MEDIUM RARE

There is a God. A God who overrules forecasts of very hot weather by the simple expediency of sending us a constellation of clouds to partly cover the face of the sun for part of the time.

Clouds are my thing. I love them, don’t you? And that’s why I wish meteorologist and weather forecaster Ariel Rojas would now and then include cloudiness (or none) in his nightly reports on television. In some countries in Europe – the Netherlands, for example – cloud-watching is not only a science but also a pastime, one in which painters indulge for inspiration. From the impressionists to expressionists like Vincent Van Gogh, clouds may be a passing fancy of Nature but they’re as much a work of beauty as a tree or the stars, to borrow an expression from Desiderata.

The inspiration for the foregoing paragraph came by way of the relief I felt after the predicted 42-degree heat last Tuesday did not materialize (I think because of those clouds); instead it turned out to be three degrees less. In hot weather, three degrees less means a lot!

In hot weather, the ladies will agree, a short skirt is more comfortable to wear than skin-tight denim jeans. That’s why, without a second thought, I picked a skirt in a simple straight cut with no frills, in summery colors, for the ride to Manila.

So off I went, out the door and into my friend’s car, armed with the most important accessory I could carry: three bottles of very cold drinking water for my friend, his driver, and myself.

Needless to say, friend’s car was airconditioned, traveling from Diliman, Quezon City to Manila, a 50-minute ride that otherwise would’ve been pure torture! The sun was out in full glare, staring down at us, challenging us to break out into a sweat (which we refused to do). I looked out the window, at pedestrians, at the one and only traffic cop brave enough to beat the heat at that ungodly hour, and what did I see? Neither cop nor peds looked like they were suffering from the heat. Was it all in my mind?

Finally arriving at our destination, what joy to see Nenuca, Rose, Letty, and Chita looking cool as cucumbers!