PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot
Monday the First
Rona had cranked the air conditioning up to max the night before, knowing that power shut-off was sometime today. She shivered until dawn, knowing the cold would last a little longer in the hottest summer in human history.
Monday the Thirty-First
The building super pounded on Rona’s door. Two police officers stood behind them. Neighbors got worried when they hadn’t seen/heard her in weeks.
As the door creaked open, Frisky, Rona’s cat, meowed and curled around their ankles.
They found her curled in her bed. The slowly heating tomb had turned Rona into a perfectly preserved mummy.
[100 words]
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the summery host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
At least she’ll surive through all eternity
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<3
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Awesome story Li! :-) 🧡🧡
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Thanks much, Carol Anne :)
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Wow, Lisa, that’s a pretty gruesome story! Assuming poor Rona didn’t have the means to pay for her electricity bill, it’s terrible what poverty can do!
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Christian, there are people dying every day because they can’t pay their bills. In Detroit, they were shutting off people’s water like crazy because they couldn’t pay the bills, but I think the Governor put a stop to it. I think maybe I should change the title, it is a little too flippant for the situation. Maybe a bi-line…
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Sad, sad, sad, but Neal’s comment sheds a bright light…and a laugh.
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Something every poor person should strive for: immortality! I bet the power company will remember Rona for a long time. Nah, probably not :(
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I’m glad the cat survived. (K)
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<3 I'm sure Rona left Frisky plenty of food and water. Hoping the little critter finds a good home.
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Yikes, very sad.
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I’m not sure why that popped into my head, other than how scorching hot it has been here and that the electric company adds another 50% to the cost of electricity used between 2pm-6pm (the hottest time of the day.) Old folks can’t afford not to have the air on and can’t afford to pay the bigger bills when they leave it on :(
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Yeah, it is tough :(
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All too common, unfortunately. Great story, though.
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David, thank you. More will die this summer than any other before it, I fear :(
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Terrible way to go.
I’m not sure how long the price hicks and cost of living can climb before we see huge social unrest. It’s attacking the poor and working-class mostly… at the moment. Lower middle class you are next.
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I know exactly what you mean :(
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Oh no!
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I know :(
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🥲
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I thought they’d come to complain about the noise of the air-con unit!
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LOL Liz. I just had a “mini-split” installed in the fall that does heating and AC. The condenser unit is outside and purrs like a kitten. It’s also highly energy efficient.
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Oh, dude. How very sad :(
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I know :( Thank you for reading and commenting.
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Yep, the argument in the UK at the moment is that electricity and gas should be treated the same as water – a public utility that is provided to all and cannot be shut off by companies, even if someone is behind on their bills.
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SO HAPPY to hear that, Iain. I remember some bloggers talking last fall about staying warm over the winter, and that should never be a worry. That said, I absolutely do not see anything like that ever being suggested here in US. We can’t even get healthcare coverage for the poor! There is Medicaid and Medicare, but there are conditions and limitations on coverage.
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Yoiks! What a gruesome find and a horrible way to go. In the end, though, a provocative take on the photo.
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Thank you, Alicia, for your thoughtful comment.
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I initially read “super” as an adjective describing “pounded” and it was funny to imagine someone really pounding the door hard.
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LOL. I shoulda prolly spelled it out ;)
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Powerful story, and I like the second title – tells you what you need to know.
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Thank you, Jen.
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As a perfectly preserved Mummy, she may lie another thousand years.
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As a perfectly preserved Mummy, she may live for a thousand
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Yes, she may, as a testament to the cruelty of some humans when it comes to other humans.
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all things considred, it was the least painful way to die.
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Plaridel, all things considered, you’re probably right :(
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A great account well written Lisa, it is so sad that people are dying of heat and the other extreme freezing to death – it just isn’t right not in this day and age – but I suppose the greed of the few but powerful always wins.
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Thank you, Ange.
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Global warming at it’s worst!
