My Tank is At 62%...For Now

This gas shortage thing is getting too close to home.  Fortunately, I gassed up the day the storm hit and have been holding on to a tank ever since.  However, a tank of gas can only last so long.  I have friends who have sat in the line for 5 - 7 hours.  I recently heard of a resident waiting 14 hours, but she lived on the same block at the gas station so not a biggie, but a biggie.  I have heard the stories of the fights in line because one felt another was cutting the line.  I just heard a citizen pulled a gun on another citizen for this same reason.  What???  I have witnessed the long lines of cars and people holding gas cans as well.  I do not want to be one of these people, but given the severity of the gas problem, my day is nearing.

My four year old is really into the time and percentages these days.  The first thing he ran for when the power came back on last Friday was the cable box clock. He loves looking at my cell phone battery usage and reporting to me how much power I have left using percentages.  Well, the other day he asked me how much gas I had left.  I started to tell him three quarters of a tank, but he wouldn't understand that.  I then told him I had 75% gas left.  He understood that and was at ease knowing we had a "big" number of gas in the tank.  Now, day by day the tank is inching closer to 0%.

Good thing my vehicle is equipped with a DVD player in the event I have to take the children.  Paying a sitter at $10/hour will cost more than the $20 - $40 gas allotment so it won't make sense to get a sitter.  How did we get here?  It wasn't this bad during the 2003 blackout so what's different now? 

Oh...I lived in Brooklyn.  Drove my car once a week.  Didn't have children. It was the dead of Summer.

Lord, help us all.