Saturday, July 28th, 5:00pm
Ethyl (and Penny and Pooch)
Ethyl sits at the window. Penny and Pooch take the seat beside her.
Ethyl: What’s that you have in your purse? A rat?
Penny: No, this is Pooch. Isn’t she cute? (makes baby talk at dog)
Ethyl: Looks like a scraggly little rodent to me.
Penny: (moves purse as far away from Ethyl as possible) Don’t say that to Pooch! You’ll give her a complex!
Ethyl: Are you nuts? Do you have any idea how stupid you sound? It’s a dog. It doesn’t understand me. (to Pooch) You’re ugly and your mistress is an indescribable idiot.
Penny stands and walks away, apologizing to Pooch as she goes.
Ethyl:(calling after her) And stop dressing your rat in colours that match yours! It makes you look like your rat’s raccoon bitch!
When, as a child, I questioned the wisdom of drinking hot tea on a hot day, my parents told me that it made you sweat, which is better. Back then we didn’t have an air conditioner in the house. They weren’t really a “thing” in my neighbourhood, at least outside of public buildings. We never had a window unit and didn’t get central air until the late 70s, early 80s.
My parents came from the UK–let’s get that out of the way. They HAD to have their tea. So even when it was 90 degrees outside, we’d be sitting with our cuppa, vying for a spot where there was a bit of a wind to cool off our sweaty skin. All stiff-upper-lip/do-it-because-it-feels-good-when-you-stop behaviour.
But that’s turned out to be a good thing. I can’t stand iced (or cold) coffee, but I’ve been conditioned to bear the heat of summer AND a scorching hot drink. I’ve learned to appreciate that extra layer of perspiration that cools me off when I come in contact with even the slightest of breezes.
Or I drink it in an air conditioned room.
Because who needs a stiff upper lip when you have A/C?
BUT, having said that, I still take my cup of tea upstairs to bed with me every night. I have a fan on my bedside table that blasts me with cool air.
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