Heat Haze

A story about summer...

The first two weeks of summer were fun. Greedily we inhaled the perfume of rich flowers, suncream and chlorinated pool water and the associated memories turned us all into jaunty children. The entire city got drunk on sunshine. The newspapers proudly announced a glorious summer, one we hadn't had in years and we rejoiced at the prospect. We celebrated by clinking ice-cream cones as if they were champagne glasses and licked the sticky, sweet drippings from our fingers. We laughed at global warming and counted ourselves lucky.

From the second week on the record heat became a nuisance. We renounced the sweet ice-cream, yet our sweaty hands still felt sticky and we began to envy the cones, sitting mockingly in their ice boxes. Our blithe smiles caked into harrowed masks which softened only under a cold shower or lawn sprinkler rain. Even though the water drops evaporated within seconds, our skin stayed hot and damp. The humid nights no longer cooled the city down and sleep came only at the price of exhaustion. Since the meteorological prognoses offered no hope for a change the newspapers tried to soften the blow by adding cuddly cat pictures to their weather reports. Their distractions worked for a while and we convinced ourselves that we loved the summer. Like stubborn fools we insisted that this was what we wanted.

Beginning with the fourth week the sun turned into a merciless tormentor. We banished all ice-cream from the fridges and began with the mass-production of ice cubes. When taken out they melted halfway down before we could even close the fridge door. Shower heads and faucets spouted hot water despite their settings, fans and blow-dryers had the same effect and the city reeked of sweat and sewage. Ancient specks of chewing gum, carelessly spat out by prior generations, rose from their asphalted resting places on the streets and clung to soles like gluey zombies. The newspapers - realizing that warm, furry creatures began to incense the masses, instead of placating them - switched to pictures of naked cats but without fur the felines lost all appeal. When we finally saw behind the curtain of their manipulation, they promised rain - always three days ahead. We knew they were lying, but we no longer had the strength to complain. We had become soulless husks that scuffled along the roads to hell, paved with self-pity and veiled in heat haze.

The sixth week almost broke me. The communal suffering had become very personal, I couldn't take it anymore. I wrapped myself in wet towels, I stuffed my clothes with ice packs, I watched documentaries about the Antarctic… but nothing helped. I stopped reading the weather report, I gave up on sleep and social interactions. My last attempt to find consolation by begging my husband for a reassuring hug ended with him grumbling that it was far too hot for an embrace. He was right of course. Thus I turned to cold beer in hope that alcohol would make me at least indifferent to the infernal temperatures. The beer failed to relieve my suffering, instead it burned me up from inside. Dazed, hot and desperate I dropped off into an exhausted slumber but restful it was not.

And then, when no one dared to hope anymore, it finally came: Rain! I ran out onto the front porch and sat on the cracked wooden bench. A cool breeze caressed my body like a gentle lover. Oh, I had almost forgotten how good it felt to breathe fresh air! I squirmed under the chilly touch of the wind, cherishing every shiver it sent down my spine. The vivid gusts, ruffling through my hair, made me gasp with delight.

Then suddenly lightning ripped the sky apart, thunder broke the heavens open and wrung precious water from thrifty clouds. Heavy drops pattered against the scorched ground and more thunderbolts hailed down like a flurry of camera flashes. They invoked visions of myself and my husband on the front lawn, laughing, dancing, kissing in the rain, getting soaked right down to our parched bones. I called him but he was asleep. Not having the heart to wake him up I kept watching the thunderstorm, dreaming, feeling, and I raised a cold can of beer to the rain gods of Central Europe.

When my husband finally awoke the rain had stopped. The precious water had been sucked up by thirsty soil and what the ground couldn't store had evaporated into the steamy night. He stepped onto the porch and behind my bench.

"I had a wonderful dream," he slurred, slung his arms around my shoulders and kissed my nape.

I dived out from under his embrace. "Too hot," I apologized, "maybe next rain."

Author's Note

Haha, just a bit of aimless prattling. We're having a record summer here and this is my attempt to manage the trauma of the past weeks' heat. Not entirely autobiographic, but the sentiment is certainly authentic. Hope you enjoy nonetheless ;-)

As always - all comments are most welcome!

Reviews

[Carol Cashes]

Oh, my goodness! The last line is a real conversation for me - minus the "rain" part. And that perfectly describes spring/summer down here in Biloxi, MS. It gets too hot for bodies to touch, much less anything left outside. We, too, have wonderful thunder booming storms in the afternoons. This was well written and I appreciated it immensely.

[Kaliope]

Thank you very much for your kind words!

[Dave K]

It's hard to define good writing, but for me, a good yard stick is “Was it enjoyable to read? When the story finished, did I wish for more?” Yes, definitely on both counts. This is very good work. It was fun to read.

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much!

[FaeryQueen]

this deserves more than a 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kaliope]

:-) Thank you very much!

[M. Black]

I have experienced this kind of heat and your descriptions capture the feelings brilliantly. an excellent piece of writing.

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much for reviewing and for your lovely words, much appreciated!

[Elodie Thompson]

It's a brilliant piece of writing. I really liked the way you sequenced the order in which summer was first described as a pleasure but then turned out to be one of the most unwanted conditions. The words and phrases which you incorporated in the story were also brilliant. The descriptive language, the way you styled the passages; really helped one to visualize how the characters were feeling throughout the story.
It was wonderful to read. Very well done.

[Kaliope]

Thanks Elodie, your kind words always bring a smile to my face. I'm so glad you liked this one too!

[Elodie Thompson]

It was my pleasure to read such a wonderful story.

[Daisy]

this is so good.... scenario and lines... great job

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it!

[JulianaSun]

Aimless prattling definitely not! More like brilliant writing:)
This is one hell of a creative writing piece and I loved every word of it. Jovial, clever and original - like you, I imagine.
" Ancient specks of chewing gum, carelessly spat out by prior generations, rose from their asphalted resting places on the streets and clung to soles like gluey zombies." - where do you get your inspiration from to write this suff! I mean, is there some special food you eat? Or maybe some secret potion the rest of us don´t know about?

"The newspapers - realizing that warm, furry creatures began to incense the masses, instead of placating them - switched to pictures of naked cats but without fur the felines lost all appeal."- hahaha, this was the icing on the cake. Naked cats!

Honestly, I´m at a loss here. I don´t know what else to say.

From now on, whenever I feel a bit miserable I´ll just read this. :)

Their distractions worked for while - I think you meant " for a while.

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much for reviewing and for pointing the missing 'a' out, that's corrected now :-)

As to where I get my inspiration from... well, the part about the cat pictures is actually true (though I might have misconstrued the motives behind them a tiny bit) but other than that I honestly don't know, too many B-movies and a terrible tendency to indulge in lavish and slightly grotesque descriptions I guess... Try writing something serious with that handicap, it's not easy I tell you! :-D

But if I managed to make you smile I've reached my goal and it's only fair since your lovely reviews never fail to make me grin like a Cheshire cat. So thanks again!

[JulianaSun]

My pleasure :)