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Summer in the City

Summer in the City

Thunder rolling off in the distance. The night is as thick as schoolroom paste. I hear the baby crying next door. Windows open wide in the hopes of a cooling breeze. But not tonight. Tonight it seems as if Satan, himself, has reached up with his fiery fingers and grabbed hold of the city. Cooking it and all it's occupants. There are those fortunate enough to have airconditioners. But here, in the low rent district, not many of us can afford one. The thunder rumbles louder. Out side, a group of teens talking loudly over the incessant booming of their music. Sleep won't come easily tonight. It never does on nights like this. The baby has stopped crying. Perhaps her mother has given her a cool bath. I've already had two cold showers, but in this sweltering heat the effects don't last long. Lightning streaks across the sky and the thunder cracks ever closer. The air feels heavier by the minute. My bedside fan whirring and pushing the steamy mass of it around. Maybe I will walk down to the park and lie in the cool grass. But the walk will make me sweat more. Then there's the mosquitos. So I lie here amidst the perspiration soaked sheets waiting, hoping. Hoping like everyone else in this inferno of a city, for a cool breeze, a spell of cleansing rain. For relief.

2005

It gets worse every year.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/06/27/extreme-heat-map-of-france-depicts-eerie-screaming-skull/23758254/

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Comments

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afishamongmany

Sat 29th Jun 2019 16:06

Lisa, sounds like it's worse with you there with than us. This is our fourth with highs of 36°c (98ishF) but it's the night temperatures staying above 26c (79F?) that gets to one.
Well written descriptive piece. I'm glad that I was there only in my imagination. ><>

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Lisa C Bassignani

Fri 28th Jun 2019 23:46

Ugh!, been there...No thanks

Devon Brock

Fri 28th Jun 2019 23:35

And then..da da da da..."there's the mosquitos". This prose poem is fantastic. You truly nailed the raw ferocity of it. We have a heat index of 102 degrees F where I am, right now. It's brutal. I'm a cook and I'd rather be slinging hash over a flattop than sitting around in this nasty. At least the hoods will pull the heat away,

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Lisa C Bassignani

Fri 28th Jun 2019 23:29

I thought it was the mosquitoes!...the grass would have been so nice and cool.

Devon Brock

Fri 28th Jun 2019 23:23

Lisa, the baby next door haunts this piece. Sadly it will keep getting worse. But those wonderful European schoolkids are having their say. I place all my hope in them, because sadly, I have little hope in us.

D

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