"-and the heat wave continues this week, with highs of 104 degrees Fahrenheit-"
Jamie winced as he made breakfast, half listening to the tv, half listening to the kids who were inpatient for pancakes. Jackie hadn't even gone out training this week, and was currently hiding in the coldest part of the house; the basement. Taboo meanwhile had taken up residence in the fridge, which made the twins giggle to no end.
"Where's mom?" asked J, blinking owlishly behind his new glasses.
"In the basement," Jamie sighed, as J was old enough and had seen this enough to know what that meant.
"Oh," J started to eat his pancakes. "Is mom going to have pancakes?"
"I'll take some down when we're all done. I think she just wants to sleep."
"Is mom still sleeping?" Dan interrupted, half a pancake hanging out of his mouth.
"Don't eat with your mouth full," Jamie responded, and Dan did an adorable five year old scowl before swallowing. "And yes, I think she's still sleeping."
"But it's so good outside!" Dan cried, "So bright!"
"Can wear shorts!" Penny chimed in, "no shoes on the grass!"
"Your mom just gets tired in summer, so leave her alone you two," Jamie said sternly, or, as sternly as he could as he realised that chocolate sauce was dripping off his chin. He wiped it off and continued.
"Your aunt Sophie's coming today," Dan and Penny looked excited while J looked just shrugged, although there was a hint of a smile there. "So you listen to what she says, and if your mom appears, be quiet, okay?" he knew that asking Dan and Penny to be quiet was nigh impossible, but he could trust J, even at this age, to listen to that.
The four of them finished breakfast, with Jamie having to intervene when Penny and Dan started trying to have a syrup fight. All four them ended up with syrup on them somewhere, the twins having it in their hair and on their hands, Jamie got out with just hands and J, despite taking shelter under the kitchen table, had a splatter of golden syrup down his face and on his glasses.
"See if I ever make you guys pancakes again," Jamie muttered as he took everyone upstairs to get them cleaned off, much to all of their vocal dismays. "Well, if you didn't throw golden syrup at each other, this wouldn't happen, would it?"
"But it's fun!" Dan whined as Jamie scrubbed a towel over his head.
"Can you save it for when your aunt gets here?" Jamie grumbled, as he had to go to work. He was also sadly aware of how much of a killjoy he was being in that moment.
Penny was the hardest to get it all the syrup out, on account that she had longer hair and found it very difficult to sit still. When they were finally done and dressed, Jamie had enough time to get Jackie breakfast before bolting out of the door for work, passing Sophie as she was almost at the door.
"Hi sis bye sis!" he called as he jumped in the car and drove to work.
"Good to see ya bro," Sophie remarked to the dust cloud where the car used to be. She dressed in shorts, sandals and a light shirt, with her blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail, all to combat the heat. Even then it wasn't enough.
She sighed before she went inside, the pool was going to be packed today, but that was all she really wanted to do in this kind of heat.
"Alright guys!" she called as she entered the house, "who wants to go to the pool?"
"ME!" Penny shrieked, practically leaping over and attaching herself to Sophie's leg and wrapping all her limbs around it like a koala. Dan copied his sister, more for the sake of it and both of them grinned up at her.
"J, how about you?" Sophie asked the oldest child, who had his arms folded and was pouting.
"Do we have to?" he whined, "it's hot!"
"That's the point kiddo!" Sophie laughed. "It'll be cooler in the water."
"But, all day?!" J whined.
"I think even these two would get bored if we were there all day," Sophie patted the heads of the two kids still clinging to her. "We'll just go for the morning, okay J?"
"Nooooo!" Penny whined as well. "Can't we stay all day?"
" 'fraid not kiddo, don't you want to go running around and feel the grass under your toes?"
Penny squealed with joy at the idea. "Can we do that now? Now now?"
"Swimming first, then grass."
Penny dropped back down to the floor and bounded upstairs to find her swimming costume, quickly followed by Dan, and slowly followed by J.
Jackie sighed from the sofa bed in the basement as the herd of shrieking elephants left, barely heard over the cacophony of electric fans and the straining thermostat as it tried to keep the ambient air temperature in the single digits. Thankfully the large blocks of ice playing their part were silent.
However, she could still feel the sticky summer air floating through, and she covered the sheets in more frost and hid under them with a tired groan. Oh how she hated this! She wanted to do something, anything! Work, read, draw, train, text someone! She just felt so drained, so, lethargic. Not mention that her head ached as well.
"I'm bored," Taboo moaned from the fridge, "it's not like I can eat anything in here!"
Well, if you feel like sending down some ice cream...
