I was complaining about not having air conditioning in the house, when one of my friends overheard me.
He told me we played basketball without air conditioning.
That was different. You couldn’t play basketball in an air conditioned gym without someone thinking you’re a wimp. You had to go to the local park and play basketball inside the gated area. He asked how that was different from going without AC in the house for a couple of hours. The difference was that I didn’t choose to be hot and sticky in the house, but I did when I wanted to play basketball. He shook his head and looked it me while saying, ‘Man, you are one messed up dude.’ and then he laughed. He put his arm around my shoulders and told me to show him where I lived. I asked him why he needed to know where I lived? He put up his hands and said he didn’t need to jack me up, but he did need to get air conditioning in my house for my wife and kids. He would want someone to help his family if they had water issues. I never knew Ernie was an HVAC technician until that moment. He followed me home, and within two hours he had the air conditioning working, and the house was cool. He told me the next time I had service done on the AC unit, I should have the HVAC technician check the coolant level. I had forgotten to call for servicing on the AC unit that spring, but I couldn’t tell Ernie that.