Destiny City in July had a stagnant sort of heat, the kind to slow people down to miserable melted puddles languishing near their fans or AC units, begging for the end of times. In fact, that's what most of the Catigern family was up to, the younger kids wilting under the shared blessings of a single rotating fan. Carol herself was pacing in the next room over, barking her mom-voice at the unfortunate soul on the other end of her phone, and Reg was, as usual, not making much of a presence, likely shirtless in his office making use of his own personal fan.

"This sucks," grumbled Ashlyn, the older of the two splayed out underneath the fan in her school swimsuit. "The AC guy was supposed to be hours ago."

Beau, the younger of the two, began to sniffle and pout, clutching to a bottle of water as if it might be his only chance of ever getting cool. "D-do you think they're never coming?"

"Don't be stupid," Ashlyn snapped, rolling over on her back. "If he did that, he'd totally get fired forever." Silently, she stewed in anger by staring at her outstretched hand, experimentally sticking and unsticking it to the tile of the kitchen floor.

"I'm sure your Mom has it under control," Katie interluded, a bottle of water held to the back of her neck as she looked to Carol through the french doors, watching the woman mime frustration in the next room. Normally, Katie herself would be pacing to out-think the oppressive heat in their suburban home, but it looked like Carol had the prime pacing real-estate and she wasn't giving up any time soon, so the next best thing was to join the kids in the kitchen, tapping an anxious foot inside a flip-flop. Katie tilted her head and watched from under plastered bangs as the woman's volume started to escalate, and then with a dramatic slam of her phone, the conversation ended.

"See?" Katie laughed nervously, knowing all too well what it felt like to be on the other end of her Aunt Carol's consternation. "The guy's probably on his way right now, there's nothing to worry--" The girl's voice caught in her throat as Carol turned to walk towards the kitchen, and as the woman opened the french doors, Katie was quick to look down and away, sipping at her bottle of water. She wasn't going to be the one to initiate eye contact, good news or not.

"Urgghhhh! Don't these people understand the concept of appointments?" Carol's normally voluminous hair was tied back in a giant, frizzled poof at the back of her head, which only served to show more of her flustered ruddy skin. She breathed in deeply, arming herself with the air for another tirade, then stopped just short as she stared at her languishing children, the great huff fizzling down to a sigh.

"The AC guys got double-booked, they won't be sending out a truck until tomorrow," Carol finally explained, wiping her forehead off with a kitchen rag. She was furious, but there was a tiredness to her that made Katie uncomfortable. Aunt Carol was an Amazonian spitfire of a woman, on any other day she would have eaten this company alive. Trying to dissuade her concerns with the assumption that the heat was just getting to everyone, Katie silently offered her bottle of water, which Carol accepted with a nod.

Squirming in the silence, Katie felt the tension of waiting gang up on her shoulders, her lungs, her voice, attacking at any ability she had to keep still. After only a moment of languishing, she found herself reaching capacity, and to fill the empty heat she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Heeeeyyyy," she began, blanching when she saw eyes on her. "Whaaaat if weee...all went downtown and had an awesome lunch together? There's, like, a pizza place near campus, and ice-cream?"

For a moment, her audience stayed silent, and Katie bit her lip, sinking her shoulders. Stupid plan, stupid stupid stupid, time to go now.

But finally, Beau's eyes lit up from his heat-laden stupor, and slowly he slid from his chair, murmuring, "Ice cream..." Ashlyn was up only a second later, and was already scrambling to her bedroom for city clothes. Katie was the last to spring where she stood, holding her interlocked hands up to her face as a faux prayer to Carol, who gave her a beleaguered stare before assenting with a nod.

Carol waited until the kids were away before she addressed Katie, taking a step closer. "You take 'em. Reg and I are probably just gonna hold down the fort." Again came the flash of tired eyes, but Katie was too busy internally reeling from the opportunity of running their little impromptu field trip that she didn't quite catch it. On the tips of her toes, she steepled her fingers, grinning wildly in place as she looked to her aunt.

"Can I take the big car?" Katie whispered, as if this escape was almost too good to be true.

Carol straightened her shoulders, tilting her head downwards with a disapproving stare. "Your car works just fine."

Katie nodded once, keeping a solemn demeanor for a solid four seconds before she began to wiggle in place. "Souuunds good, okayseeyoulaterbye," the girl blurted, darting for the second floor and her impromptu loft for some less sweaty clothes. It didn't matter that Aunt Carol was being a little out of character, not when she had a chance to get out, kids in tow. Anything had to be better than here.

((954 words))