Shock night Puli HuTo San, 2005

Shock Night - Puli, HuTo San, March, 2005

Torrential rains this stormy night, consistent with the monsoon season. It's chilly. I want to find a place to live down below in the city with a heater and hot water. I want to call Melissa and see if I can stay with her. Or I can call Ron and Racquel. But, I think it is too late. My little red electric heater is not doing much. The three blankets are merely a comfort. I can sleep through the thunder and lighting. But, I wake with the passing of a vehicle.
What in the world is a car doing up here on a rainy night? Surely not my sometimes neighbor, Mr. Hsiao. I looked out the window to see a pair of headlights in the general direction of the power box and power meter. I think maybe someone is desperate for outdoor sex. Then, the banging sound began. Then the lights blinked. The heater went off. A light bulb burned out. All the power went out. I opened the door and felt a tingle of electric energy go through me. “Hey, who's there?” I shouted. The night was dark.
I went back to bed. Deal with it in the morning.
I heard a car drive away.
I woke to the Health Holler and went outside to investigate the electricity. I greeted the troupe of septuagenarian morning revelers with a smile. “Ping An!” I walked the 100 meters to where the meter and switch box were. Looking inside the breaker box I saw the mains were all tripped. And, it appeared that someone had used a pliers to cut the wires.
On the outside, the 220 volt cable had been hacked 40 or 50 times as if gnawed on by a dog, or hacked with a long tooth handsaw.

It occurred to me that had not the breaker tripped, I might have been fried when I made contact with the wet ground in the middle of the night.

I resolved to bury the line underground.