I am Stella, Queen of the Olde English Bulldogges. Huh-ha-huh-ha-huh-ha. The air has weight, heavy and hot. It is like breathing thin warm water, but still it is air and I need it. The sky’s thick breath presses on us like a warm, wet blanket, hard to run through, hard to sleep through, hard.
Me: Are you all right?
Stella: Yes. But I am not happy. Send the hot away.
Me: Not in my power. Summer has its purpose, just as spring and autumn and winter have their purposes. Every season has a reason.
Stella: Is that one of those human rhymes, Lady Human? Really! It is too hot for rhymes.
Me: It is too hot for anything else. And yet, this is by far not the hottest weather I have witnessed.
Stella: I am not sure that I want to hear that story.
Me: It was the Summer of 1980…
Stella: Oh, no. Is this going to be a long story because, if it is, I need some popcorn.
Me: No popcorn. Not that long.
Stella: How about a frozen treat?
Me: I’ll see what I can do. Anyway, it was the Summer of 1980. The temperature reached 100 degrees or more for what was it? 69 straight days?
Stella: Are you asking me? I was not around that long ago, remember?
Me: One day, the temperature reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit. I walked from one building to another several blocks away in downtown Dallas.
Stella: Downtown Dallas? Is that in our backyard?
Me: Not really. Anyway, when I got there, I laid my hand on my head. My hair was so hot, it burned my fingers to touch it. I should have worn a hat or carried an umbrella, but no, I thought, hey, no big deal!
Stella: Scary! I am covered with hair! Is there much more to this story because, if there is, I really need popcorn.
Me: I met a man from Italy and he was horrified that it was so hot.
Stella: I am not from Italy, whatever that is, and I am horrified. How did the story turn out? Did you burn up?
Me: No. I mean…obviously not, I am still here.
Stella: So, no big deal, right? My question is what are you going to do about the hot, heavy air right now?
Me: It was only 95 or 96 today. Just keep calm. Stay inside. Drink water.
Stella: And keep the air conditioner running.
Me: Amen. There was another summer that came within a day of breaking the 1980 run of 69 100 degree plus days…
Stella: Nope. Enough. No more stories without popcorn.
Copyright 2018 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.
Bulldoggy 
Ugh that sounds awful. Like living in an oven.
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There are times when I have opened an outside door and had hot air hit me in the face exactly like that. Some part or other of my family has lived in Texas since 1829. They had no a/c. I can’t complain. Nowadays there is always a retreat into cooler air.
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