Shanna Milutin's rewrite is copyright © 2002 by Shanna Milutin.

Return to every man a king.

The heat rushed at us in waves. There was nothing we could do but wait as it washed over us in visible ripples, leaving nothing untouched, not even our flag on the flag pole. It was as limp as we were. We longed for the deep waters of Long Lake. I say deep, because you know how it is. The water on top is warm from the sun, but closer to the bottom, where the cool mud is, you could stay cool for as long as you could hold your breath. But, it was not meant to be today, because we were accompanied by Billy, who happened to be five, and could only hold his breath when he was throwing a temper tantrum.

We had lunch-- ham sandwiches and potato salad. The ham sandwiches had warm mayo and limp ham from being out in the heat. The potato salad was closely resembling potato soup. Not very appetizing. The only thing that settled well with my stomach was the Pepsi sitting in a metal barrel of rapidly melting ice. The barrel was cool to the touch from the ice, so as we sipped on the nectar of the Gods, we stayed close to it--our only relief from the heat. I would have preferred to plunge right in to the barrel, but I am sure I would have stroked out from the rapid change in temperatures.

Then it hit, the worst storm of my life. It started out as pelting rain. Cold and welcome. I stood on the deck, arms outstretched, and let the rain cool every crevice I could expose to it. It was pure joy. My sister ran around the deck, dancing happily as the rain soaked her hair and clothes. This was as close to "deep" as we could get today and we were elated. The thunder echoed through our ears and replied with joyous shouts as we languished in the rain. Far off we could see lightning crashing down in angry bursts. It was almost as if the storm were an angry fit from God, to reward us for our complaining about the heat. We were more than happy to accept God's anger. Gusty rushes of wind beat against our bodies, attempting to dry our soaked clothes, but only creating more welcome cool. It was almost like outdoor air conditioning. If I could have forseen the future, I would not have enjoyed myself so much.........

Shanna Milutin may be reached at smilutin@bellsouth.net

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