I had volunteered to work again the next morning after clearing the parking spaces, but I forgot that if one uses muscles he hasn’t used in a while, he will be sore. When I woke the next morning, I was sore all over, and I had blisters on both feet and my right hand even though I had worn gloves. I had to beg off and let my body rest and recover. That day my neighbors began returning. First were the young men that lived across from me. I welcomed them back and we chatted about the hurricane experience. They had brought a pit-bull terrier with them to ward off looters when they weren’t around. The terrier growled at me, but they commanded it to calm down and it did. From that time forward I had to be careful about wearing boxers around because I had to keep my windows open for the breeze. I did take a stroll around the neighborhood and found that the local Chinese restaurant was handing out free hot meals to everyone that day, so I told everyone I passed about the good news, including a homeless man that was sleeping just around the corner from the restaurant. That was good public relations for the restaurant that had prospered in our neighborhood. I had plenty to eat at home, and I wanted to eat it before it spoiled, so I passed on the restaurant food.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade College notified everyone that classes would remain closed until the next week, which meant that my Saturday class would miss two weeks of classes. My neighbors told me that the nearby Waterstone subdivision had gotten electricity, so it probably wouldn’t be much longer for us. I began unwrapping my electronics and appliances in preparation. Indeed, around 2 p.m. the electricity surged through causing clocks to blink, the refrigerator to begin cooling again, and my PC to click and begin the restart process. I turned on the A/C, closed my windows and let the blinds down, so I wouldn’t bother my neighbors if I walked around in boxers. I returned to writing on the PC and watching the TV news channel. That evening I microwaved one of Amy’s Chinese dinners and had my first hot meal in a week.