Helen loved the nine o'clock news of this conservative cable channel; one hour of news and debate. The election for the presidency was to be in 2012, but it seemed as though it was happening in a few weeks. The division between the parties was so deep and so nasty, that she had decided a long time ago she would not discuss two issues with friends or coworkers, one was politics, and the other was religion. The woman who ran the show, was a lawyer. It seemed to her that lawyers were taking over everything. This woman used to be very liberal, but since the country had gone through so much debt and so many people have lost their jobs and homes because of the presidency of this very liberal man, almost to the point of socialism, her point of view had changed dramatically. She was not a beautiful woman, or sexy like the other women in this cable channel, but she was very knowledgeable and a very good debater. She never allowed her guests in her program, which were mostly politician to adhere to their talking points. Like a good lawyer that she was, she had made her program like a court room. No one could escape her line of questioning.
Helen never missed this program, no matter how tired she was. She got most of her sleep in the evening after dinner, when she had planned to watch a movie. Like an alarm clock that was going, she always woke up before nine, often missed the movie, so she could watch this program.
This summer was a season that she did not recall since she had moved from Chicago to Dallas. She had never felt this hot. They had over 100 degrees Fahrenheit more than forty days with no rain. She told one of her coworkers they day before:
"What an atrocious summer we have this year!"
It was not only Dallas or Texas in whole that suffering heat and drought, it was everywhere, even places that they had never seen this kind of weather. Meteorologists had no answer for this long wave of heat and drought, but most of them saying that it had nothing to do with global warming, as liberals wanted people to believe. The best answer she had heard that the weather was like a cycle that every so often would turn like this or even the opposite. The meteorologist had said last night that this pattern of heat and drought for Texas would continue for a foreseeable future.
She was not hearing the sound of percolating of coffee anymore. "Coffee is ready!" she told herself. She got up reluctantly to get herself a cup of coffee. Again Miss daisy following her; but Tony did not move. She returned with her coffee and another cigarette; again Miss Daisy by her feet. Sometimes she felt that she was going to step on her little dog. She picked up a book, but immediately put it down. There was so much going on at work; there was so much going on in her life. Her mind was like a map full of mountains, rivers, jungles, and... Her life had been a big plight and disarray, a huge mishap everywhere in the map, a long shambles along the way, everywhere, all the time, from the beginning to now! Now at her age, somewhat peace was knocking the door, it was behind the curtains, it was calling her gently! But what would she do about Chris?
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To Be Continued
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