Closed for business (Jean-Marc Parent)

It was panic, I tell you. We were starting to get a very bad feeling about things. You were sure that, the next morning, you would wake up and it would all be over, and the electricity would be back on. But no. No electricity. Nothing. The house was well insulated but there’s still a bit of a cold draft in winter and it didn’t take long before the house was freezing. So, panic slowly set in. Sure, in the beginning, it was a blast. We were eating by candlelight. Candles and fondue pots, what fun! How romantic! But when you’re eating meat fondue for three weeks, that’s another story. Chocolate fondue is special—like a celebration. But after 30 pounds of it, even with bananas to dip in the chocolate, you can’t take it anymore. Yes, in some ways, it was fun. I felt like I was running a restaurant in our house. I had three fondue pots going on the counter at the same time. We made it work. We had a bunch of people living with us. There were 12 people in the house. Everyone pitched in, everyone had a job to do. Everyone had a fondue pot. Come on, let’s heat up the spaghetti sauce! Is it ready yet? Spaghetti sauce, pasta, coffee, the three fondue pots going full time, all the time. We had a blast. Then, it was less fun. And then, no fun at all. It’s true. You felt like there was a war on. There was nothing left in the stores, there was nothing left anywhere.