Juy 6, 2021: Men Determined to Be Dead

 

“…[T]hose determined to be dead from the heat wave are overwhelmingly men and the mean age is 68.”

I am sure I’ve noticed the two uses of “determined” before, but never quite like this. The first time I read it, I thought some grown men had set out with great determination to die from the heat. Then the sentence spun around and settled.

I don’t know anybody who died, but I am sad and distressed that people did. I read that they were mostly old and alone.

One of our less-lovely neighbors, the mom from Casa Irresponsible, stopped by this morning to chat while her dog peed on our plants. I was hanging out by the alley, waiting to ask the garbage guys a favor.   I asked how she and her family had managed in the heat storm?

They had AC. They went to the basement. And did we have AC?, she asked.

Our one window unit broke on the first day, alas.

She morphed into Mama Responsible and said hers was the yellow house, and if this happened again, we should come hang in her basement.  (I did not say Yes, We know which house! The one with the COVID parties featuring very loud bands and hundreds of teenage guests! The one with the fireworks! The one where they drain their used motor oil into the alley….)

It was sweet, and weird, to have her worry about us. She said the heat was Dangerous, but None of Us Knew That Before! She was trying to warn me without scolding me or scaring me. Interesting moment.

I was waiting for the garbage guys because I had extra garbage, and though I had left it neatly displayed with a sign asking them please to take it and charge me extra, I was afraid they wouldn’t do it without a personal appeal. The guy who got out of the truck said, “Sure, I used to work for Steve.”

This was great, and also weird. He appeared to be saying that since he worked for the garbage guy who retired, he and I went way back. So he would take the extra garbage. He declined to charge me. A kind gesture, based on a bond I didn’t know we had. I asked how he had fared in the heat storm?

Big week, he said, and shook his head. BIG week.  At least we start early.

I could only imagine.  (I suddenly remembered 35 years ago, when we had diaper service, and they called to say I hadn’t sent back all the dirty diapers. I said there weren’t any extras lying around, and I wondered if their electric eye thing had maybe counted two as one? She said they counted the dirty diapers by hand. I asked how much I owed her.)

I had extra garbage because we discovered the cause of the basement smell. It was caused by some leaking and mixings of stuff on the house-and-garden-chemicals shelves we rarely access. (I can’t prove that the heat caused this, but it happened concurrently with the heat storm, so I am going with Natural Gas kid who said There Are No Coincidences.)

And then it was off to the hazardous waste disposal site, my first visit! 

They were very nice, as I’d been told. I had the stinky chemicals in black plastic bags, tied shut, in cardboard boxes, in the hatchback, and when I pulled up, I said “Nice display,” admiring the ... display ... they have made with garden statuary salvaged from the regular dump.

The guy said, “Thanks. So. Insecticide?”

He was wearing a hazmat suit, a mask, and one of those clear hood face shields.  He could smell the stuff in my car, through all that, and we were at the dump, which is fragrant. I was impressed. Also, he was showing off a little. He said, “You’ve been exposed.”  I couldn’t think of an answer, and didn’t want to say DUH, so I nodded.

He asked if the stuff I was bringing was from my home, business, church, or school. I had a wild, fleeting desire to blame some rapacious business or intolerant church, but I fessed up. I am now imagining why he asked. Maybe they have to clean up schools?

Anyway, he told me not to get out of the car. Then he told me I should get out of the car, and go get myself a gnome from the display. I said no, but thanks. He said, “Our gnomes need homes!”

PSA: If you have a sore lack of used garden statuary, a wide selection is available - for free - at the hazardous waste disposal center.

PSA2: They charge you nothing to dispose of stuff. The regular dump, yes, but this one is free. I suspect they want no barrier to entry, as it were. Like the COVID vaccines.

PSA3: They don’t want you to put stuff in plastic bags. Upright, in cardboard boxes, but no bags.

As I was leaving, I asked what I should do about having been exposed. He said Don’t worry.

I drove home in despair because my car still smelled awful, and the stuff was gone! But when I got home, I discovered they had left the bags and boxes. I took them out and left the windows open all day. It’s better.