Escape from the heat...

I remember sleeping on the fire escape when I was young.

It was blistering hot, so my mother made a pallet with a blanket, and I crawled out onto the fire escape with my pillow and a sheet.

I'm amazed that I actually did it, as I've been afraid of heights since forever.

But, it was an adventure...

I slept in my panties, remember, I was very young. I can't remember if I slept there all night or chickened out early.

When I was older, maybe seven or eight, I was living in Clarkston, Washington and another fire escape is a life long memory.

The school there was two-storied, and yearly everyone had to practice a fire drill by sliding down the fire escape.

That summer a group of us went climbing up the fire escape, and sliding down. You had to climb it barefooted in order to reach the top. Then we had the bright idea of taking some wax paper and sitting on it and sliding down.

We did a 'group' slide. Only three or four of us could climb up, turn around and sit on the paper, when we were in 'position' off we went.

When I was a kid, I don't remember it being overly hot. There were beaches, rivers and creeks that could cool you down.

But today, I'm an air-conditioned person.