PKOTA) Chapter 2 Part 3

“It’s hot!” Momo complained. I could see the sweat dripping from her chin. She was not the only one who was dripping in sweat, either. Myself and Hank were also soaked in sweat. The temps during the day were one hundred and ten, and even though it was already nighttime, the temps were still in the one hundreds.

 “Stick with it we are almost done.” Hank egged his daughter on. We had started with the upstairs windows and were now on the first floor. We had already got the front and sides of the house done we were now working on the back of the house.

“Uncle Hank, you are Aunt Claire won’t get fired right?” I had been wondering about this. They both ditched their jobs due to the heat, so I was not sure if they officially quit or had taken leave.

“No we both quit on the spot when we saw the trend. There is no way any cars cooling systems are going to be able to keep up with this intense heat. I for one did not plan to walk to work either. Plus they did a state of emergency this morning asking people to stay home in a cool place. Not that there are many places that people could go right now. I think only your father had been ready for such a situation.” Hank seemed to not care at all which was good.

“Let’s just hope this heat spell will break in the next week or so.” I sighed as I looked out the window for a few seconds before lifting the board so they could screw it in.

“I am glad I kept these long boards.” During the day, I went with Hank to his shed, where he had tons of wood stacked up. He had been planning to build a rather large shed, one he would use to work on things in his backyard, but now this wood was being used for the windows and doors. As for the longboard, it seemed to have been for something else he did in the house but never used.

“With these wood clamps, we can keep the wood in place as if it is screwed in, and I can easily rip the board off if need be.” We rigged one of the boards on the sliding glass door to now be screwed in but clamped in using small blocks of wood, with the long board going across the entire thing to keep it in place. It gave it the illusion of being sealed up but not actually screwed down.

“We are done!” Momo cheered before slowly making her way towards the basement stairs. “I will get a cool shower going. Jade want to join me?”

“No thanks I will wait until after you are done.” I did not wish to be squished in a shower, all sticky and sweaty as I was.

“Tch… and here I thought I could finally cope a feel.” Momo gave me a sad look before heading downstairs. I could only shake my head and look at the man next to me.

“She’s like this because you talk to your wife this way all the time.” I couldn’t help but berate the man.

“Haha… My little girl has always been a daddy’s girl. If she gets too bad, just give her a whack.” Hank blew it off as usual as he, too, left me before going downstairs.

I was left standing there, drenched in sweat, looking at the now-dark house. I grabbed my water bottle and down it all in one go before walking to the kitchen to check the fridge. “Still running fine from what I can tell. I will need to check it a few times through out the day tomorrow.”

After Momo showered, I went next, followed by Hank. Claire had been a nice cool meal for us. A cold noodle salad with some chicken salad mixed into it. It was unique but good. I really did not want to eat anything, too how anyway, not after spending all day in the heat.

“The news said that the power outage will not be getting fixed any time soon. The heat is just too much and the power grid can not handle the influx. The workers also can not get out there to fix it either. The temperatures are too dangerous.” Claire had been watching the news all day so she was currently updating us on what was happening.

“That means many will die. Young and old…” I bit my lip. My meal was starting to get kind of heavy. There was nothing I could do at this time. Even with my abnormal strength, I could not help those in need. My hands can not reach that far.

But knowing people were dying while I was sitting here eating food in a nice, cool basement made my dinner tasteless. I think it was the same for everyone since everyone went silent as we slowly ate our food. We could not waste. That was something that we could not do. If we were full, everything had to be packed up and eaten later. This was a rule I instated last night before we went to bed. Even if it was only a mouthful, it had to be saved and added to the next meal to make sure we were not wasting anything. Of course, this also meant our meals were smaller as well.