Too Cool a Mockingbird

Like generations of Southerners in the summertime before me, I went to the movies today for "air conditioned comfort" and because the theater would be "cooled by refrigeration" like the banners outside theatres used to promise.

And don't you just know I had to pick a suitably hot and Southern film to see, namely To Kill A Mockingbird, set in un air-conditioned Alabama in the 1930s.

Let the fanning begin.

Not only had I never seen TKAM on the big screen, I'd never seen it at all. I've read the book at least three times that I can recall and read plenty about the film's cultural significance, but that was about it. Movieland was showing it for their Movies and Mimosa feature and I honestly was looking for a couple of hours of cool air.

To my great delight, the details of life in the South in the summer were all there.

Open windows with barely moving curtains. Men with wet underarm stains on their shirts. Foreheads glistening in close quarters. Wrinkled cotton and linen suits and jackets. Men fanning themselves with their hats while women in hats used fans.

A block of ice in front of the courthouse, chips of which were to be used inside for cooling purposes. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I accept being a sweaty mess because I chose to live in the South and summers here are hot.

My windows are open 24/7 and the curtains are often still.

When I get back from my morning walks, my t-shirt has more than just underarm wetness. My forehead glistens under my bangs and my normally straight hair curls where it meets my moist neck.
I tend to wear cotton knit dresses so as to not show the inevitable wrinkling that comes with heat and woven fabrics.

And I even have an Art 180 paddle fan I keep nearby (I once took it to an outdoor wedding and got envious stares from other dripping guests).

But the block of ice I hadn't thought of. Maybe that'll be my next summer coping mechanism. Surely the original occupants of my 1876 house made do during a hot spell and the women back then wore a lot more clothing than I do.

One habit we probably have in common is an afternoon nap in our undies, stretched out under the ceiling fan with the shades drawn.

I may even try employing a chip or two of ice this afternoon...you know, in the best Southern tradition.