Friday begins Dog Days. In my neck of the woods, they have started early. Forty days of hot, lethargic weather. The title comes from Sirius the Dog Star. When I was a lad, it was a time of misery inside the house and outside. Rich people had air conditioners. We were not rich. We had fans that blew hot air. We could not escape the heat at night. Our hope was the advent of a summer storm. Wet bed sheets were no help in cooling off. Earl said to open the bedroom window a couple of inches and let the window fan in the kitchen circuate the hot air out of our hot house and bring in the cooler night breeze. There was no breeze. Fans were fun to talk into and listen to how your voice was altered. As I rode my bicycle, which looked like a motorcycle, to town, I got drenched. A bath a day was not enough.

We traveled across Europe and found that many places we stayed had no air conditioning. Nice had giant windows and shutters. We were hot in Nice. In England, we stayed at a hotel that had neither air conditioning nor wash cloths. An interesting combination.

We Eldorado folks used funeral home fans. Many ladies carried a funeral home fan with them. Funeral Home Fans seemed to generate as much heat as they dissipated. We got out of the hot house and sought a cool spot. A cool breeze is of great value on a hot Dog Day. The value of movies at the Orpheum Theatre had air-conditioned comfort, or swimming at Pound Hollow is incalculable. Air conditioning was rare, and business hotels and Dime Stores advertised that they had it for your enjoyment.

My friend Lisa had central air conditioning. It felt like you were in a refrigerator. I went over to her house and played Barbie and Ken, with me assuring everyone I was Ken.

Folks become angry when they are hot. Overheated words create strife. Words better left unsaid are said in Dog Days. Often political commentators say that the heat needs to be turned down on political rhetoric. The oil of Communication is calm until someone hurls a hateful epithet in our direction. We think an eye for an eye until we are all blind. As we stumble about looking for the door, we wonder how it all began. We want community, we want unity, we want peace, yet now we have war. Are we being slighted, snubbed, made lesser than?

Perhaps our political leaders should play a little Barbie and Ken in an air-conditioned place.