The night the lights went out
(Sent by Luis Alfredo Paiva, a student from Córdoba, Argentina)

I was completely alone at home. It was almost midnight and my parents had gone out with some friends and I was watching my favourite TV programme.

In December rainstorms are quite common but the weather forecast for that day was said to be totally unusual, hailstorms and even snowstorms had been announced.

All of a sudden the electricity was cut off. I decided to go down to the garage so as to get a torch. When I came back to my bedroom in the second floor it had been was all flooded and the water had covered mostly the whole room.

At that time I was only concerned about the excuses I would have to make up when my parents returned. However, there was something really odd because I remembered having closed the window pane while I was watching TV.

I was frozen with terror but I ran downstairs to get the phone, I knew something was bad. On getting to the main floor I stumbled and broke my left leg.

Suddenly, the lights were shining again and my parents and closest friends turned up shouting and asking me if I was fine. Actually I wasn't at all! Though the Holy Innocents Day joke had been really well prepared.