From Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr’s photo prompt, The Unicorn Challenge (06/30/23). No more than 250 words in length.
Humans mill about the street, hot feet shuffling over sharpened sand. Dirt blows into every crevice of eye and between the toes. Sweat-stippled breasts of nursing mothers unable to comfort babies who don’t know why they cry. Geographically-darkened dress shirts of men, loosening their ties attempting to feel like they have it all under control.
Tempers rise as temperatures rocket. Cars stall in the roundabout, radiators blasted and steaming. Air glints steely blue with profanity as cars are pushed home, neighbor helping the neighbor they’d like to kill right about now. Shops close early and the townsfolk huddle in houses where it’s cool, if close. They web-stream dreams of Antarctica, where polar bears bob near ice floes and puffins slide.
Fiery sun sets, triple digits remain. Automated street lights and storefronts cut the dark. No rumble and squeal of midnight hot-rodders shake the village center tonight.
Blessed silence.
Comes a soft hissing, a pattering that covers and floats like a fresh-washed bedsheet being shook before all its corners are tucked ‘round. The people, exhausted, roll and sigh, curling onto their sides.
Streets glisten, air cool. It’s several hours before dawn, when the folk return with their quarrelsome natures. This observation offered from my seagull POV. Take my time, strut and bob toward the roundabout’s flowered topiary. I hope a snack’s been loosened by the deluge.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2023)
Valley of the Trolls 
Terrific piece of writing that reminds me of why I escape to Scotland for August!
But there are always those, not necessarily gulls, who seem oblivious to the heat.
Where’s that water…
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Several miles east?
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I think everyone who has endured too much heat and humidity and then felt the cooling rains wash everything clean can relate to this story. Well done!
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Thank you, Ann!
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Your steamy story made me feel like I needed a shower after reading it. Whew! It’s hot!
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😂😂😂🐧
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You got that right!
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Yay! Thank you! 🦆🕊
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What a powerful description of heat and the pressures it puts on us humans.
I feel the mounting frustration and the edge of tolerance before the release of the rain.
Beautifully written, Liz.
And yes, the gull, who sees it all, struts around in peace and hope.
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We’ve had drought in our state for most of June and then got a downpour on July 4. So, as if ripped from the back pages of the local newspaper. Felt wonderful!
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Such vivid images in your writing Liz.
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Thank you, Sadje!
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You’re most welcome
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