Heavy Clouds, No Rain.

"Roll down your window. My side isn't working."

"No. It's hotter outside," Julie said as she swiped her forehead with her hand. "Just imagine the cool, moist air at the lake. We'll be there soon."

"We should have just stayed at the apartment and put ice cubes in the bath tub." Maggie pouted her lips. "It would have been fun."

"Shhh." Julie rested her head against the window and sighed. "Just shhhhhh."

"Seriously, just roll down the frickin' window. You do realize we've been here for two hours and gone only five blocks."

"Hello, sitting right here." Julie smirked. "Just let the old van work its magic."

"Yeah right. Your air conditioner is crap. It's like a convection oven in here." Maggie started fiddling with the controls on the dash, opening and closing the vents over and over again.

Julie swatted her sister's hand gently. "Just leave it. Some air's better than none. Besides, the car will fill up with exhaust fumes from all the other cars just idling like we are. Sheesh. Lighten up."

Cars were packed bumper-to-bumper and wedged tightly in the four lanes in front and behind their Volkswagen van for miles through the city. No one was going anywhere anytime soon in either direction. A car horn blared behind them, and both women flinched. Maggie swiveled in her seat and gave the other driver the finger while Julie rested her chin on the steering wheel. The other driver gestured back and began honking his horn every few seconds, mouthing silent obscenities as he raged in his own little hot box. Other drivers started in with their own horns, egged on like a pack of dogs baying at sirens. 

"Asshole!" Maggie shouted. She looked over at her older sister and shook her head. "What the hell is wrong with everybody? Like beeping your horn is going to magically make us all move faster? Huh?" The traffic signals were dead. No power. Probably throughout the whole city, too.

"I'm sure you giving him the flippity digit helps." Julie swiped her forehead again. The temperature gauge on the dash was starting its rise into the red. Soon the old van would overheat.

God damned traffic.

Everyone had the same idea, get out of town and head for someplace cooler. But judging from the traffic snarl, people were heading into town expecting a respite indoors. The joke was on them. Rolling blackouts made worse by air conditioners sucking power meant no rest for the wicked. It was hell outside.

"Well, it makes me feel better." Maggie flipped the driver off once more and then settled back into her seat. "Jesus, it's hot."

"Baby sis, I love you, but if you mention the heat one more time I'm gonna snap."

"This was your idea. I was happy to just hang at home."

"I'm sure you were."

"Don't judge me, Grumperella. You're so damned serious all the time." Maggie playfully punched Julie's arm. "And you're always looking out for me. My hero."

"Someone has to." Julie stretched and then began tapping the steering wheel with her fingertips. "We'll be moving again soon. I just know it."

Maggie leaned forward, peering up through the windshield at the overcast sky as she said, "Ugh...I wish it would rain already. Aren't those thunder heads?" She pointed at the dark, angry clouds that had been hanging over the city like a shroud for the last week. The clouds pulsed with heat lightning, curious shades of green and purple flashing through the vapors like a psychedelic laser light show. "It's pretty, but holding in the heat and baking us to death."