garage floor upset the mice that had taken up
residence in his laboratory and they replied
with squeaking noises of fear. He laid the
hand onto the table facing up at him. Just
then another lightning strike hit a tree in the
neighborhood, making the sound of a tree
slipping in half, echoing throughout neigh-
borhood. He quickly pulled out some jumper
cables from under the bench and clipped
them onto two large exposed copper wires
dangling from the ceiling. The wires led out
to the garage’s roof and connected to a metal
rod pointing straight up into the night sky.
He clipped the positive cable onto the index
finger. Lightning hit the rod and ran down the
copper wire. A small flame traveled slightly
behind the surge of power.
Jim had gotten the last clamp onto the bottom
of the hand and before he could let go, the
power had reached him and everything went
black.
Jim awoke to sounds of birds churping
and sunlight peaking through the slightly
cracked bookshelf door. “What happened?,”
he thought, as he got up off the cold garage