No Lights Tonight

It is Friday night in Toronto. Sam is eight years old. He is in the living room with his mom, Anna. They are watching a movie.

Then the lights go out. The TV goes off. The house is very dark.

“Mom! I can't see!” Sam says. He is scared.

“It's okay,” Anna says. “It's a power outage. The lights are off in all the houses on our street.”

Anna finds a flashlight in the kitchen. She finds three candles, too.

“What can we do now?” Sam asks. “No TV, no computer, no games.”

“We can play a game,” Anna says. “An old game. Look at my hands.”

Anna puts her hands in front of the flashlight. On the wall, there is a big dog! Sam laughs. He makes a bird with his hands. Then Anna makes a rabbit.

They play for a long time. They laugh a lot.

At ten o'clock, the lights come on. The TV is on again.

“Mom,” Sam says, “can we turn off the lights again? I want to make a big dog, too.”