My worst moment of running out of battery power occurred several years ago. I had been knocked unconscious and kidnapped. When I awoke, I found myself handcuffed to a radiator. The key for the handcuff had been placed out of my reach on the floor in the middle of the room. There was also a handkerchief with a one inch thick stick next to the key. I assume the last two items were there so I could use them as a tourniquet, since… next to me, I found a battery powered reciprocating saw. After sitting there in bewilderment for several minutes, a voice came over a sound system… I’m not sure from where because I couldn’t see any speakers in the room. I won’t bore you with those details but, suffice to say, the person on the other end, who had a distinctive lisp and identified himself as a “Sicilian” (even though he had an American accent, without a trace of European) was very persuasive. He told me that, if I didn’t make the decision to hack off my own hand pretty soon… “death was on the line”. I had no idea what that would entail but I got the impression that it was a bad idea to attempt to find out. I was obviously dealing with a very dangerous character.
So, taking the reciprocating saw in hand and steeling my nerve, I began the gruesome work of detaching my left hand. The pain was indescribable… to be honest, I don’t know how I kept myself from passing out. Then, with half the job left to go… the saw suddenly began slowing. I thought, “Perhaps it’s getting stuck” and tried to reposition it but… it was the battery. Someone (possibly the “Sicilian’s” henchman, or henchmen?) had forgotten to recharge it. However, I never found out the answer to that question because, when I tried calling out to the Sicilian to discover whether he had another battery or possibly an outlet where I could plug in the tool directly, I was met only with silence. I never heard from the Sicilian ever again. Several hours later, the police broke in and I was rescued. I had managed to staunch the bleeding with my own t-shirt until then. With reconstructive surgery, they were able to save my hand (I only have partial paralysis in my pinky and ring finger). The police never were able to find out what had caused the Sicilian to leave so suddenly. In fact, their theory is that he may have left even before I discovered the battery problem. They were only able to find a single clue… a note with the word: “Buttercup”. The police, nor I have any idea what it could mean.