It was the hottest day of the summer, and I wanted to check on my grandmother.
I knew she was having trouble with her air conditioning unit.
My mother kept telling her that if the AC went out, she should contact one of us and we would bring her to our house until the heatwave ended, or until the AC unit was repaired. I knocked on the door when I got there, because I didn’t want to startle her. I knew she was home, because her car was in the driveway, but she didn’t answer the door. I pulled out my key and went into the house. It was so hot inside that it was all I could do to catch my breath. I called my mom and told her I was at grandma’s house and the air conditioning unit wasn’t working. While I had mom on the phone, I went in search of grandma. She was still in bed and it was two in the afternoon. I told mom the air conditioning wasn’t working and that the thermometer said it was 105 degrees inside. She said I should try to wake up grandma, but when I bent to kiss her forehead, she was burning up with a fever. I went to the bathroom and got cold water and put a washcloth on her forehead. Mom was only ten minutes away at work, and she was already there. We got grandma out of the house and into the car and into the air conditioning. I went back in, grabbed most of grandma’s belongings and we took her home. She wasn’t leaving until the air conditioning is fixed, and not even then if I have anything to do with it.