"Nope! Jamie opened the fridge earlier and I thought I was going to melt. Too hot out there!"
Jackie groaned once again and curled up into a tighter ball to somehow ward off or hide from the heat.
She stayed like that even as she heard the elephants come back, although they quickly went outside, much to the relief of that headache.
What she wasn't expecting was the door to slowly open.
She slowly untangled herself from the bedsheets and popped her out, to see J standing in the doorway. The recently turned six year old shivered in the drastic change of temperature, but did have the foresight to put on Jamie's old ski hat, which was far too big from him and was in the process of falling over his eyes.
Under one arm he had a board game, 'Mouse Trap' from the looks of it, and when Jackie showed her face, he broke into a slightly uncertain smile.
"Hi mom."
"J? What are you doing down here? You must be freezing," Jackie asked with a sick sounded rasp, which was only because she was tired.
J shrugged. "It's okay," he held up the board game. "I thought you might be bored. We played this when I had chicken pox, and you're kinda ill."
"J..." Jackie managed to sit up and smiled. "That's really sweet of you."
"I'm also hiding from Dan," J sat matter-of-factly as he shut the door, keeping the cold in.
"Ah, of course. What have you two done this time?" Jackie asked as J came closer and pulled himself onto the sofa bed, so he was sitting on the frost. With a thought Jackie kept that bit frozen, so that it wouldn't melt, soak the bedclothes and get J wet.
"Dan and Penny had a syrup fight this morning, and got some on me. So I put strawberry sauce in the ketchup bottle. Aunt Sophie's bought hot dogs and only Dan has ketchup on them."
Jackie had to laugh at that. Even at this age, J had a devious mind. "I should tell you off for that, but that's pretty good, and no one's going to get hurt. Just, don't tell your dad I said that," she winked in a conspiring manner as her eldest, who grinned in response as he set up the game. Jackie sat up properly and drew her legs in so that the plastic pieces didn't immediately fall off.
"Mom?" J asked as he watched the metal ball rattle through the track.
"Yes?"
"You get like this every summer. Are you sick?"
"In a way," Jackie sighed. "Question for you; what does ice do when it's hot?"
J looked at her, clearly trying to make the connection as to why this question was relevant. "It melts."
"And I can move ice. To me, ice is no different from the rest of me."
"So you're melting?!" J asked, alarmed.
Jackie chuckled. "Not quite. Feels like it, but I'm not actually melting. You know when it gets so hot you don't feel like doing anything?"
"Yeah, I was feeling that today," J grumbled as Jackie moved her mouse. "I don't know how Penny and Dan do it."
"Neither do I kiddo," Jackie admitted, "but, yeah. It's like that, only turned up to eleven."
J cocked his head to the side. "Why eleven?"
"It's one more than ten, which means it's off the scale."
It was clear that J still didn't quite get it, but Jackie didn't have the energy to properly explain it. Plus, J was starting to shake even more from the cold.
"J, you need to go back upstairs."
"N-n-not yet," J said, teeth beginning to chatter.
"Just because I can take this doesn't mean you can. I mean it, go upstairs."
"We haven't finished the game!"
"Do you know where all the winter stuff is?"
"...No."
"Then go back upstairs, we can finish this game another time," Jackie carefully used ice to move the board, with plastic pieces and metal ball being held in place, and put it on the floor, out of the way of the electric fans.
J pouted one last time in a last ditch effort. "Mooooom."
"Upstairs. Now." Jackie pointed towards the door to emphasise her point.
J's shoulders slumped and he moved to leave, opening the door.
"I appreciate this J, thank you," Jackie made sure to say, "but you can't take the cold like I can."
"Will you feel better soon?" J asked hopefully.
"When the heat wave ends, maybe," Jackie sighed, then yawned. "I'm going to try and get some sleep, okay? See if Dan's found out about the ketchup yet."
J got that evil six year old smirk on his face and he sprinted back upstairs, being careful to shut the door behind him.
One reason this is out today, it's bloody roasting outside! Last I checked, which was four hours ago, it was 27 degrees Celsius, or about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And it hasn't cooled down, I am slowly baking! I dread to think how Jackie would take this!
This is also an excellent example of why I never write Jackie in the summer, it wouldn't be very interesting.
Also, hello Jackie's kids, haven't seen you guys in a while.
Finally, I have no idea if it can that hot in Pennsylvania, which is where I'm pretty sure Burgess is supposed to be, but I know the temperature can be extreme in the US than it is here. We have something called the Gulf Stream, which moderates the general temperature, although it does appear to be petering out, and as we're on the same latitude as Canada... Well, we'll be seeing more of Jack, that's for sure.