitting up quickly, I saw that all three of the men were eyeing the power line where I'd dropped it. I scrambled to my feet again, backing away uncertainly. I noticed a couple of big yellow trucks parked at the sides of the road and concluded that they were with the power company, come to fix the lines.
Between the trucks, and a little beyond them, I saw a girl in the middle of the road, all by herself, with her arms wrapped around her books.
She just stood there … staring at me.
"It must not be hot," said one of the men. I watched him tap the end of the wire with his long pole, for which he was instantly rewarded with a loud ZAP and some blinding white sparks.
"HOLY—!"
I looked across the road again, but the girl was gone. Picking up my backpack, I turned and ran across the wet, green lawn of the city park as fast as my long legs would take me.
"Hey! Come back!" they yelled. "Stop!"

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	*Sting!* Chapter 2 - High Voltage -

Sting! -- Previous Chapter
Sting! -- Next Chapter


As the day progressed, my run-in with the static dress was quickly forgotten as everyone's attention turned to the weather. When I had left home for the three-block walk to the school, it had been cloudy and windy, and there was a Severe Storm Watch in effect. Every time I looked out the window, it got darker and darker. The rain came and went—just enough to get everything wet and muddy. By the end of second period, it was so dark outside it seemed like night. There had been reports of tornadoes further upstate, and a Tornado Watch was put into effect. That was unusual for the end of April. A High Wind Warning was also issued, and high-profile vehicles were told to stay off the roads. Tornadoes or not, I knew there were thunderstorms in the area. That was for sure. I could feel it in my bones. I'd been able to predict a lightening storm with a ninety-percent accuracy since fourth grade. But these don't feel that close or that powerful. Between first and second lunch, the announcement was made over the P.A. system that there had been two tornadoes touch down within twenty miles of us, and we were being upgraded from a Watch to a Warning. That meant school was adjourned … and that didn't hurt anybody's feelings. An early weekend! The halls were soon packed with kids rushing to their lockers and racing out the doors. The dozen or so kids who got zapped on their way didn't even seem to notice. Or, if they did, they were in too much of a hurry to say anything. Thank goodness for small favors. That's what Mom always says. The buses were summoned early, and the payphone was lined up with kids calling home for rides. The parking lot looked like bumper-cars at Disneyland. I was glad I didn't have to worry about any of those options. It WAS going to be a cold enough walk home, though. I zipped up my jacket, slung my backpack over one shoulder, and went out to fight the wind. Halfway down the front walk, I was startled by a big explosion, like a bomb, coming from across the street. I looked up quickly and saw a transformer on a power pole spitting sparks all over the place. A limb on a nearby tree caught fire. Then I heard a scream and looked across the street to see a girl lying on the ground wiggling all around. A seizure? I wondered. Then I spotted the thick, black wire running across her stomach. A power line! Oh my gosh! She wasn't just wiggling. She was bouncing up and down, and shaking uncontrollably. There were two boys and a girl standing by her, and they were beside themselves, turning around, yelling, and screaming. I ran across the street and joined the gathering crowd. "Don't touch her!" someone yelled. "You'll kill yourself!" "I've got to get it off her!" one of the boys yelled. I recognized him as our quarterback, Rodney Davis, and realized with a start that the girl on the ground was his girlfriend, Melanie. The other boy with him was his best friend, Dean, with his girlfriend Kirsten. "Call 911!" someone yelled. Several kids headed back to the school to the payphone. Several others whipped out cellphones. "Don't step on the grass! It's wet!" Melanie was still shaking and vibrating, her eyes staring straight into heaven, and her tongue partly out. She had fallen on the wet grass, with her feet on the sidewalk. The wire ran parallel with the walk, about three feet into the grass, and went right over her waist, ending abruptly another four feet away. It made a soft, humming sound on the ground. All the kids were gathered around on the sidewalk side. Nobody got anywhere near the wire OR the wet grass. Rodney squatted down, balancing on the edge of the cement by Melanie's feet, and tried to reach the wire with the corner of a three-ring binder. There was nothing else available. He stretched, teetered, and almost fell on top of her, before Dean grabbed the back of his coat and yanked him back. "Somebody DO something!" Rodney screamed. Melanie's eyes quivered and fell shut, and the violent shaking settled into a pulsing quiver. "NO!" Rodney screamed. His cries were echoed by nearly everyone there. By that time, I had unknowingly worked my way around the crowd, trying to get a better view, and was a little surprised to find myself standing on the wet grass, just inches away from the bared end of the broken wire. I was also a little surprised that I wasn't being electrocuted in the process. Nobody else seemed to notice. I looked down at Melanie's ashen face and her trembling fingers, and my heart just broke in two. A gigantic lump formed in my throat, and my eyes misted over. I never really liked Melanie. She was always snotty and rude. And not just to me—to everybody outside her small circle of friends. But those feelings meant absolutely nothing in the face of a life and death situation. She was dying right in front of me. I had to DO something. I couldn't just stand there and watch her die. Suddenly the thought came to me. Get that wire off of her! I glanced