Break

They say this heat will ‘break’ soon, possibly tonight.
Whenever I hear that expression – the heat 'breaking'…it conjures up this memory.

It was some years ago – before we had air conditioners in our house. We were having a long drought accompanied by week long heat waves. Without any AC we tried different tactics to keep cool. We would sit quietly so as not to use any energy. We even rigged the hose up on the patio so it would mist us as we sat motionless in the thick air. But the nights were the hardest. There was no cool night air – just motionless hot darkness.

Very late one night – it was hot-- way to hot for the nighttime, the air was still and so thick that breathing was slow and labored.
We lay there not sleeping – it was as if sleep took too much energy.
And then… it happened. At the window the curtain moved. I saw it as I felt it, and I whispered quietly in the dark
“Did you see that?”
“I did”
There was hope in those two little words.
With as little movement as possible we cast our eyes on the curtain and waited. We were rewarded with another burst of air. Then more… then the curtain was billowing with fresh clean cool air.

We sat up – together – and all it took was one look and we were both sprinting down stairs. Without turning on any lights, we opened every window and door on our way.
Fresh cool air began pouring in. The temperature drop was palpable.

We went to the porch to revel in the breeze – lifting our shirts to feel the coolness on our skin.
We giggled like little girls.
The heat wave had broken.