Briana Jane lives in Texas, where temperatures rise to three digits and humidity to something gross per cent. In summer, as she told English pen-friend, Olivia, she just suffocates. When the air conditioning in her parents’ house failed, Briana Jane went hysterical. ‘What d’you mean the electrician can’t come till tomorrow? I’m melting right now.’
‘We don’t have air conditioning,’ says Olivia by text. ‘Never gets that hot.’
‘Can I visit with you? Puh-lease?’
‘I’ll ask Mum.’
It’s raining when Brianna Jane arrives at Heathrow. Immediately she’s hauled her suitcase - maximum weight allowable by the airline - off the carousel, she fishes out the sweater which Mom packed and which Brianna Jane swore she wouldn’t need.
Later she texts friends back home. ‘England’s cool.'
Too cool. ‘Hey, Olivia. Y’all have heating?’
About the author
Rosemary has had short stories published in 'Friday Flash Fiction', 'Paragraph Planet', 'The Copperfield Review', 'Scribble', 'Mslexia' and 'Fiction on the Web'. Her novel, Wodka or Tea With Milk set around the Solidarity trade union in Poland was published in September 2023. Rosemary lives with her husband in Essex.
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