Air Conditioning

It was summer in Chicago,
Ninety-five degrees and almost the same percent of humidity;
And then the air conditioning went out

And then the air conditioning went out;
I really can’t establish that fact enough;
The Air Conditioning Went Out!
So, all the windows were open and the ceiling fans turned on;
Ceiling fans give me a headache
because I can see them out of the corner of my eye,
twirling and twirling and twirling and making me motion sick;
I shed most of my clothes while he went to the utility room;
I was putting ice cubes into all the animals’ water bowls,
when he came back, wet up to his ankles;
“I think something is wrong with the air conditioner,”
I would have smiled at all of the silliness of the scene,
if it wasn’t for the fact that it was getting hotter by the second

Now, the cat didn’t mind because cats like to be hot;
Freaks!
But bunny rabbits do not like it,
which might explain why I have two bunnies and only one cat;
I understand bunnies better;
I found a shady spot in the cross breeze and I sat there,
wetting down the bunnies’ ears with cool water;
While he and the cat rushed about, calling repair men,
who always said, “tomorrow,”
my charges and I fell into a sweat soaked sleep right there on the hallway floor

A loud noise woke me up and I left my furry friends to go to the window;
A deep green sky;
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight, Red sky in the morning…
Wait, that doesn’t apply here;
Green skies are for thunderstorms;
Lightning flashed and thunder clapped
and it was deliciously dark with cool, dare I say almost cold, winds;
I got my air conditioning