The light went off. It is common to have these power outages in my country. Call it the stupidity of our leaders who have failed to plan appropriately about meeting the energy needs of the growing population or the sheer lack of resources, my country still has protracted periods of interruption in the supply of electricity. These spells are always intensified in the hot weather when demand for electricity is more.

I knew it was impossible to sleep now. I had to open the door myself for I did not know if she knew what to do in the event of a power outage. The reason for this uncertainty was that there are still so very rich people who never get a power outage. They are lucky enough to live in posh areas where power supply is continuous.

The opening of the door had given me an opportunity to ask her the reason for her crying.

"Oh, are you ok? Are you not asleep?"
"I am trying to sleep but..." she could not hide her emotion and stopped short of completing her sentence.
"Oh, what happened? Are you alright?"
"Leave it. Thank you. I have nothing to thank you for the favor you have done unto me. But I pray to God that He helps you for this."
"What is wrong Henna? (that was her name, she told me while we were driving in the car). "

She told me she could not tell me the reason behind her. She said she had a terrible story and she had better kept it to herself. She asked me if I would be able to drive her to some place in the morning. I agreed and she told me she would wake me up at about ten oclock and then she would tell me where to go.

They say if you are really sleepy, you will sleep even with the noose for hanging you around your neck. I had played lots of squash the day before and I could simply not resist the sleep. I asked her to close the door if she is awake when the light comes back.

Right at ten oclock, about three and a half hours after I fell asleep, I was awakened by her.