The hottest I’ve been on Earth was in Tucson, Arizona, one July, long ago. My partner and I were driving from Virginia to Los Angeles, and one day, near the end of our journey, we stopped for gasoline and lunch in Tucson. Nearing the city, the car’s air conditioning was overwhelmed; the inside of the car became stuffy, warm like an…oven. Perspiration dripped from my nose. When we stepped outside the car, we were stupefied and in the dry heat all sweat evaporated. The air was as still as the inside of a tomb (and speaking of tombs, Tombstone, Arizona, was just an hour’s drive south). Heat, visible waves of it, attacked us from all directions: below, above, sideways. We were in Hell’s reception room: 113 degrees Fahrenheit. All we needed to complete the scene was the sound of a rattlesnake’s tail in full swing…

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