My son Alex came into the living room where I was sitting on the couch having my morning cup of tea.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked.
I looked over at the thermostat that showed the outside temperature. “It’s already 82 degrees out.”
“I know. It’s suppose to go up to 100!” He looked over at the thermostat too. “I thought we could get a walk in before it got too hot out.”
I put my cup of tea on the coffee table. “You’ve got a point. If we’re going to get one in today it should be now.” I got up and headed to my bedroom. “Give me a minute to get my sneakers on and I’ll meet you at the front door.”
Once we opened the front door and stepped out it felt like we’d walked right into a steam room! “Well, that certainly smacks you right in the face!” I said as the humidity hit us.
“The airs so thick it feels like we’re swimming.” Alex added as we looked at one another.
“Do you still want to take a walk?” I asked trying to keep the hopefulness that he’d say no out of my tone.
“We might as well get it in before it gets any worse.”
“Good answer.” I said as I nodded my head feeling that it was anything but a good answer.
We weren’t even at the end of our driveway when I could feel the beads of sweat begin forming on my upper lip.
Alex stopped at the sidewalk and looked both way. “Which way do you want to go?”
“Whichever way has the most shade.”
Once we began our walk I noticed our pace picked up whenever we were in full sun as we headed for the next shady patch. Twenty minutes had gone by without much conversation, just putting one foot in front of the other, when I looked over at Alex and noticed he didn’t seem to be sweating. I looked down at my dark green tee shirt that was now sweat soaked, pulling it away from my skin. “How are you doing that?” I asked.
“Doing what?”
“Not sweating!” I was wiping my forehead against the sleeve of my shirt.
Alex looked over at me. “WOW!” he looked around the neighborhood. “Did you walk through someones sprinkler?”
“Very funny.” I began flapping the bottom of my shirt trying to make some kind of breeze. “How come you’re not sweating?”
“I’m sweating.” he pulled at his white tee shirt to show the tiny wet mark that was under his arm. “See?”
I could feel beads of sweat now rolling down my face. “That’s not sweating.” I looked up the road and could see our house in the distance. “Thank goodness!” I cried.
When we reached our front steps I went ahead of Alex.
“Wow! You should see how wet the back of your shirt is!” he said as he followed me into the house.
The blast from the air conditioner felt like a slice of heaven as I stood in the front foyer.
“I’m getting some water. Do you want some?” Alex asked as he headed for the kitchen.
“That would be great.” I couldn’t move as I waited for my body temperature to go down.
“Maybe we can try another walk after dinner, when it cools down again.” Alex called from the kitchen.
I shook my head no until Alex reappeared and I quickly nodded yes and smiled as he handed me my glass. “That sounds like a great idea!”
Slice of Life 