Their bodies glistened with sweat.
Their breathing rasped hot and jagged.
They were endurance athletes, and neither would give up. Jerry and Rae Miller had finished their run in the chilly morning weather. But despite the weather, they were still very hot, and they had to walk the last two hundred miles to cool off. By the time they reached their house, the cold had started to get to them, and they hurried off for a warm shower. When they settled down for breakfast, they noticed that the house was warmer than usual, and the thermostat confirmed it. Jerry tried restarting the multi-split air conditioning system, but it still did not work, so he called the local air conditioning company. Jerry scheduled HVAC maintenance for later in the afternoon since Rae would be back home from her rehearsals by then. The quality air conditioner was pretty new, and they had yet to anticipate starting to call the a/c serviceman for air conditioning repair that soon. They had to use a portable fan to keep the living room cool for the rest of the midmorning. It was the first time they had trouble with their quality HVAC equipment in two years. The air conditioning technician arrived on time and thoroughly inspected the device. All the while, Rae was crossing her fingers that the HVAC installation would not need new parts because they would have to wait till the next day if that was the case. After all, it would be too late for the air conditioning provider to make the delivery. When the heating technician finished working on the HVAC, the strange noise we had gotten accustomed to had disappeared. The cooling industry worker had executed the job impeccably. It was a learning experience for Rae, especially since she learned more about air conditioning and other ways to improve air quality.