Sheila Charles THE HEAT IS ON
Sometimes happened the other day.
I’ll tell you about it now.
I walked in the study to get some paper.
I was hit by a wall of heat. POW.
I’d seemingly left the heater on
Foe two days on the run.
I’d been sorting out some books
To show them to my young grandson.
Maybe the phone distracted me.
I honestly haven’t a clue
What it was that made me leave the room
And not go back again until day two!
(The annoying thing about it
Was that there was nothing I could do.)
My electricity company obviously would not care.
Why would they? They’ve lots of customers and it’s profit for them, to be fair.
If I rang and apologized
And assured them it won’t happen again,
Would they wipe those units off my bill?
They could with one stroke of a pen.
But they wouldn’t, would they? Of course not.
I knew I’d be wasting my time
And they would conclude, into the bargain,
That I was probably well past my prime.
But, I took a chance. I did ring
And poured my sad story out. Yes.
The guy listened. I suppose he had to do
Because that is his job, more or less!
He asked me to read my two meters.
He then looked it up and said,
“That cost you about fifty dollars.”
(At least I could plan ahead.)
The only good thing about it
Was, I’d predicted two hundred or more
Though I’ve definitely learnt my lesson –
Though I’ve a feeling I’ve said that before!
I’m going to spend the next two weeks in the hall
Eating and sleeping sat on the nightstore!!
illustration by ume-nori
