The Sultry South

A friend invited me to go with her to a festival in Tryon today. A local band, some of whose members I know, will be playing and there are rides and fun things for the kids. She is a good friend and she has fun kids who get along well with mine. Sounds great. Only it's 92 degrees and gloppy today. I don't do gloppy. I melt like a snowman in a furnace on days like this. I'm not going.

Another friend said she was going to trim her hedges today so her husband can (finally!) get the shutters back on the house after they took them down some time ago to paint them. I like the heat, my friend said. She appears a sane person but how can that be? I tell her I don't understand it, that she likes the heat, but that I believe her and I'm not moving from the couch, in front of the fan.
I grew up in a house without air conditioning. In movies it is sometimes portrayed as sexy, the sultry south. I'm here to tell you there ain't nothing sexy about soggy drawers! A Spartanburg writer once wrote, "The only thing between hell and a Spartanburg summer is a screen door." Truer words were never spoken.

It isn't faith and tradition that keep families together in the deep south: it is air conditioning and sweet iced tea! Without them, there won't be much harmony in the household on days like today, when you want to jump into a kettle to cool off!