I fill a tall glass with ice and top it with club soda. Within ten minutes, all the ice is gone. The glass sweats and so do I. It’s hot. It’s the dome. The dam dome just stays over me like the cathedral domes in Rome. It’s time to chill. I refuse to use a fan or air conditioning. I’m saving the Earth. I’m watering the garden and myself with cool spray from the hose. Then it’s time for lunch and I’m hot again. Can’t use stove or microwave – saving Earth.

I open the freezer quickly to remove ice cubes. I,m drinking three bottles of club soda daily. No tap water…too much chlorine. I use a wash cloth held under cold running water and swash neck, arms, face, legs. Hot again in four minutes. It’s time for serious geoclimatical action. Blast the dome with dry ice..anything. we got to move the #@*% dome. As a former science teacher, I know that drinking a cup of hot tea will cool me down. Yes, for ten minutes while the dome is hovering.

Watermelon, (ice cold and don’t leave the refrigerator door open) is good for about five minutes. Taking long naps in a pool of sweat may last a whole half hour. But all this time, the dome is laughing at me. I can’t get into the car, close the windows, and turn on the AC…trying to save the Earth. The dome hovers stationary while the jet stream goes south. Iced coffee and a temporary breeze, what’s better than that?

Just wearing underpants around the house. Back to the bathroom to swipe with cold water. But alas, the dome wins out. At my desk, my arms collect all the loose papers. I snack on a Klondike Bar which doesn’t help. This only makes me curse the dome. Humidity is 150% I’m sweating in reverse. No hydration necessary,A friend invites me over for a beer. We sit in the shade, sip an ice cold beer and our conversation drowns out the dome. I’m starting to feel cool in his shade-filled grotto with a south shore on coming breeze, I’ve beat the dome. And…I’ve saved the Earth