The heat makes reluctant saints of us all
I was driving home from work one recent afternoon. It was one of those hot days we've had lately - Serengeti-hot, a hot that hurts your eyes just to be out in it. Nothing I wanted more than to get to my air-conditioned home.
My car hasn't had a working air conditioner for a couple of summers now and the only illusory cool comes from breaking the speed limit to get some hot outside air blowing on you.
I passed a young woman walking along what could have been bubbling blacktop, the La Brea Tar Pits of Jersey, for all I knew. She had thin-soled shoes on her feet and a shopping bag in her hand.
I pass by people like that all the time, never giving them a second thought - unless they are carrying a gasoline can, because I've been there. The awful heat made her visible, shimmering like some mirage.
She accepted my offer of a ride and we drove about two miles to her destination.
People say that oppressive heat makes us cranky, but sometimes, I think, God works to make it otherwise.
My car hasn't had a working air conditioner for a couple of summers now and the only illusory cool comes from breaking the speed limit to get some hot outside air blowing on you.
I passed a young woman walking along what could have been bubbling blacktop, the La Brea Tar Pits of Jersey, for all I knew. She had thin-soled shoes on her feet and a shopping bag in her hand.
I pass by people like that all the time, never giving them a second thought - unless they are carrying a gasoline can, because I've been there. The awful heat made her visible, shimmering like some mirage.
She accepted my offer of a ride and we drove about two miles to her destination.
People say that oppressive heat makes us cranky, but sometimes, I think, God works to make it otherwise.
posted by Michael Riley at 2:13 PM
3 Comments:
She was foolish to get in a car with a stranger. But the heat makes us foolish too. I'm a little old lady and I had another little old lady turn down the ride I offered one of those hot days.
the old, hey, it's too hot to walk, so get in my car young lady ruse, eh? an un-airconditioned one at that!
.. bottom line, hot or not, air conditioned or not, ruse or no ruse, she didn't know with whom she was accepting a ride. I live in MD. Local young man picked up middle aged man one cold winter day. Young man can't tell you this story himself for he is dead. Foolishness?
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