A Hot Fantasy
 By Cousin Tser

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

 It's summer... hot, sweaty, uncomfortable.  The air conditioner, right
 after the temperature hit 100, broke down, and hasn't been working since.
 Cold showers are tepid, and you can't peel enough clothes off.  You
 decide to languish on a lawn chair under the shade of a pitiful, scraggly
 vine maple.

 In the tree above, bumblebees drone, going about their work despite the
 heat.  You just stare.  It's too hot to think.  Too hot to move.  There's
 no breeze whatsoever, and the air is thick with humidity.

 Your long hair is damp with sweat, clinging to the back of your neck. 
 You long to tie it back, but you don't think you can move.  The ice in
 your lemonade long ago melted, and you take a slow sip of the lukewarm
 fluid.

 You reach up with one hand to pull your limp hair away from your neck. 
 Suddenly, you feel cool -- cool! -- hands on your own.  You tilt your
 head back, and your eyes meet two eyes of *ice* blue.

 "You look a bit uncomfortable, my dear," LaCroix says in silken tones. 
 Despite the heat, you shiver, a smile curling your lips.

 "Mmm, it is rather hot," you murmur.

 "Perhaps," Nunkies says quietly, pulling your hand away from your long,
 thick locks of hair, "I can help you with that."

 He pulls your hair back in a ponytail, running his fingers through it,
 kneeling behind your head.  You grin goofily as he brings out a brush and
 begins to brush your hair, slowly, methodically.  You close your eyes and
 enjoy the sensation.  "No wonder you're warm," he murmurs in your ear,
 his breath cool on your cheek, "with all this hair."

 His cool fingers brush the nape of your neck and you gasp.  With each
 pass through your hair, his fingers touch your exposed skin.

 "Better?" LaCroix asks.

 "Still a little warm," you say distantly, hoping he'll continue, lost in
 the cool caress of his fingers on your neck and running through your
 hair.

 "Ah," Nunkies says, chuckling softly.  "Well, fear not, I know just the
 thing."

 His hands leave your hair, and you frown slightly, but don't open your
 eyes, too overcome by the heat and slightly melted.  You smile as once
 again, his hands touch your hair.  The buzzing of the bees seems to
 become louder, but you ignore it as you focus on his gentle tones.

 "This," he murmurs, "will make you feel much better."  He lifts your hair
 away from your neck, letting it fall slowly.

 You hear a bee flying near your ear, and reach up to swat it away.  He
 catches your arm before you can, and you gasp at his cool fingers
 encircling your arm.

 "No, just wait a minute," he commands gently, and you relax completely as
 he runs his fingers through your hair one last time.

 Your eyes snap open as you suddenly realize what he's done.  You look at
 your hair lying on the grass next to the lawn chair and look up at
 LaCroix, who's holding electric clippers, with shock.  All you can manage
 to say is, "Eep."

 "Don't worry," LaCroix says softly, a smile on his lips, "you'll grow to
 like it."

 You're about to protest that that can't possibly be true, but he runs his
 hand over your now-very-short-hair.  You shudder, and your look of shock
 is replaced with one of bliss as his hand moves down to your neck.  Now
 you know why cats like being petted.  His fingers tickle the now short
 hairs at the back of your neck and you gasp.  You never knew a buzz could
 be so nice... and cool.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 


 Cousin Tser and the Cousinly Critters   }:=8}
 Cousin & Ratpacker          <forkni@juno.com>
 Proud Member of Nunkies Anonymous,  CW,  N&Np
 Temporal Theorist and LaCroix's Dear Delusion
 When in doubt, blame the Rifts in Space-Time.