Surviving The Heat

Sarah sat on the couch, tv remote in one hand, popsicle in the other. She was on her eighth episode of Downton Abbey so far today. It was too hot to do more than sit here with the fan blowing on her. Yesterday she’d taken a cold bath (it had hurt to sit in cold water till her body finally cooled) she had no desire to repeat that experience. So once the temperature started to decline, she would take a cool shower instead. Unfortunately, that meant that she would have to survive until after 6PM.

Holding a book was too much effort. Sarah hadn’t eaten real food since this morning when it had still been cool enough to stand in front of a stove. All she’d eaten since was cereal. While it was painful to not have air conditioning in this weather, at least she lived alone so she didn’t have to wear much in the way of layers. Her mother would have scolded her for lounging around the house in her underwear. It covered as much as her swimsuit did, but her mother would still have thrown a fit about it.

It was weather like this that made her glad she didn’t have any pets. It was one thing to subject herself to this heat, but to make an animal suffer with her… it didn’t bear thinking about. Sarah finished her episode and let the next one start playing. She didn’t feel guilty for not doing anything today. She pulled the last of her popsicle off the wooden stick and into her mouth. She was going to feel guilty for all the popsicles she was eating if she didn’t stop at this one. Sarah sighed and set the wooden stick on the coffee table. She slumped into the couch. If she didn’t move maybe she wouldn’t feel like she needed another stick of frozen sugar juice.

About fifteen minutes into the episode (Mary was once again sabotaging Edith, though Sarah couldn’t feel all that sorry for Edith considering they constantly did it to each other) Sarah’s phone buzzed. She didn’t bother to pause her episode as she checked her phone. She’d seen the show at least half a dozen times over the years. Clary was finally getting back to her. Sarah had texted her yesterday.

I refuse to leave the house in this heat. How you survive without AC I will never understand. Clary’s text read. Sarah waited to reply as the icon showed that Clary was typing some more. If you want to crash at my place for the rest of the week, feel free.

Sarah smiled and let her fingers fly across her phone’s screen in reply. I survive by reminding myself that my place is a full $200 per month cheaper than yours. Not all of us are finished school and working for $25/hr. She sent that and then continued to type. I don’t dare step outside until things start to cool down. If it’s this bad out of the sun, I don’t want to know what it’d be like under it. She sent that so Clary would have something to read as she continued to type. Sarah send her texts in thought bubble format. I will take you up on your offer if you don’t mind me showing up after 9.

It took almost no time for Clary to respond. I don’t mind. The typing icon showed up and a moment later another text message appeared. Since I am not languishing in the heat, I’ll set up the guest room

Sarah smiled again. Clary was probably the most considerate friend she’d ever had. Clary didn’t mind that she had more money than Sarah did. Instead of expecting Sarah to be on the same level financially as her she would take care to keep costs low on a girls’ night out. She actually complained if Sarah spent what Clary thought was too much on a birthday or Christmas present. At the same time, Clary didn’t buy cheap gifts and would argue that she should treat her friends more often than they did her. She talked about percentage of income spent when Sarah or any of Clary’s other friends argued. Sarah warned Clary that they’d all find ways to repay her and then she’d have to suffer being on the receiving end.

I’ll head over as soon as I deem it safe enough to brave the outdoors. Sarah sent.

Clary replied with a laughing emoji and a thumbs up. Sarah set her phone back down on the coffee table and returned her attention to her drama show. The heat felt a little bit more bearable now that she knew she would escape from it tonight. Though she was still uncomfortable, her mind was able to focus more on her show now.

With the thought of escaping the heat on her mind her appetite returned. Sarah groaned. Even if she was going to stay somewhere cool for the rest of the week, it was still too hot to cook. She took the time to pause her show before standing up and making her way to the fridge. Sarah scanned the contents, looking for something that would be more filling than cereal, but didn’t require cooking.

After a bit she finally had an idea that felt appealing. She pulled out the head of lettuce (it was half gone already), an apple, and a hard-boiled egg. She pulled off enough leaves of lettuce for a salad for one before putting it back in the fridge. She then cut up the apple into small bite-sized pieces and set it aside. She pealed the shell off of the egg and cut it up in small pieces too. She then ripped the lettuce into pieces and washed it.

Once all of that was in a bowl, Sarah turned to the pantry. She grabbed a can of flaked chicken, opened and drained it, and then dumped that in the same bowl. She then retrieved a bag of mixed seeds. She added a liberal amount of those, and then went back to the fridge. She chose a salad dressing at random. Once the dressing was on it, she mixed everything together.

Sarah carried her salad back to the couch. She took a picture before she dug in. Clary would want proof she’d eaten something decent today. If she didn’t have any, Clary would make her eat when she arrived later. She turned the show back on and began to eat. It tasted better than she expected.

Once the food was gone, Sarah simply sat and let herself get sucked into the show. She felt content knowing that she had plans for the first time all week. Despite the heat, Sarah relaxed against the couch. Though it was still ungodly hot out, the heat didn’t beat at her quite as much as it had earlier today. She smiled.