Dear Diary -

The power is still off and I'm writing this by the light of one of Sue's $20 gardenia-scented candles.  Good Lord but this stinks like an old lady at a casino!  I'm going to have to take some time tomorrow and look through more than dad's paperwork - there has to be a stash of nice, non-scented candles somewhere.

Despite my stepmother's stinky candles and annoying little dog, I really liked her.  She and dad had been married a little over twenty years and, although I only spent holidays and some time every summer with her and dad, she seemed to genuinely care about me.  She never tried to be my mom, either, which was good.  From what I saw she screwed up her own kid bad enough.

Mark was....well...Mark.  Ten years older than me and a self-proclaimed Big Man on Campus, he was rarely at the farm at the same time that I was.  We spent some Christmases together and between them I heard enough from Sue and my dad to gather that he had gone off to college and discovered that his BMOC status didn't transfer over to State.  He fell into drinking, maybe drugging, and from what I saw at the funeral I have no reason to believe that he found his way out.  Last I knew he lived over in Peoria, about forty or so miles away, and only came around when he needed something.

I wish I would have brought more books with me, or that my taste in books ran more towards romance (Sue) or military dramas (dad).  I have my Kindle with something like 800 books loaded on it but I'm trying not to use it until the power comes back on.   I guess I'll see what Jack Ryan is up to these days.

Good night!

S