Morning all. Personally, this is a morning where I am craving my coffee. So without further ado, lets get into the prompt and then soon it will be time to caffeinate. So timers set and off we go.
I think the recent heatwave might be getting to me…
Tuesday, July 9th: The city seemed gripped by a wave of violence.
The city seemed gripped by a wave of violence. Each night featured a list of incidents that occurred through the day in various spots around the city. Each morning’s news listed the evils that went on in the night. Jake, like most people, blamed the heat. It was too hot.
Normally the dog days would hit in August and they would have three weeks of unbearably hot weather. People would struggle and sweat through. There would be outbreaks of temper as people snapped and some degree of violence. But they all knew it would fade, that the heat would break and the blessed autumn would arrive. Tempers would ease off.
This year was different. The spring had been cool and everyone thought it boded a cooler summer. The rains came in April instead of March keeping everything cool and damp. Then April rolled into May and the cool spring rains faded. Each day in May was warmer than the last and the rains dried up. The ground became cracked and broken, the grass dried to straw. Fire warnings became common and heat advisories were constant. They sweated through May and then June retched the heat up another notch.
There was rain, but it came only in the night when the departed sun let the air cool just enough for it to be released. The thirsty ground soaked it in, but the world remained brown and dry. July and August the world went dry again and the heat again rose. Everyone braced for the end of summer, the cooling in September.
It didn’t come.
Now, they were three days away from Halloween. Pumpkins had been carved. They were scrawny things his year and far more expensive than Jake had ever seen them. Instead of going moldy inside as they sat on the stoop, they baked in the dry heat that remained. Fires had been caused from the jack-o-lantern candles and people were advised to use the smaller battery operated ones.
Jack was changing the batteries in his small electronic tea light candle when the first crack of thunder sounded. He jumped at the sound and looked up. They had heat lightning throughout the summer but it had not resulted in rain. He set the faux candle down and walked to the window in his kitchen, looking out at the sky above his back yard. Dark clouds were massing.
‘Moving fat,’ he thought watching as hey were shoved across the sky. In no dime they filled in the blue expanse, dimming the sun enough that Jake had to turn on the light. He clanked at the clock. 3:28. Outside it looked closer to evening. Thinking of the winds above, Jake thought he might want to get his deck chairs and bring them in.
‘At least lower the umbrellas,’ he thought. He left the window and went onto the back deck. The trees were starting to sway and he started bringing the summer accoutrements into the house. Later they could either be packed away for the season or brought back outside. ‘Please be bringing cooler weather,’ he thought ass he hurried his steps.
Ten til Midnight 