The call was as stressful as he imagined it would be . They argued with him about not calling as soon as the landlord took the bill out of his name . They expected him to pay the back bill from the day he moved in , and he couldn ’ t argue . He set up a payment plan and hung up . They said they ’ d have his power back on within twenty-four hours . He argued this was unfair , but the only sympathy he got was a throw-way “ it is what it is ” response .
The sun was setting , so reading one of his two remaining books was out of the question . He had no candles in his apartment and no car to drive to go buy some . He was as the mercy of the power company , meaning he had no lights and no air conditioning . He was pissed about it , but he had nobody to blame but himself . He was the one who had put off the call for so long .
Joe slept uncomfortably . He kept waking up in a hot sweat and peering toward the tree in the backyard . Were the wasps there now , sleeping in the trunk or making some huge hive ? He fell back asleep , feeling disgusting under his skin . He wanted to go back outside and try to call the wasps to him to cool him like they did earlier , but he remained in bed , drifting back into his broken sleep .
The sun was up when Joe awoke again . He tried to turn his phone on to see the time , but the battery had finally died . He looked at the clock to see if there ’ d be a blinking twelve o ’ clock to tell him the power was turned back on , but it was still blank . Without knowing what the time was , Joe got up to face the day .
He wondered if the red and black wasps were some delusional dream , but he remembered the hosing he got from Mr . Perez . Maybe the buzzing of the real wasps made the ones in his dream seem so real .
Joe looked out the window and saw an employee from the electric company on his street walking back toward his van . A wave of jubilation washed over him . They were finally turning his power back on ! With a hopeful flip of the light switch , his glee was snuffed out . The power was still off .
Joe stormed outside a minute later , heading to the electric company employee . He was just about to climb into the van when Joe caught his eye . “ Can I help you ?” he asked cautiously .
“ Yeah ,” Joe said , not bothering to hide his annoyance . “ Are you going to turn my power back on ?”
“ I ’ m sorry ,” the employee replied . “ We can only do that remotely . They ’ ll send the signal from the office once you ’ ve settled the issue that caused the disconnect .”
“ It ’ s been settled since yesterday ,” Joe said , annoyed with the generic response . “ So get on your phone , call them up , and tell them to send the damn signal . I have work in a couple of hours .”
“ I can ’ t ,” the employee said . “ It ’ s a whole different department . You ’ ll just have to wait .”
Everything boiled to the surface inside Joe : Hal ’ s abuse , his family ’ s dismissal , his friends ’ distancing , and everything that had happened since the day he decided to take his life back like some ironic idiot . He felt everything that had gone wrong in his life turn from potential energy to something else , and it was all lashing out in a torrent toward the man in front of him .
The wasps came from behind , passing Joe and swarming all over the employee . He screamed and swung his arms as they clung to him , stinging every bit of exposed flesh . Joe reveled in what he had done for a moment before he fully realized what was happening .
“ No ,” Joe said as the employee fell to the ground , leaning against his truck . “ Stop it !”
The swarm listened , retreating in the same direction from which they came . Mr . Perez was there as Joe backed away from the shallow-breathing electric company employee . He was just doing his job , and Joe had sent the wasps to attack him . He wasn ’ t even sure how he did it , but it was all his fault .
“ What happened ?” Mr . Perez asked . “ Was it those wasps again ?” “ Yeah ,” Joe said . “ Those wasps from yesterday .” “ I ’ m calling nine-one-one ,” Mr . Perez said , pulling his phone from his pocket , “ then I ’ m calling the landlord about those fucking wasps .”
Joe watched the employee as Mr . Perez called for an ambulance . Mr . Perez was kneeling next to him a moment later , explaining his symptoms to the operator . Joe backed away , looking around at everyone who had come outside to see . How much had they seen ? Did they see the argument ? Did they see Joe send the wasps at the employee ? Would they actually believe it if they had ?
The ambulance came and went while Joe got himself ready for work . He fumbled his shirt and cut himself shaving as he numbly moved . His power came back on as he was making his way toward the door , and his guilt was renewed as it brought back the memory of sending the swarm of red and black wasps at their employee .
Joe felt only half-conscious when he arrived at the supermarket for his second-shift managerial job . Most of the talk was still about The Cloud . Everyone seemed equally disappointed that it passed by without causing any kind of a fuss other than turning the sky red for thirty seconds . He heard one of the stockman mutter : “ not even a single zombie .”
“ You want a shirt , Joe ?” Amy asked , braking Joe ’ s daze . Amy had been his counterpart and confidant for the last four years . The two ran the supermarket as assistant managers ( along with four others ). She had short red hair , and was holding out a cardboard box of sweatshirts .
“ What ’ s the occasion ?” Joe asked , trying not to give away how he was feeling . He could lie and say it was because if his breakup , but he didn ’ t want to rehash that whole ordeal to cover the horror of that morning ’ s events .
“ They never sold in the winter , and they ’ ve been sitting in the box in the back ,” Amy replied . “ I was told to toss them out , but I ’ ll give you first dibs ,”
Joe pulled out a black hoodie . It was huge . He normally would wear a large , but this was a triple XL . “ I can probably use this as a blanket ,” he said he said with a