(All characters are over eighteen.)
*
Lewis heard a gasp of surprise as he barged into his sister's bedroom.
"Lewis!" Sophie scolded him.
She grabbed the front of her blouse and held it closed as she turned to the door.
She was sitting on her bed in front of the electric fan.
Lewis saw it and grinned.
"You could have knocked," Sophie said.
"Too hot," he told her.
Her legs were bare. She was wearing only a blouse.
She smiled as she clutched the front of it against her small breasts.
The electric fan turned slowly side to side and Lewis dropped down beside her with a grateful sigh.
"I think I'm melting," he panted.
It was almost midnight but the fierce heat of the day was concentrated in the upstairs bedrooms of their home.
Lewis closed his eyes and raised his chin gratefully as the cool breeze passed over him.
He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
"Better?" Sophie said.
"I might have to kill you for it," he told her and opened her eyes. "Why is it so hot? There's no air."
"I imagine it's the time of year," Sophie said. "Stop pushing. I want some too."
Her face was flushed and her eyes were shining as she tried to push him away with her shoulder.
"Quit it. It's too hot," Lewis said.
He pulled off his T-shirt and used it to dry the perspiration on his face.
"We need to move house. Somewhere cold."
"Or get another fan," Sophie said.
"We can't afford either," their mother said behind them.
They both turned and she came into the room wearing a thin summer dress and fanning herself with a newspaper.
Her face shone with a light sheen of perspiration.
"Move along," she said and gestured with the newspaper. "We need to share."
The bed creaked as she joined them. Her hair was damp.
"I had a shower. It didn't make me feel any better."
Lewis found himself sitting between the two of them.
"People of my generation die of heatstroke all the time," she told them.
She put the newspaper down and pulled the front of her dress away from her breasts.
"I think it's the end of the world," Lewis said.
"Sooner the better, if you ask me," she said.
The fan stood on a chair beside Sophie's bed. Lewis watched it oscillate. It paused momentarily when it reached the end of its pass. He willed it to come back.
"Maybe we'll have a thunder storm," Sophie said.
She'd relaxed her hold on the front of her blouse. It gaped a little to show the tops of her breasts. She put out her lower lip and blew a stream of air that lifted her fringe.
"I didn't see any clouds," Lewis said.
"We might get it in the night," their mother said.
The fan began its return journey. Lewis welcomed the short-lived breath of cooler air against his skin.
"We need air conditioning," he said, watching it turn away towards his mother.
Her eyes were closed. He saw her part her legs slightly as the fan briefly turned her way.
"What we need is a house you can take the roof off," Sophie said.
She was watching the fan. Her knees were parted. She breathed deeply and put out her chest when the fan passed over her. Her nipples showed stiffly through her blouse.
Lewis felt perspiration trickle slowly down his side. The heat was oppressive.
"When I go to town tomorrow," their mother began, "if anyone tells me it used to be hotter in the old days, I might have to slap them."
She lifted the hem of her dress as the fan turned her way. The material billowed and Lewis thought he heard her sigh.
"There's no breeze at all from the window," Sophie complained. Her blouse hung open almost to her waist where she still held it loosely closed.
Lewis could see almost all of one small breast.
"People do crazy things in the hot weather," their mother said.
Lewis waited but she didn't say anymore.
The heat was stifling. They suffered together in silence. He felt it wrapped around them, the heavy air too thick to breath. The house was still and dense with it.
"Oh, the hell with it," their mother said beside him. Small beads of perspiration glistened beside her nose. She smiled wearily. "Excuse me, honey. It's too hot for modesty."
She unbuttoned the front of her dress then held it open to catch the meagre breeze from the fan as it passed on its ceaseless journey left to right.
"Mmmm." She sighed and turned her upper body to follow it.
Lewis glimpsed the round upper swellings of her pale breasts before becoming embarrassed and looking away before she caught him.
To his right Sophie had also forsaken modesty in the hope of finding relief. Her blouse hung open all the way to her thighs. He could see her small, round breasts crowned with stiff, pink nipples.
Lewis was glad he'd held onto his T-shirt. He moved slowly and used it to cover his crotch. He alone, sat leaning forward, hunched towards the fan with his elbows on his thighs.
"Was that thunder?" his mother said. She turned hopefully to look beyond him at the window and the front of her dress gaped open.
She seemed unaware of his interest and he stared openly at her large breasts only inches from his face.
Her skin was pale. She had freckles he didn't know about. He could see the vee of her usual tan line. Her large, dark nipples demanded his attention.
"I didn't hear anything," Sophie sighed.
Their mother continued to look at the window then she took a deep, disappointed breath and sat down again.
Lewis armed the perspiration from his forehead. Sweat trickled from his temples. He wiped a bead from the tip of his nose.
He closed his eyes when the fan turned his way. The shape of his mother's breasts was burned forever in his mind. Eyes closed he saw again her thick, puckered nipples, brown against her pale, creamy skin.
He sat sweltering, his body a bath of sweat and discomfort, relieved only briefly when the breeze passed over him.
"I must have imagined it," their mother said.
"Wishful thinking," Sophie said.
