But lying in bed that night, the window open, listening to the drip-drip-drip from the gutters, I didn’t think about the end. I just pulled the cool, damp sheet over my legs, felt the tired, happy ache in my bones, and smiled.
Afterward, the air was clean and cold. The streets ran with rivers of rainwater. And the smell—that impossible, sweet, wet-earth smell—was the smell of being alive.
I’d walk home, squelching in my sneakers, dripping on the front mat. My mom would just shake her head, hand me a towel, and point to the bathroom. “You’re crazy,” she’d say. “All of you.” my favourite season summer
Dusk arrived like a bruise—purple and gold and tender. The air cooled just enough to remind you that the world wasn't actually on fire. We ate dinner on the back porch, corn on the cob dripping with butter, watermelon that stained our chins pink. The conversation was slow, interrupted by long stares at the horizon.
Late afternoon was for the hammock. The world slowed down. The sun stopped being a tyrant and became a benevolent king, painting everything gold. I’d lie in the swaying shade, a book resting on my chest, the words sometimes blurring as my eyelids drooped. The only sounds were the lazy thwap of a fly against the screen door and my mom humming along to an oldies station from the kitchen. But lying in bed that night, the window
The municipal pool was a miracle of chaos. It smelled of chlorine, coconut sunscreen, and cheap hot dogs. It was a roiling mass of splashing kids, where the lifeguard’s whistle was the only law. We didn’t swim laps; we waged underwater wars, holding our breath until our lungs screamed, wrestling for a single, sunken quarter at the deep end. We flew off the high dive, not as boys, but as Icarus, arms wide, stomach dropping, before slapping the water with a crack that left red welts on our chests. It was glorious.
This is the hour summer feels like a held breath. The day is done, but the night hasn’t started. It’s a pause. The streets ran with rivers of rainwater
School was a whole different life. This was the real one. And it was just beginning.