“So how has your day been?â€? Evan asked. It wasn’t often that he got to meet his girlfriend Laura for lunch.

“Oh, nothing terribly exciting. I may go for a walk later, it’s a nice day for it and I haven’t been as busy lately.â€? She picked at her omelette and smiled contentedly.

Staring into space, Evan noticed a flickering light. It was all the lights actually. “Whoa, what’s going on? Looks like a brownout or something.â€?

The lights dimmed a few times, brightened in a surge and then went out. Accompanied by the grinding, clicking sound of machinery in the back of the restaurant struggling back to life the lights flickered back on and then out again.

The two of them queued up with the rest of the patrons and paid their bill as they left, wondering about the extent of the outage. “It’s a perfectly clear day,â€? Evan said, “couldn’t be lightning.â€?

After saying goodbye to Laura with a kiss, Evan got in his car and switched on the radio.

Static. He flipped through the dial. All the stations were out.