Little Mike and Grandpa were eating at the food court inside their favorite mall.
“Finish up your ice cream quickly, we need to go home now,” Grandpa demanded. Mike replied, “ok, Grandpa”. And he continued, “Oh, I almost forgot about that. Mommy has asked me to capture some AC if we happen to stop by the mall.”
Mike put down his ice cream on the table for a minute. Then he took out a device from his backpack. The device was not big, just the size of a regular water bottle. He clicked a few buttons on the bottle, and then it made a hissing sound for a few seconds.
Grandpa asked, “how long does it take? We need to catch the bus to get home.” Mike replied while still licking on his ice cream, “just 5 minutes.”
And Mike was right. After about five minutes, the device made another sound. And Grandpa saw the words “Capture completed” appear on the device's little LCD screen.
“Alright, let’s go,” Grandpa said. Mike put the device back in his backpack and they left the food court.
On the bus, Grandpa saw a couple of other passengers carrying similar types of AC-capturing devices.
He said to Mike, “I can never figure out how that thing works. When I was young, we used to carry portable phone batteries. And now, even air-conditioning can be charged like a battery.”
Mike replied, “Grandpa, it is called an AC capturer, it captures air-conditioning in places with plenty of it, so we can reuse it in places that don’t have any. “ He continued with a proud smile on his face, “Mr. Jones, our science teacher, tells us it is a good way to balance our AC usage and to help the environment.”
“Oh yes, not to mention to help us save on our electricity bills,” Grandpa replied with a nod.
When they arrived home, it was almost dark. But the apartment was still hot like a sauna room.
The first thing Mike did after entering the apartment was to take out the AC capturer. Then he clicked a button and the capturer made a hissing sound. After a few minutes, the apartment temperature dropped to a much more comfortable level.
The apartment was a small two-bedroom flat with an open kitchen. Mike’s mother — Claire — was a single mother working as a waitress at an upscale restaurant. It was not like she couldn’t afford a bigger apartment. So that the three of them could live more comfortably.
But the temperature was getting higher and higher every year, and so were the electricity bills. A bigger apartment would mean even higher bills.
Every household had an air-conditioner but they were rarely used these days. Most people got by using an AC capturer — capturing AC from public places like offices or shopping malls — and reuse the AC at home to help cut down electricity bills.
Grandpa was almost done preparing dinner. He sat down and watched the evening news on TV.
The first headline was Second heatwave in India killing thousands. He didn’t even blink when hearing it, because it was not the first time in India, and it was not the first time heatwave killed thousands.
Then the second headline was AC capture causes higher carbon emissions. The news report briefly talked about how AC capturing caused public buildings to turn up their AC to keep the cool room temperature.
After the report, Grandpa shrugged and thought to himself, ‘what are we supposed to do? Not turning on AC and just dying from a heatwave?’
Then there was a sound at the door. Grandpa knew Claire was back from work. He turned off the TV and asked Mike to wash his hands for dinner.
In the middle of dinner, Grandpa asked Claire, “how’s it going at the restaurant? Are they going to lay off people?”
“Probably, but I should be safe, for now.” Claire continued with a sigh, “because I am still a junior, most of the senior people might have to go.”
Grandpa was relieved but also worried at the same time. He asked, “can the restaurant just raise the price to make up for the electricity bills?”
“The problem is, people don’t eat out as much as before. And we can’t have people sweating when eating at a nice restaurant.“ Clair continued, “so we have to tolerate all the AC capturing from customers to keep the business going. Even though it causes our electricity bills to rise tremendously.”
Grandpa said in a worried tone, “well, in that case, hopefully, the restaurant won’t let go of more people.” Claire replied, “yea, let’s hope so.”
Everyone had finished their food. Clair stood up and started taking the dishes to the kitchen sink. “Mommy, I’ve done the AC capture today as you asked!” Mike said it as if getting an A+ on his report card.
“I knew. That’s very helpful, my dear.” Claire replied warmly. “Could you do me another favor? Mommy has also captured some AC from work. Go take out the capturer from Mommy’s bag, and use it in the bedroom tonight.”
“That’s great! Mommy.” Mike replied happily, “no more sweating for our sleep tonight.”
--- THE END
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