down again at the end of the wire at my feet. I knew there were untold amounts of electricity in that wire. I also knew that touching it could be just as fatal for me as for Melanie. Maybe even more so, considering my other problem. And, of course, I knew better. We'd all been taught. But still … Another quick glance at Melanie, and I was stooping over before I hardly knew it. I grabbed the thick wire with both hands about a foot from the end, and instantly a tremendous burst of electricity shot up my arms. I almost dropped the wire. Everyone there gasped and jumped back, staring at me incredulously. But I recovered quickly, and lifted the heavy wire into the air—pulling on it and leaning with my whole body, like in a tug-o-war, to stretch it tighter and higher. "Pull her out!" I yelled between clenched teeth. Rodney almost did, but shrank back, not sure if it was safe. Dean and Kirsten didn't think twice. They grabbed Melanie by both feet and had her on the sidewalk in no time. I let the cable go slack. After seeing that touching her didn't hurt his friends, Rodney went down on his knees and put his ear to Melanie's chest. Everyone held their breath in anticipation. He straightened up. "She's not breathing," he said in barely a whisper. Everyone stared at Melanie's still form on the sidewalk. "She's not breathing," he said a little louder. Then he yelled, "She's not breathing!" "Out of the way," a boy said, kneeling on the other side. "I'm an Eagle Scout. I know CPR." Before he could hardly even finish his sentence, he had Melanie's jaw pulled open, her nose pinched shut, and was blowing into her mouth. One—Two—Three—Four—Five times, he blew. Then he held the back of his hand under her nose. Quickly, he laid his ear on her chest and listened. "No pulse," he announced, and promptly began bumping hard on her chest with his clasped hands. He counted out loud to seven as he thumped. Then he breathed slowly three more times into her mouth. I wanted to get closer. As I went to take a step forward, I realized that I was still holding the power line in my hands. With a grunt, I threw it aside like I would have done a garden hose, and stepped up near Melanie's head. The Eagle Scout bumped her chest seven more times and breathed three more times. Then he repeated the cycle again before listening for a pulse. "Still nothing," he said, thumping her chest again. "Where are the paramedics?" somebody asked. "Call them again!" Rodney yelled. When Rodney spoke, kids listened, and three guys turned and raced back to the school. Football teammates, I was sure. A girl in the crowd spoke up, "She needs to be zapped." Some of the kids looked at her funny. "With the paddles," she clarified. "Like on TV." The word "zapped" caught my attention immediately, and I lifted my right hand and stared at my palm. I wonder … I could still feel a big buildup of energy in my body. I was sure that if I touched anybody right then, they would get zapped a good one. But HOW good? I wondered. Eagle Scout had his head on Melanie's chest again, listening. "Still nothing," he said solemnly. "Let me try," I said, taking one step closer before stopping. "Don't anybody touch me," I warned. "You know CPR?" Eagle Scout asked. "You do the heart while I breathe." He bent over her mouth again. "No. Get out the way. I'm going to zap her." "Like heck!" Rodney threatened. I was glad he was on the other side of Melanie, or he would have been grabbing my lapels. "Keep your freaky hands off her! You'll kill her!" He made like he was going to step right over Melanie to get to me, but Dean and a couple of others pulled him back. "She's going to die, anyway," I said, staring him in the eye. "Unless somebody does something pretty darn quick." "The ambulance is on its way," someone else offered. "Time's wasting," Eagle Scout said. Then he suddenly recognized me. "You're Sting." Like that answered all the questions. "Move back," I said, and knelt opposite the Scout. He backed off pretty fast. My reputation as the Stinger, and the fact that I had just been holding a high-voltage power line in my hands, wasn't a hard thing for anybody to put together. I held out my hand and paused, wondering what the best way would be. Tap her with all four fingertips, I decided. I reached out, then noticed that the black, sleeveless Levi shirt that Melanie was wearing was covered with metal studs, and thin, dangly metal chains. Too much metal. I didn't know what effect that would have, but I didn't dare try to find out. I needed everything I had in me going straight to the heart, not through all that metal. "Too much metal," I said, looking at Scout. "Unbutton it a little and pull it open over her heart." Rodney made another aggressive move, but was restrained without a word. Scout fumbled with a couple of the buttons and tentatively peeled back the left collar, revealing the flesh over her heart. I leaned forward just as the wind gusted and blew the collar back in place. Scout grabbed it and flipped it open again. Again, the wind blew it closed. He was obviously getting VERY uncomfortable messing around with Melanie's shirt. "Move over!" came an urgent voice, and a dark-haired girl bumped Scout out of the way so hard he nearly fell over. She quickly unbuttoned the rest of the shirt, pulled the left side wide open, revealing a ton of bare skin and not nearly enough white, lacy underwear, and tucked the shirttail under Melanie's side. Then, sitting back on her heals, she looked at me and asked, "Is that better?" I wasn't sure if she was being snotty or what. I just wanted to help Melanie. I reached in quickly, and solidly tapped Melanie's chest over the heart. To everyone's surprise, including mine, there was a loud ZZZIPPTT, and her whole body bounced up and down—just like with the paddles on TV. Before Scout could even move, the dark-haired girl had her ear on Melanie's chest listening. "Do it again!" she commanded, backing away. I touched her chest again. But