Hot (Vignette)

Hot! Why is it so damn hot?! I feel like my left shoulder is starting to sizzle like a bacon on the grill. I was standing under the telephone pole shade. I was third one under that shade. Two women were right behind that pole so their bodies were completely under the shade. I was right there but the shadow was thinner towards the end so it covered only right side of my body. There was nowhere else to hide from the sun. To the left of me there was a bus stop. Most people call it Metal Box of Death. During the summer it hits up to the temperature that will burn your skin if you touch it or try to sit down in its shade. Air, the air is so hot in it that it is easier to handle the direct sunlight than trying to sit in there.

Hot! I am thirsty. I wish there would some place to buy water.  I know I can buy water if I will walk down the street. There is a store approximately ten minutes away. It always has bottles of frozen water.  That is the best thing in the summer. Freezing water serves a few purposes. First it ensures that water will be cold for a while. Second it also lets water out in small portions so it cannot be gulped down. It is a bit expensive but still cheaper than two bottles of water that would be consumed anyways.

Should I buy water? Then I will be risking missing the bus. No, I will stay. Shifting to my right, letting my left side burn and rights side to cool down. The two women started chatting. The first in line has a big red bow on her head and the second one is in the red dress – so they are Red Bow and Red Dress.

Red Bow: The grass is green on the isle.

Red Dress: Yeah, you are right. It is still green. I don't remember anything being green in July.

They are right. Usually grass turns yellow in May and grass fires start in July. Almost everything around the bus stop is bare. The earth is so dry that the cracks on it are very deep.

Red Bow: You know why it is still green?

Red Dress: I have heard the mayor replanted all burned out grass.

Red Bow: No, it is not that. They finally figured out when to water it. Apparently, it is useless to water grass during the day – water vaporizes before it is absorbed by the ground. They water everything overnight now so the dirt is moist for longer.

“Ha! Smart.” – I mumbled looking at the little aisle of green. It is just a narrow long green isle that separates the road in two. It does not even have flowers, just very green grass. It looks out of place in the middle of the steppe. City mayor in a past few years has been obsessed with plants. He plants flowers all over the city every season. Those little flower isles usually do not survive the heat. This is a first year of green grass in my hometown.

The bus is still not here. I think we have been waiting for more than an half hour. It feels like my skin on the left shoulder is shrinking. Maybe it is. Or maybe I am having a heat stroke. In the summer, I always think that I am having a heat stroke. I am surprised that most people do not. Only children experience it sometimes.

Wait, what was I thinking? I think I lost my chain of thought. Hmm, how long have we been waiting for the bus? It has been an hour! I wish I got water earlier. Now, I definitely cannot leave to get it.

Red Bow: I think I see a bus!

Red Dress: I hope it will stop.

We all move out of the shadow. Bus is getting closer. I keep looking at it as it is passing the isle with green grass. It is almost at the bus stop but it does not slow down. It passes by us and only dust is in the air now.

Red Bow and Red Dress retreat back under the shadow.

Red Dress: It is not in service. It is not going to come today.

I stay in the sun. I see a little black dot at the end of the street that might be a bus. My face feels like mud. Sweat and dust are the main accessories that shared by all residents of my hometown.  I see bus is approaching. I wave over to the women, and then we all wave to the bus like we are trying to catch a taxi or a bird, hands flying over our heads in desperation. Hour and a half of blasting sun and I am on the bus.

Red Bow moves quickly through the crowd into the back of the bus followed by the Red Dress.  I stay by the door watching through the window at the green isle disappeared in the steppe.