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Yes, and it’s only going to get more pervasive as things heat up :(
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A sad story very well told. I hate ac and grew up without it, but houses and building built from I believe the 1970s on were built for ac and don’t provide adequate ventilation and the there’s global warming, a real thing, and nights are hotter longer. I know in NYC they won’t shut your power off but will work out a payment plan with interest – but nowadays that is probably not enough
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Interesting on the architecture changes geared towards AC. The house I live in was built in 1978 and was designed to maximize light and air flow, as well as utilizing materials that keep the temps steady without a lot of one thing or the other.
The idea of making people go into debt — with interest — to stay alive in winter or summer — is exploitation at its worst!
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I heard about the building design on a podcast years ago and can’t remember the exact details. I agree with you that kind of exploitation should only be something we read about in a Dickens novel today.
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Something that confuses me… a couple of years ago Jennifer was between jobs. She worked for a gas company and people would call in and be behind 6 months or more on their gas bill. Here…if you are a month behind with your electricity off it goes off. I assume gas companies are more lenient?
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Max, I’m not sure about it. I haven’t used gas since moving in 2011 and I don’t get behind on the electric. I think any utility that can mean death if you don’t have it should be protected from being shut off. Did you see the comment about the UK moving towards nationalizing heating/cooling utilities? Just like nationalized healthcare, I think we need something like that here. Yes, some will say it is socialism, and it is, but so are so many services and physical infrastructure that already exist (police, fire, streets, etc.)
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For me…If we keep the current system…I wish they based it on your income…utilities and things like that. The only time we get close is when we forget…I don’t like auto deductions with them. The reason is they had it wrong a few years ago and it’s already paid becasue they took it out… it took us a couple of months to get it back.
I wouldn’t be opposed to what you are talking about…I would like to hear the pros and cons.
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I know exactly what you mean about mixups with the bill. This past winter, they did an estimated read but it was based off of the old heating system which was ungodly expensive and gave me a $460+ electric bill for one month. That was even more than with the old system! I paid it but when I looked at the website saw it was an estimate (which they don’t do much of anymore) and got a little relieved. The next month they adjusted it, but still! Max, I would also like to hear the pros and cons of it.
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The reason I said pros and cons…I’m not an expert on it but I’ve talked to people in New Zealand, Germany, and the UK who were on waiting lists to see the doctor…one had cataracts and had to wait two years.
Now that might be the exception and not the rule…so yea I would like to know more about it….plus how high would our taxes go up….would it even out or be the same? I won’t judge it until I hear it all.
BUT….I will say this…I think ever kid 18/21 or under should have insurance provided by the goverment…they have no choices in the matter. Why should one kid suffer and the other thrive becasue of what mom and dad makes?
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We’re having that kind of a summer here. Fortunately, living on an island we rarely have air con installed in our homes, but I can imagine the all year round battle you have there. Beautifully told.
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Sandra, thank you, and happy the island makes breeze more plentiful/likely. I live within a few miles of Lake MI and so get the lake effect in summer in winter, which really helps; but one son lives 50 miles inland and they really get baked in summer.
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I love the title. It’s a good thing titles don’t count toward our 100 words. I read about people being unable to pay their electric bills in the winter. Now, that summer is upon us, we’re in for a new challenge. I know my electric bill has more than doubled over winter ’21-’22 bills, and we used much more energy that winter. We had puppies who required a lot of constant heat. It’s one of the lasting effects of Covid that I don’t see people talking about. Companies that profited from us staying at home made so much money off that our suffering that they think they need to maintain those ridiculous profit lines. 😒Netflix.
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Great comment about an important topic, Nobbin. Thanks on the title. I just had the first part but then added the second part after a few comments. I think it might have come off as flippant with just the first part.
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Your title reminded me of “Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” You get awesome points for that.
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Oh dear
Poor thing.
A terrible time… bills are so impossibly high
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Thank you for reading and your comment. Yes, it is a terrible time for anyone who lives where there are extreme temperatures.
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She had that well planned.
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Dawn, you may be right. She may have had no other choice :(
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Dear Lisa,
Oh my. What a way to go. A tragic commentary well written. Fun title.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, thank you very much.
Shalom,
Lisa
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Oh, wow and oh dear. Nice one.
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Thank you :)
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