Our air conditioner has been out for two weeks now, and one problem has upturned another and another and another, it seems, all while temporary window units attempt to keep us cool. It started with a flash of light in the light circuits, the kind we knew this limping-along a/c could not come back from. It had sure enough succumbed to the surge, and its innards were fried when they hauled it away.
The condensation caused the ducts to leak, and the house needs what they call an encapsulation ~ but a complete drying out must occur before that can happen. All of this in the brutal heat of near-July in rural Georgia.
We’d taken up residence in our driveway in the RV before the window units arrived so we could sleep cool, at least. And that turned up a problem with a tire – – the kind where you have low air and have to have the valve replaced. So off to Todd I went shortly before lunch, and arrived back home aired up and hungry.
The fellows under the house needed an adjustable wrench and a pair of pliers, and I dug those out before making myself a tomato sandwich. Then it hit me: those guys may be hungry. I stepped outside, offering food and drinks.
“I have a fresh tomato sandwich, watermelon, and ripe peaches from the orchard two miles down the road if anyone’s interested.” One of them just wanted a Coke Zero, but I refused to let him go on living without at least a peach to go with it.
The other told me his buddy’d been telling him how good a tomato sandwich is, and he took me up on it – to try it for the first time. “Bread, mayonnaise, fresh tomato slices, and salt and pepper. Will that be okay?” I wanted to check to be sure.
After one bite, before his peach and his Coke Zero, he said, “I’m hooked.” I understood. Not much in the summer beats a tomato sandwich, especially if you use Arnold Multigrain Sandwich Thins.
Upon finishing my own, I reached for Poetry is Not a Luxury: Poems for all Seasons, a collection I’m reading through the year with each passing season. The Love Cook by Ron Padgett inspired my poem for today, and I used the last line as my own.
Tomato Sandwich
come out from under the house
take off those gloves
wash your hands
let me fix you a sandwich
with mayonnaise, salt, and pepper
and tomatoes so tender
so ready to be devoured
they whimper
at the slice of the knife
come out of the darkness
into the light of the
summery taste of sunshine
radiating from each seed
I’ve made this sandwich just
for you, you hungry thing
Common Threads 
Nothing better than a tomato sandwich with fresh off-the-vine tomatoes. I’m sorry for your AC troubles. My neighbor has been supplying me with fresh tomatoes, so I think I’ll have to make myself a sandwich today.
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