GLUM

The heat wave continued to ravage the Glum City. The ravens panted between their angry caws of irritation at the atmosphere. The blood red roses wilted and dropped their petals as if weeping for respite. The beings of glum were sticky with sweat and terse and grumpy with one another; no amount of fluid could slake their thirsts or cool their hides and they lolled about shriveled, disheveled and dehydrated. The beasts and critters of Glum crept away to sleep in the drowsy heat; small unenthusiastic scuffles broke out over the few remaining glimpses of shade, though they offered little respite from the inescapable humidity that stalked every living thing.
Just when the inhabitants of Glum seemed to have resigned themselves to the merciless heat, a dark quilt of rain clouds rolled across the sky and the damp smell of impending rain hinted in the air and the people of Glum felt something as close as they ever might to joy…..