Holy mother of hotness! Today for the first time in my life I walked in 105F weather. Smothered in heat your body releases sweat even if you are not moving. Even the trees seem to break a sweat. The lungs feel heavy and constricted. The street sounds are muffled by the heat wave as if the cars all wrapped in cotton. The smog is hanging over the city like a thick curtain. My apartment though offers the sweet release from the heat by way of gurgling square unit hanging in my window, a most welcome present from friends who did not need it anymore.
As I lay in my bed waiting for the blanket of dreams to wrap around me, I take an inventory of sounds in my apartment.
- The humming noise of the air conditioner,
- the sweet breaths that come out of Opee laying by me, sleeping and I am jealous,
- my neighbor taking a shower,
- the gentle swoosh of the ceiling fan,
- the muffled water splashes made by people in the pool outside,
- in the apartment below me a child’s laugh,
- a police car siren no doubt chasing a breaker of rules of the road,
- the clock leaving seconds in the past at evenly measured speed,
- my own heart,
- my breath.
All these noises fill my head along with thoughts racing at the speed of light. It’s getting crowded there, and I sense insomnia waiting for its chance to mess with it even more.
