shortly after she turned eleven. She was at her cousin Mindy’s birthday party. It was a hot summer day and Aunt Stella hotfooted it across the burning pool deck to hand Allie and Mindy each a glass of icy Kool-Aid. In the humidity, the glass was sweating nearly as much as Allie was and she bowed her strawberry blonde head over it in puzzlement. “How does the water get to the outside of the glass?” With a puzzled tone her aunt posited, “Maybe the heat makes the glass leaky.” “For God’s sake Stella!” Allie’s dad said without opening his eyes behind his sunglasses. “It’s condensation! The cold condenses water onto the glass!” He laid his head back against the deck recliner and adjusted the brim of his hat to cover his eyes again. Not knowing what “condensation” was, Allie thought to herself that her dad’s explanation wasn’t at all helpful, big words but a complete lack of enlightenment.
