The Weight of the Heat

The heat yesterday and Tuesday made the streets into pizza ovens with our feet the pepperoni. The quarter has just been struggling with AC repair trucks on every corner. Down on Lower Decatur there is a older quality to the spirit population. Many of the spirits hobble and limp from age. It has been a nice long spring and early summer; but now at the end of August the temperature has risen significantly to 95 degrees and above. That the weight of this heat affects the humans is clear enough; but to see the ghosts and spirits, even our genius loci, to be bent down by the elements is just sad. My reading life has been more intense with spirits in the shop, seeking relief from life on the streets, and in walls between rooms, attics and basements. It is a hard life for a ghost.

As I walked down Esplanade off the 88 Rampart bus line, I look down at my feet. Always, looking all around for cars and thieves, and at the ground because of holes, bricks, dog poop and humans napping And low and behold, what do I see? A beautiful little thing that glistens with sun and looks like a baby snake. No pray tell, it is even better than that. A kid's rubber snake toy that was in a circle with the mouth biting the tail. No joke...the Ouroboros . And I take a photo to my mate at work, the Thelemite. He tells me he saw one yesterday as well, but a real snake. Hmm we both feel a chill. Hmmm. Things coming full circle for sure, we muse over coffee.

So two days later at the end of 24 hours at work, a spirit from the old building rode home with me and Lyft. They all wanted to come on the ride. I said no!, unfortunate as it is. But I live next door to a mortuary and my personal space is rather limited. But this one old guy, humped over, so hot and weary just needed to get out of the quarter. I brought him home and immediately sent him over to Heritage Funeral Home. There is amazing air conditioning and they use lots of coconut and vanilla room fresheners. I told him to just hang out and rest and as soon as a body came in, he could follow it out of this dimension. Or even find a new family of friends, He was thrilled to just be moving into a better temperature.

I have not heard from him since and I feel he has found a better place. But the rest of the ghost population is fussy and loud. They are clambering around in the buildings, tripping tourists in the streets, showing up at dark to scare the bejesus out of you when you finally get to your car, parked far away. Or lay a rubber snake on the side walk where you walk to work. Perhaps a thank you from the other side. We all bite our own tails in the summer. Oh the weight of the heat.