What is this heat? Luca thought as he walked into the dorm’s common room. The news station said it was 35 degrees, but what do they know? He glanced at the thermometer hanging by the door. It’s 42 freaking degrees and that’s not counting humidity!
As he passed the bulletin board, he saw a notice that said that the air-conditioned gymnasium would be open for students to bunk in as a temporary dorm due to the heat. All they had to do was bring their bed roll and register when they get there.
Air conditioning, Luca thought dreamily as he walked down the hall to his room. Then remembered that he had to find Sean. He opened the door popped his head in, and quickly drew back, hand over his eyes.
Where’s the bleach!!! I did not just see that. I did not need to see that.
Sean’s room mate, Tim, was pantless and had his butt in a small tub of water while he worked on his computer.
Shaking his head, he flagged down a small group of the first years, each carrying a couple cases of bottled water.
“Hey guys, do you know where Sean is?”
“I think he’s in Ryan’s room.”
“Okay thanks. Do you need any help?”
“Yeah, there’s two more cases by the stairs. If you can bring them to 207, it would be great.”
“What are they for?” Luca asked as they climbed the stairs to the second floor.
“A water bed.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, my brother thought of it. You know how water has a pretty high heat capacity, right? So it can absorb more heat energy before going up a degree.”
They walked into the room and found two other boys surrounded by cases of water lining their bunks with them.
“See, if we lay them on their sides and then put a mat over it,” he said indicating the rolled up bamboo mat. “Presto, instant water-bed.”
“And if you’re thirsty, just crack one of the bottles open.”
“Now you’re getting it!”
When he walked into Ryan’s room, he found a pool party. Literally.
“What the hell?”
Luca rubbed his eyes, his brain not comprehending the signals his eyes were sending to it.
There, in the middle of the room was an inflatable pool with ice cubes floating in it along with three classmates from his anthro class.
Now I've seen everything.
“Hey Luc," Ryan greeted. "Care to join us?”
“Umm, that’s okay." That "pool" was not going to fit a fourth occupant. "Hey, Sean, here are my notes from Professor Yao's lecture."
"You could've just left it with Tim."
"Right." Only if I wanted to see his family jewels hanging out when he stood up, Luca wanted to say. Instead, he asked, "Did you see the notice about the gym being open as a temporary dorm?”
“Yeah, gonna pack my stuff in an hour or so.”
Luca left them to their miniature pool and decided he should get something to drink.
As he turned into the kitchen, he collided with the girl exiting it. He caught her before she completely lost her balance.
"Sorry. You okay?"
She waved him off with her left hand while massaging her forehead with her right.
"No harm done, but what in Yenna's name did I bump into?"
Sheepishly, Luca pulled the long chain out from under his shirt to show her the set of of tags. "My mom and dad's."
Her frown was replaced with surprise. "I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "It was a long time ago. And you didn't know," he added when he saw she was about to apologize again.
"What's your name?" he asked. "I've seen you in some of my bio classes. I'm Luca Danton"
"Myra. Myra Lykosa Theronis if you want to know the whole thing."
Woah. A Theronis. "I didn't think your clan would have let you fifty metres within the gates let alone let you attend the university after the fiasco several generations back."781Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2xZrHQklE
"No kidding. My mother nearly got disowned for just suggesting it. The elders finally agreed reluctantly when they heard a Whitstar was appointed as one of the governors. There's no more ice," she added when he opened the freezer door. "I just refilled all eighteen trays."
"No ice."
"Not even a sliver," she nodded regretfully.
"I'm going to kill Ryan and Sean good and dead." At Myra's puzzled look he clarified. "They have an inflatable pool with ice cubes floating in there."
"They can't have taken all of the ice by themselves. I mean, that would be eight litres worth of ice."
"But they still took a good amount and didn't have the decency to refill the trays."
"Well, I'm going to study for my econ exam. See you later."
Myra waved good by and flitted across the red line that separated the common area from the girls' wing on the east side of the dormitory.
He turned back and opened the communal fridge, basking in the blissfully cool air for a few seconds before reaching for the pitcher of water.
Reluctantly, he closed the door and poured out a glass.
If he had a rotating fan, copper pipes, plastic tubes, a styrofoam cooler and some sort of pump ... it might work.
Two hours later, Luca attached the plastic tubing to the copper pipes hooked up the pump he had stolen from their Dorm Master's fish tank. Moment of truth, he thought and started the pump and rotating fan. When he saw condensation start to form on the copper pipes, he pumped his fist in the air and his cry of victory was heard by everyone on his floor.
“I have an effing air conditioner!”
Within ten seconds, he had people pounding on his door. Many were disappointed that it was just a regular fan with copper tubes with cold water flowing through it, but a few of his fellow mechanically gifted classmates gave him some feedback on how he could make it more effective.
All the while, Luca was grinning ear to ear, occasionally yelling for someone to shut the door because they were letting the chilled air out.
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Finis
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