The Warm Weather Disaster

Hot! So hot! Seventeen year old Emeline tried to fan herself with the front of her shirt. It didn't help much. She dragged herself off the couch, out of the path of the fan she'd had trained on herself and moved to the kitchen counter to look at the thermometer that was on the windowsill above the sink.

She groaned.

It read 110 degrees. And humidity was 78%. Emeline wanted to cry, but quickly disposed of the idea. Expending energy would make her feel even hotter. As she looked out the window, she noticed that the tree branches were swaying gently. A breeze.

She ran to her front door and stepped out onto the porch. It was a cool breeze, not a warm one.

Thank You, God. She whispered as she stood, basking in the lovely feel of the wind tugging at her oversized cami and blowing her hair around her face. She smiled contentedly.

Creeeak!

She spun around and saw her twenty year old brother, Dan, in the rocking chair, enjoying the breeze just as much as she was.

Dan was about to go to college. Emeline would miss him. They had always been inseparable as children. Even when their little brother was born, they were still the dynamic duo. As siblings, the three loved each other, of course, but there was a special bond between Emeline and Dan that Tinker had just never hit on.

"Nice, isn't it?" He murmured with his eyes closed.

"Nice?" She scoffed. "I think you mean heavenly."

He didn't reply. He didn't have to. Emeline knew he agreed with her just by seeing his expression. She chuckled.

He opened his eyes and when she attempted to sit in the lawn chair next to him, he stopped her.

"Don't sit there. The plastic is whitened in the center. That chair's next occupant will be an unfortunate one indeed." With a glance, she saw he was right, and sat instead in the only other chair on the porch. A wicker chair that appeared much safer.

"Thanks for the heads up." She said, closing her eyes as well.

"No problem. I tried to sit in it when I first came out here, and it didn't take long for me to realize that wasn't a good idea. When you feel yourself sinking in a plastic lawn chair, that's definitely a sign that something's about to go wrong."

They laughed.

"Where's Mom?" Emeline wondered.

"When she came back from her walk, she said she'd run to the store, since we're running low a few things."

"Oh, that makes sense. I just ask because she's been gone for quite a while now, and I was beginning to worry. She doesn't usually go for three hour long walks."

Dan nodded in agreement, but he didn't reply because he was more content to just relax than to speak.

Emeline felt the same and decided that a nap would help pass the time.

Just before she fell asleep, she heard footsteps pounding across the porch. She didn't open her eyes. She didn't need to to know that the footsteps belonged to none other than her fifteen year old brother, Tinker. His given name was Samuel, but he'd shown an affinity for tinkering around with things and being able to fix anything from the broken toaster in the kitchen to Dad's old Mustang in the garage that hadn't driven in twenty years. That is, hadn't driven until Tinker got hold of it. Now he was driving it around short distances, counting the minutes until his birthday when he could get his driver's license.

Tinker bounded around inside the house as if it wasn't 110 degrees out and 78% humidity. Emeline envied him. He never seemed to mind the hot weather. He was always in his element, no matter the temperature.

She heard the refrigerator door open and close, and then some ice tinkling around in a glass of what she assumed was water.

As he came out the front door, he ended up being upwind from her and Dan, so her nose then notified her that it wasn't water he was drinking, it was lemonade. Where had he gotten lemonade?

She shot a quick glance at Dan and saw that he was wondering the same thing. When Tinker made his way to the breaking lawn chair, neither of them stopped him. They shared a secretive smile as he lowered himself down, talking all the while.

"Guess what? You know that old lady down the street, the one who has all those stupid cats? Well, her washing machine broke and she say's she'd be willing to pay me to-"

And that was when it happened. The words died on Tinker's tongue as he realized what was going down. And then he went down. His lemonade spilled everywhere, splashing a little on Emeline, as his glass flew from his grasp and landed on the porch with a clunk!

At least the glass didn't break. Emeline thought wryly.

For a moment, Tinker didn't react. But the sight of his entire middle, from his armpits to his knees, all folded up and shoved through the center of the lawn chair was enough to set Emeline and Dan to laughing hysterically.

Somehow, in the middle of their laughter, they heard him say a single sentence.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." His face was expressionless, and then it turned incredulous, and then he frowned resignedly, which only sent Emeline and Dan into a whole other fit of laughter.

She and Dan then stood up, and she bent down to grab the forgotten glass to bring it in and wash it.

As they went in the house, laughing all the way, Tinker started yelling behind them.

"Wait! I'm stuck! You gotta help me!"

"No, we don't!" Emeline yelled back from the kitchen window.

After a few minutes, Dan spoke.

"We should probably help him now, right?"

Emeline let a slow smile creep across her face.

"Nah. Let him sweat a little longer. We'll get him in a little bit."