Thermal Overload

It was mid-summer and the air was so lethargic. There hadn't been a breeze in weeks and the sun had baked every surface outside. Those conditions along with the high humidity made for some very hot days. We had a lot of innocent fun that summer and had to be creative to find ways of cooling down in the blistering heat. Staying in the shade was a must unless you wanted to risk heat stroke or sunburn. If we didn't have the money to buy ice cream, we would sneak into the back door of the cafe and help ourselves to the ice machine. That would last until the manager would hear us laughing and chase us out with her giant spatula. One day we would go down to the creek and jump into the deep pool where the water backed up by the beaver dam. The next day we would go pool hopping from neighbor to neighbor until we ran out of homes. Every once in while, we would be lucky enough to sit up on the hill above town at sunset and a gentle south wind would cool us off as we watched the pink rainbow disappear into distance.