An Aside. In a random drawing of those who commented on Stephanie Pritchard’s post here on The Author’s Blog, John R. Lindermuth won a free copy of Stephanie’s book Stranded: A Novel.

Sometimes, just picking up your car can be … strange.

We flew in from Mexico the other day. We had left our car parked at the hotel where we had stayed before we left. Once we had our bags, we called the hotel for a pick up. Twenty rings and no answer.

This was strange. It was a national chain hotel, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndam. Surely they had the phone covered at 9 in the evening. I pulled the hotel card and checked the number. Yes, that was the right telephone number. We called again. Thirty rings – no answer.

After a third try and no answer, we headed out to catch a cab. An expediter directed us to the head of the taxi line. Bags stowed in the trunk, we got in the cab and handed him the hotel card with name and address. He seemed confused, said he didn’t know the hotel. He pulled out a magnifying glass and studied it. I began to lose confidence in him and we exited the cab, retrieved our bags and went to the second car in line.

This driver said we should take the first cab. We explained that he didn’t seem to know what to do. This second cab driver went up to talk with the first cab driver. We headed to the third cab.

He didn’t know the hotel, but entered it into his GPS and we took off. It was a short trip, about six miles, and we almost pass it.

This was a sizable hotel, but not a single window showed a light glowing in it. There was one dim light from somewhere inside. No lights outside. No rooms lit up. No big sign saying Suites by Wyndam. Not a sound. Nothing moving. Spooky.

Could they have gone out of business while we were gone? Is our car still here? And if not, where?

There were no cars in front of the hotel, but I remembered that we had parked around in the back. I ask the driver to take us around the back of this dark building.

Good fortune smiled on us and, almost hidden (easy because there was not a single light in the back, no sound, no movement), there sat our car. We paid the cab driver, transferred our bags from the taxi to our car, and headed out of the parking lot.

As we drove out of the area, we began to notice. A large gas station on the corner had no lights on. By now it is close to 9:30, but wouldn’t such a large station still be open? Surveying another large, dark building, we realize it is a hotel also. No lights.

We come to the conclusion that there must have been a power outage in the area. But, we didn’t stop to ask anybody. We had enough gasoline to get across town – where there were lights. Many things just look better with lights.