Hectic Heat But At Least There's Hotdogs

It was the hottest day of the year yesterday, but folks, we were wrong, today temperatures are expected to surpass that….

Thiago turning to the television picks up the remote and raises the volume to hear the rest of the weather report for the day’s projections.

“Dot! – Dottie!!” He exclaims. “You hearing this?”

“What?!” Dottie squawks back from the kitchen, her hands holding a glass bowl, her shirt bathing in all the backsplash from doing the dishes.

Their dog, Bagel, being exactly that, a blonde ball that resembles a plain bagel, resting at Dottie’s feet.

“I told you it was going to be bad today.” Thiago’s voice inching closer to Dottie.

“Well what do you want me to do about it?” Dottie replies playfully.

“I don’t know, conjure the rain?” Thiago pokes, kissing Dottie on the cheek.

“Should we hit a pool today?” Dottie asks.

“Ugh, you know those public pools are going to be packed. And frankly I don’t want to swim in piss.”

“You do realize you swim in fish excrements when you’re in the ocean?”

“One of the reasons I stopped.” Thiago chuckled. “It’s like satan’s sauna in here, is the air conditioner on?”

“Does satan even need a sauna?” Dottie rhetorically joshed.

“Not the point.” Thiago quipped back, sarcastically.

Thiago ventures into the bedroom where the air conditioner was located. They used to have one in their living room, but it broke down early this summer and they couldn’t afford a replacement. Besides, it was luxury enough to have one working air conditioner, nevermind two running and an electric bill rising.

“Dot!” Thiago’s voice could be heard shouting from the bedroom. “Damn thing isn’t working right, I think the rising temperatures got it all busted up. It’s the humidity!”

Dottie rolled her eyes, threw the cloth she was holding on top of the dish rack and made her way into the bedroom with Bagel panting right behind.

“Well this sucks!” Dottie moaned.

“Quite the understatement.” Thiago replies.

“Well we still have the fan, let’s prop it up in the living room and try to cool down.” Dottie suggested.

The three of them made their way to the living room and did just that. Dottie had an idea to create ice packs to place on their feet. Thiago, Dottie and Bagel, who was nestled in between them, were lounging on the couch with the fan blowing on their faces and ice packs on their feet. The humidity hugged them so tight they each nodded off into a sweaty slumber. Dottie and Thiago awoke with a ziplock bag now full of liquid; it was no longer a refreshing glacier like sensation, but rather a lukewarm, squishy bag.

Dottie’s shirt was just as drenched as it was earlier while washing dishes but this time she couldn’t blame it on the sink.

“Thiago, can you put more ice in these?” Dottie sighed.

Thiago leapt to the kitchen and Bagel bounced off the couch right after. When Thiago opened the freezer he was met with a gust of vapor as the apartment’s heat met the inside of the freezer’s lower temperatures. Though Thiago was struck with the sight of an empty, icy, box.

“We’re out of ice!” Thiago belts. “And we should probably do some shopping!” he added.

Dottie lifted herself from the couch which felt more like trying to open a stuck jar lid than simply leaving a cushion. Dottie was in a bra and shorts at this point while Thiago roamed in a pair of swim trunks. And Bagel, well, she was unabashfully naked, but that wasn’t due to the heat.

Dottie pulled a t-shirt over her head which felt more like putting on a wet bathing suit as it stuck to her torso. Thiago, too, proceeded to put on a shirt and a pair of shoes, it was time to make the trek to the market and give Bagel a chance to do her business downstairs.

Dottie and Thiago stood wiping the perspiration from their brows in front of a tree while bagel barked at a soda can that brushed past her. The streets were mildly empty with the exception of a popped fire hydrant where a few children ran back and forth as water dosed them. Dottie brought Bagel over to the fire hydrant so she could cool off. Bagel barked at the spout while simultaneously making her way closer to it, wagging her tail and offering a quick shake. Dottie, Thiago and Bagel made their way down the sidewalk, their typical market was about six blocks away, though felt much further as the sidewalk melted below them.

The sun as bright as one of those lightbulbs pulled over a patient’s head at the dentist and the sweltering felt just as painful as a visit to one. Thiago and Dottie felt like their arms and legs were moving through a sea of marshmallows– both difficult and sticky. Bagel panted alongside them taking chomps at any moth that dared to get too close.

Thiago, Dottie, and Bagel arrived at the market grabbing a shopping cart on their way inside being greeted by a chilled blast of central air. Bagel barked at the shopping cart wheels before quickly being hushed by Thiago. The trio made their way to the frozen aisle, mainly to monopolize the wintry ambience. Thiago strolled to the end of the aisle and spotted their “summer sale” section adjacent to Halloween decorations. Thiago picks up a box displaying a kid’s size inflatable pool. He turns the box towards Dottie and Bagel who were making their way down the aisle. Thiago smiles and pushes the box outward to suggest his interest.

“Thi– you can’t be serious. What are we going to do with that?!”

Thiago suggested they move some furniture around and blow up the pool in the center of the living room, but Dottie worried about the mess filling up an inflatable pool in an apartment would entail.

“We’re not going to fill it up completely. Just a tad so we can all dip our paws in.” Thiago responded looking at Bagel while dangling the box in front of her. Bagel yelped and jumped up towards the box. “See, even Bagel thinks it's a good idea.”

“Won’t we cause flooding downstairs?” Dottie quipped.

“Dot, We’ll only add a little bit of water, and I can look for a tarp that can rest underneath, if that’ll make you feel better. Come on, we haven’t done a thing all summer!”

Dottie shook her head and smiled prompting Thiago to jump slightly and place the inflatable pool in the shopping cart.

“Let’s roast up some hotdogs too!” Thiago declared delightfully.

Dottie, Thiago and Bagel grabbed some hotdogs, buns, and ice. Thiago picked up a six-pack. He was in a festive mood that almost distracted him from the thick, hot air that hit them when they walked out of the grocery store.

The sun raged onward as did Dottie, Thiago and Bagel, though saturated and their range of motion, sluggish. Thiago took a brief stop at a hardware store where he managed to find a lining that could settle beneath the plastic pool. The three of them were nearly home now.

The apartment greeted them with a faint breeze that propelled a false promise that the air conditioner was working properly, however as quickly as the breeze faded so did their faith. An air of optimism lingered as Thiago began inhaling into the inflatable pool while Dottie chilled the beers and boiled some hotdogs; Bagel assisted with cleaning up any scraps.

The sun found its way over the horizon leaving a tangerine trail between the buildings, reflecting a bright beam of orange like a laser directly flickering throughout the window’s blinds. The inflatable pool sat in the center of Dottie and Thiago’s living room where their coffee table once stood. Bagel’s paws submerged as the water met her ankles while four human feet accompanied her, the rest of her humans positioned on the couch with a plate full of hot dogs and beer in their hand.

Dottie and Thiago clink their beer glasses and take a sip.