Oppressive Regime

Today the heat is stifling, gobbling up every molecule of air with its slobbery lips and hot breath. What's left surrounds you tightly like a big hug from a bear wrapped in a wet wool blanket, quickening your heart and slowing your pace, leaving your hands sticky and your feet bloated. The humid temps of August without the promise of September. My energy use guilt creeps up with the mercury as the air conditioner remains on a continuous cycle of cooling. Relief may be just a cloud away -- as I pulled the laundry off the line, towels scratchy against my legs, thunder rolled across the horizon and a few drops of rain darkened the bedsheets.