on ice storms, hoboes, uncle amos and other tales

last monday night, there was a nasty ice storm. though we had two outages on monday night, the power returned soon enough. but by the time i woke up on tuesday morning, there was no power. hoping that power would be back by end of day, almost everyone here in eastern kansas could've stayed home that day. the landscape looked lovely with trees bearing icicles and it was a winter wonder land, except considering the broken power lines, the damage to tree limbs and slick roads. it didn't take much for any of us to realize how much we depend on electricity. since the heating and cooking stove at the house were on electricity, we didn't have much options than to lit the candles, kerosene lamps, propane lamps and so for the lighting and bundle up. we had a charcoal grilled hamburger for dinner. rest of the evening, we sat around the living room with jack telling stories about his grandmother and hoboes.

jack being born in 1930s have very many interesting stories to share. he opened the narration with his grandmother. she was a very nice woman who used to feed hoboes(hoboes are professional tramps who travel from place to place by stealing rides on trains and beg for a living). jack's grandmother, as she served food would enquire about the hobo's family and so. then she would give him a free counsel, telling him why he should work instead of leading a tramp's life and share some verses from the bible. there also used to be people who would try to discourage this grandmother from her good will. the reason being, hoboes could be dangerous. but nothing could discourage her for one of her brother's was a hobo. this hobo was jack's great uncle amos.

uncle amos was a talented blacksmith and a violinist. after the time of jack's grandmother uncle amos used to live with jack's parents during winter. he would work during the winter and earn his bread. but when spring comes he would have that 'faraway' look on his face. before much long, he would leave home in his brand new clothes to lead a hobo's life. at the beginning of next winter he would return in raggedy rags.

i am not going to complete the rest of the late night tale what jack told that night, instead i'll tell you the tale of what i did after the ice storm. i slept that night in my sleeping bag. we all hoped that power will be back on by morning next day, but instead woke up to a 55˚ F morning weather in the house. spent rest of the day at school and had dinner with friends, camped out the night at friend's. the cycle repeated for next two days. each night, before i closed my eyes i wondered what it feels like to be a hobo. may be it's something like what i felt. to be with friends, but at the same time missing the warmth of one's own home?

i'm more like a hobo now. trying to hear the tales of other travelers rather than telling my own tale. storing up the tales in my head when they share, and being extremely reluctant to talk about my own home(having not seen my family in two years, being the reason for my own reluctance). the sad part is even if i am with my family, i no longer belong to them. i belong to nowhere, whether it be here or there. i wonder if i return to my family now, whether i will get that faraway look on my face like uncle amos within a fortnight.

after more than hundred hours of outage(house temperature was 41˚ F), the power lines were fixed. and i were back at my regular spot at the house by saturday evening. and what touched me the most in these four days without power, is the hospitality of friends and strangers, who became friends. i guess kansas will always have a special place in my heart.