In the unprecedented record-breaking heatwave days in September, our AC was unbelievably down. It happened last Friday afternoon when we both worked from home. What timing!
The first thing I did was turn the air-conditioner off and on, the way we handle computer crashes, in the hope that a restart will auto-correct the problem.
No expected luck.
Sitting downstairs at a desk in front of a closed window with tightly drawn curtains, I still felt the strong blistering heat permeating the glass.
After a few futile hectic calls for technicians, my anxiety grew with the temperature. “What’s next?” I asked myself. “Didn’t I go through much worse summers in China? Didn’t I survive my childhood dog days without even an electric fan? How could I no longer put up with the weather that I was so used to?”
He came downstairs for the dinner, half-naked with a wet tower hung from his neck.
“How was it upstairs?” I asked, knowingly aware that the temperature there was normally a few degrees higher, especially after the unsheltered roof and walls being exposed to a full day’s scorching sunbake.
“I am like a Wukong roasted in an alchemy furnace.” He teased himself, “But I am still earning bread inside.”
The next two days turned out to be more intolerable, as the heat wave reared its ugly head without any sign of retreat. In the early Saturday morning before the heat wave raged on, he squated down beside the machine and took off its cover, peering into a box that contained colored wires. An initial diagnosis of the broken capacitor was followed by a disappointment of its unavailability at Home Depot or any nearby store. An online order was placed in the end, and the quickest delivery was early next week.
Life goes on, whatsoever. With humidity hovering around 56% and temperature dropping to 80s, we were able to sleep with the help of non-stop whirring fans - - a bionaire window fan from the side and a hanging fan from the ceiling.
Saturday’s night dance was scheduled as usual, absent the teacher was on her vacation to Europe. Only eight of us showed up. While they were cheered for being brave to step out of air-conditioned rooms, I was embracing a night getaway from the heated dome. In the open air, I whiled away my otherwise sweltering night, in the company of friends, the music, the crescent moon, and later night winds.
The heat would last at least five consecutive days.
On my way home after work on Monday （9/9）, I saw plumes of smokes heavily darkening half the sky. It was wildfire again, rampaging through the land we humans don’t cherish.
