Waiting For the Breeze

No air conditioning? How can you sleep??a friend asks, horrified. I've just revealed that my family has decided to turn the air conditioner off and trim our electric bill.

　　"Nobody opens a window, day or night," warns another friend, whose windows have been painted shut for a decade. "It's just not safe.?On this first night of our cost cutting adventure, it's 30 degrees. We're not going to suffer, but the three kids grumble anyway. They've grown up in 22-degree comfort, insulated from the world outside.

　　"How do you open these windows??my husband asks. Jiggling the metal tabs, he finally releases one. A potpourri* of bug bodies decorates the sill. As we spring the windows one by one, the night noises howl outside - and in.

　　"It's just too hot to sleep," my 13-year-old daughter complains.

　　"I'm about to die from this heat," her brother yells down the passage.

　　"Just try it tonight," I tell them.

　　In truth I'm too tired to argue for long. I'm exhausted after attending Grandma's estate auction. I toted home her oval tin bathtub and the chair I once stood on like a big shot behind the counter of her shop, packing chocolate and rolling coins.

　　My face is sweaty, but I lie quietly listening to the cricket choirs outside that remind me of childhood. The neighbour's dog howls. Probably a trespassing squirrel. It's been years since I've taken the time to really listen to the night.

　　I think about Grandma, who lived to 92 and still supervised Mum's gardening until just a few weeks before she died.

　　And then, I'm back there at her house in the summer heat of my childhood.
I move my pillow to the foot of Grandma's bed and angle my face towards the open window. I flip the pillow, hunting for the cooler side.

　　Grandma sees me thrashing. "If you'll just watch for the breeze," she says, "you'll cool off and fall asleep.?She cranks up the Venetian blinds. I stare at the filmy white curtain, willing it to flutter.

　　Lying still, waiting, I suddenly notice the life outside the window. The bug chorus shouts, "Ajooga! Ajooga!?Neighbours, sitting on their verandas until late, speak in hazy words with sanded edges that soothe me.

　　"Keep watching for the breeze," Grandma says softly, and I'm h-huh?in reply. Bugs ping the screen. Three blocks away a train rumbles by.

　　I catch the scent of fresh grass clippings. Then I hear something I can't decode - perhaps a tree branch raking the shingles on the shop roof next door.

　　Sleepy-eyed now, I focus on the curtain. It flutters...

　　"Mum, did you hear that?"my seven-year-old blurts. "I think it was an owl family.?"

　　Probably," I tell him.Just keep listening...?

　　Without the droning air conditioner, the house is oddly peaceful, and the unfiltered night noises seem close enough to touch.

　　I hope I'm awake tonight when the first breeze sneaks in.