Why The Generator Failed
and other Stories
Jewell Parrilla

For weeks the drums of war had been beating in ceaseless, continuos rhythm . More recently they appeared to have racheted up their steady bellicose drone. Already Dr. Vargas and his family had been evacuated from the little Adventist hospital on the outskirts of the city of Esteli, Nicaragua, leaving only the doctors Omar and Vivian Lopez to man the tiny thirty bed hospital that functioned as a general hospital for most of northwest Nicaragua. The church had seen fit to evacuate other key administration personnel, and now the hospital functioned on a skeleton crew. A sense of foreboding hung like a pall over the institution, it seemed, these days, that the only patients treated were the wounded and the battle weary.

One night there was a complete blackout over the city of Esteli and adjoining towns. There was panic at the hospital when it became obvious that the emergency generator was not going to kick in like it was supposed to. What if there was emergency surgery? There would be no lights in the operating room.

Thankfully there were no patients on ventilators, but what if someone required emergency intubation? The hospital electrician cajoled and teased the capricious monster, another not-so-patient technician kicked the obdurate beast, others prayed, but to no avail the generator refused to budge.
The hospital staff spent a prayerful night of nervous anticipation, morning came at last and to everyone's relief there had been no emergencies. Only later that morning did the hospital administration and staff learn that the blackout had been triggered by Sandinista insurgents, who had given strict orders that their rebels attack any lighted buildings Only then did the staff know why the generator failed.

To Forgive Part V

House and Home the Kitchen