Season: Summer
Weather: Fine weather with the heatwave continuing through the night. Top of 40 degrees Celsius.
Day of the week: Friday
Date: 27th January, 2024
It was a sweltering hot day. It was hot before the sun had even finished coming up with the hot desert wind blowing the heat in.
In a bid to reduce the utility bills, I didn't turn on the air conditioning. I opened the windows for better airflow and put out a basin of cold water with a wash cloth to wipe myself down if I got too hot.
For breakfast, I had pasta. The thought just makes me giggle. Who eats pasta for breakfast? Me. I had pasta for breakfast. Warmed up in the microwave, it was delicious. Having food to eat had me in giggles and kept me smiling all morning.
I would be able to eat pasta for lunch and dinner as well. There was even morning and afternoon tea available. All I would need to do was mix water or milk with the powdered nutrient supplements, or stab a straw in a boxes drink. Delicious.
What an exciting day with food to look forward to. Days with no food were so dull. I wouldn't have to listen to my stomach complaining all day today.
I thought I had a lot of energy, but it was gone by the time I had finished washing the breakfast dishes. I mixed a drink to save me time later and put it into the fridge. Following that, I stumbled back to the bedroom where I flipped onto the bed and knew nothing until the doorbell rang.
The doorbell rang insistently and repeatedly. I didn't even know what time it was, but the sun looked like it was setting. It was still hot and I felt both sticky and very dizzy. I didn't want to get up, but it looked like the visitor wasn't leaving any time soon.
My mobile phone had run out of battery and I clumsily plugged it in when I got out of bed, stumbling toward the door. My head throbbed. I was probably dehydrated.
I walked into a door frame, tripped over a dining chair leg, knocked over the basin of water on the table and slipped in the water on the tiles, getting drenched in the process. From there, I somehow lost balance on the way past the couch, falling over my cushy footrest and accidently knocked Captain Hank Ted, my giant teddy that lives on the couch, onto the ground, getting tangled up in his soft limbs as I did so. I bumped my head on the coffee table, upsetting it, before I finally made it to the intercom button where I saw an anxious looking Stony Boss standing outside ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door.
"Miss Brown, are you home? Are you alright? Open the door."
"Hang on," I pressed the intercom button and mumbled a reply. "Stop knocking and ringing. I heard you. I'm nearly there. Sorry to keep you waiting. I just woke up."
"Take your time then, Miss Brown. I heard a lot of bumping and crashing sounds inside. Are you ok?"
"I'm coming," I mumbled in reply.
I had a splitting headache, blood was dripping from where I had bumped my head and split my scalp on the coffee table, and I could barely see straight. I wasn't feeling well at all. It was no wonder that it was so difficult to reach the front door.
From the intercome on the wall around the corner of the front door, I stumbled, walked into the wall, smearing some blood on it and lost my balance, falling in an ungainly heap onto the floor. Not wanting to hazard standing up again, I shuffled on my bottom the last three metres to the door, trying and failing to open the heavy front door three times.
In the end, Anthony Duin pushed the door open for me and finding me on the floor, dropped the shopping bags he had been holding to examine me and then help me to lie down on the couch. And when I say helped, he more carried me there than I walked. He gave me a tissue to press to my head.
Captain Hank Ted was out back in his rightful place, the shopping bags were brought in and Stony Boss was kind enough to help me right all the furniture I had toppled and knocked crooked on my way to the door. In no time at all, what seemed like a blink of an eye, the water had been cleaned up, there was food cooking on the stove and he was wiping down my face, neck and hands with a cool wet wash cloth. Cool air was blowing from the air conditioner as well.
Blast the utility bills. They were going to be high this quarter after all.
"Miss Brown, you have quite the temperature," Stony Boss commented. "I think you fainted for a moment there. Why didn't you turn on the air conditioner today? Such a hot day and it's going to be hot tonight as well. Don't try to save electricity when your health is in danger."
"Turn it off," I muttered, plucking at his sleeve. "Can't afford it."
"I think I should bring you back to the hospital," Stony Boss muttered back in reply.
"No! Please. Don't," I said, closing my eyes.
"Drink some water," Stony Boss held a cup to my dry lips. "When you've drunk this cup of water, you can drink that cup of drink that you mixed earlier and put in the fridge. Have that before dinner is ready."
I obeyed and he had to help me hold the cup steady to drink.
"It's a good thing I decided to drop by," Stony Boss said, shaking his head. "I shudder to think what might have happened to you if I hadn't decided to come by."
When my hands steadied, he left me on the couch, sipping at my drinks, while he returned to the stove. He cooked a soup and managed to coax half a bowl into me before I couldn't eat anymore. I had a stomach ache.
Nevertheless, feeling a little better, I went to have a shower and change out of my sweat drenched clothes. When I came out, I found Stony Boss waiting anxiously, worried I had fallen in the shower and knocked myself out or something.
He tucked me into bed and turned out the light.
I didn't hear him leave but didn't want to go out to check. Not feeling like sleeping just yet, I decided to write a bit under the bedside light before going back to sleep.