It was
July, some 93 degrees with humidity to match. The kind of day
southerners call "real wahm." I was driving
air conditioned ("
It's cool inside!") through town to get some fastlunch. As I cut down a sidestreet there they were, this young beautiful woman out walking her dog. She was
lithe and tall, with clunky heels to
accentuate the positive. Her dog, a mixed breed, was large, slow and steady. The kind of animal you would not put in the backseat of a car.
But despite all these, what was striking was her clothing. In casual disdain of the weather, she was in a long sleeved black T-shirt and an ankle length jean skirt. As she walked down the cracked sidewalk she was oblivious:
to the heat, to her dog (straining against her leash), to onlookers (like me) and to whatever demands life had placed on her.
She was walking her dog. Period.
Everything else was just details and I was sure if I were to stop and ask the obvious, stupid question --------
Aren't you hot? -------
She would have just smiled. When you are this cool, heat is just a state of mind.
Ice maidens don't melt.