nothing happened! Of course not! I told myself. I've already discharged! JUNK! I looked at Melanie with a sense of helpless desperation, then ran my hands through my hair and looked away. "Junk!" I cussed out loud. My gaze fell on the black power line curled up on the grass just feet away, and I leapt to my feet. "It worked once," I said, mostly to myself. Quickly, I grabbed the power line again—feeling the indescribable surge of energy course through my body. Dragging the wire behind me, I knelt back down at Melanie's side. Everybody backed away another foot or so. Holding the wire firmly in my left hand, way out to the one side away from Melanie, I reached over with my right hand and tapped her chest again. Her body arched and bounced. The dark-haired girl listened again, and shook her head. As soon as she backed away, I zapped Melanie for the third time. The girl listened again. "There's a pulse!" she yelled. "It worked!" The Scout pushed the girl aside and held his fingers under Melanie's nose. "She's still not breathing," he announced. He began blowing in her mouth again. After five or six breaths, he listened to her heart again, and then looked up at me kind of funny. Then he went back to breathing in her mouth again. Her heart's still going! I could hardly believe it. I was so relieved. I actually got it going! Slowly, I stood up and backed away, the thick line still in my hand. After a few more anxious moments, with Scout patiently and methodically blowing in her mouth, Melanie suddenly coughed and choked. Her eyes fluttered open and shut, and she coughed again. "YES!" She was breathing! She was alive! The collective sigh of relief that came from the gathered crowd was almost stronger than the still-gusting wind. The dark-haired girl took over again, and with Kirsten on the other side, they re-buttoned Melanie's shirt and started talking softly to her. Somebody offered a jacket to use as a pillow, and the dark-haired girl took off her own jacket and covered Melanie with it. "They're here!" someone yelled. Sirens were heard coming in our direction, and everybody jumped back onto the sidewalk as the red and white ambulance came to a screeching halt just a few feet away. Within minutes, the emergency personnel had Melanie loaded on a stretcher, and the whole crowd followed as she was wheeled over to the waiting ambulance. Then, as fast as they had come, with lights flashing and siren wailing, they headed for the hospital. As they drove off, everyone stood in the road watching until the ambulance disappeared from sight. Then, with the emergency over, everyone started milling around and talking amongst themselves. Somebody pointed out the Eagle Scout, and they all clapped him on the shoulder and told him what a great job he'd done. He'd save her life. Melanie was alive. Everything was going to be all right. Nobody so much as glanced in my direction, and before I knew it, the crowd was gone. I was left standing by myself on the wet grass, the wind still blowing, the sky turning a dark greenish-black color, and the rain falling lightly on my face. But I still didn't move. My mind went back over the previous few minutes, and I struggled to come to grips with the fact that I had actually manhandled a high-voltage power line without killing myself … and had zapped a human heart back to life. And as I stood there, something really weird happened. I felt like I was being slowly drawn right into the power lines. I looked up at the power pole and the smoldering transformer, and I could almost feel the … what? … the pain of that wounded transformer? Ridiculous. Transformers are things. They don't feel anything. But I felt it. I FELT it! Then I sort of … reached out … beyond the transformer, and it was like I was literally sucked into the power lines and propelled at warp speed through the vast electrical network running all through the neighborhood. I became a PART of it. Its life ran through my body. It was alive! I FELT IT! But how? What's happening to me? My senses became so muddled and confused, and my mind so caught up in the euphoric experience, that I didn't even notice the man talking to me at first. "It's okay. Don't panic." I blinked and stared ahead, and a yellow hardhat came into focus. Then another and another. "Just hold still, and we'll get it." The men under the hats were wearing bright yellow coats and big leather gloves. Two of them had long orange poles in their hands. The first one advanced slowly toward me, and I backed away. "Easy, young feller. Easy now." What are they doing? What are they talking about? It finally occurred to me that I was still holding the power line in my hand. They're trying to get it. They think I'm being electrocuted. I lifted my arm and looked at the wire. "Watch out!" another man cautioned. "He's spaced out. He's in shock." In shock? I thought, somewhat amused. What does HE know about shock? I threw the wire on the ground and turned to run, but tripped over my backpack and went tumbling to the ground. Sitting up quickly, I saw that all three of the men were eyeing the power line where I'd dropped it. I scrambled to my feet again, backing away uncertainly. I noticed a couple of big yellow trucks parked at the sides of the road and concluded that they were with the power company, come to fix the lines. Between the trucks, and a little beyond them, I saw a girl in the middle of the road, all by herself, with her arms wrapped around her books. She just stood there … staring at me. "It must not be hot," said one of the men. I watched him tap the end of the wire with his long pole, for which he was instantly rewarded with a loud ZAP and some blinding white sparks. "HOLY—!" I looked across the road again, but the girl was gone. Picking up my backpack, I turned and ran across the wet, green lawn of the city park as fast as my long legs would take me. "Hey! Come back!" they yelled. "Stop!"


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