Last summer, we were in the middle of a brutal heatwave. We had the air conditioning unit running constantly, and it wasn’t able to keep up with the heat. We had a bowl of ice sitting in front of the fan, in an effort to help offset the air conditioning. Nothing seemed to be working. We were walking around in our shorts and t-shirts, hoping to catch a breath of cool air. I had a lot of work to do, which I did from home. I sat in my office, and I could feel the humidity building around me. There was sweat rolling down my face and into my eyes, but that didn’t stop the fact that I had a deadline to reach. I still had to keep working. I would get up every once in a while and get a cold glass of water and an ice cube. I had to do whatever I could to stay cool. My husband got home from work, and he was shocked at how hot it was in the house. He checked the thermostat in the living room, and it read ninety-one degrees. He tapped the thermostat and looked at me oddly. He asked if it had been like this all day. I told him yes. I told him about the ice cubes and trying to get the house cool. He went back to the bedroom and brought out some batteries. We had been hearing the fans running, but not the air conditioner. The thermostat batteries had died and the thermostat was no longer giving the direction to the AC unit to start running.