Heat Wave

Summer days are hot in Little Rock. The temperature hovers around 90 something most of the summer and towards the end is often in the 100's with the humidity hovering about that.  Every breath feels like you are existing in an oven, a hot sweaty suffocating one.

Some people say there are 4 seasons here.  Fall (which is usually melded into the preceding season), Winter (though this may be debatable, it didn't snow but a dusting like powdered sugar on the still green grass), Spring (there is definitely a Spring with chartreuse flourescence and flowers blooming in hothouse glory), and Hell.

Most pools here open well before the official start of summer, and those that do not look cracked and abandoned in the harsh glare of the unrelenting sun.  

Spring and Summer are mosquito seasons so wading pools, pots, and anything that holds water are dumped regularly.  After a rain the childrens' sandbox is brimming with the fruits of a spring shower. A lapis pool resides within,  the sand melting beneath the surface. If left it won't be long before the makeshift pool is hazy with algae and teeming with life.  

The sandbox is dumped revealing another hazard. A fat and glistening black widow crouches underneath.

At mealtimes neighbors light their grills and the sulfur smell of matches lingers long in the air. 

Days at the park are spent getting used to the increasing heat. Children are draped over the equipment, limp and wet like noodles until their internal temperature regulates. Soon they revive once again, chattering like small birds as they chase one another around.

Heat waves rise up from the pavement and shimmer in the breeze. If there is one.  Fortunately summers are also marked by afternoon storms.  The sky turns black quickly and ferociously.

Then it begins to rain.