MY View

BY JOHN McLOONE

I was excited to throw open the windows again Sunday morning. After an extended period of warm weather, our air conditioner chugged along to help cool our indoor environment.

When I let the dogs out Sunday morning, I was greeted with a blast of air much cooler than our window units were providing. We have an old house with a boiler so don’t have the luxury of central air conditioning. There’s a lot of shade, though, so there’s usually only a few weeks when it’s necessary to try to drop the indoor temperature.

I promptly opened as many windows as I could and let the breeze sweep through our home.

About 1 a.m. last night, I greatly regretted that decision.

I don’t know what it was about last night, but there certainly was way too much activity going on in the middle of the night. I worked late so didn’t get turned in until about 11 p.m. It seemed like I just closed my eyes and commotion started outside. Someone with one of those trucks that the owner thinks is cool to make as loud as possible seemed to do a few laps. That was followed up a short time later with someone who’s car sounded just as “cool,” but only because they need a muffler.

Then, somewhere down the street some sort of verbal altercation commenced. Maybe it was the two guys with the loud vehicles. Maybe the one guy was mad because he paid to make his truck loud, and the car was louder only because that guy didn’t pay to have his car fixed. Who knows? All I know is that it went on and on. I couldn’t make out any words, just yelling piercing our quiet neighborhood.

Then came the ambulance. At about 2 a.m., sirens blared. I had estimated where the verbal altercation was taking place outside, and I figured the guy with the car got punched in the schnoz. However, by the sound of the ambulance, it didn’t seem to make it as far as where the arguing was going on.

By that time, the night of sleep had officially been ruined. This wonderful fresh air that I had appreciated so much just one day earlier had cursed my slumber. To top it all off, a train came through. By that time, I had abandoned plans to rest and was reading.

To add insult to injury, the temperature had dipped into the low 50s, and I was cold. I had to get up and go in search of blankets.

And while I was at it, I closed the windows. I’m not quite ready for fresh air after all.