It's Arkansas, and it's summer, so it's hot. I'm concerned about what August will bring.

This is not my favorite weather. As a young boy, I can remember when we only had a big attic fan to pull in cooler air at night. I was unaware of air conditioning; my method of beating the heat was to wear as little clothing as possible and swim in anything with water in it.

Only when my dad started working shift work, which meant he worked nights and had to sleep during the day, did we buy our first small bedroom air conditioner.

After Vertis and I married, I was hired by Exxon and we moved to Texas, where virtually every enclosed space is air-conditioned.

When I was transferred to Benghazi, Libya, in Africa on the Mediterranean, virtually nothing was air-conditioned. A friend had recommended we take a stand-up 52-inch fan, which we did. After we settled in, we had a party. Our next-door neighbors were the English ambassador's........

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