Too Hot to Sleep Volume 1: Too Hot to Sleep

By Cornelia Quick

Three stories of being hot and bothered that are sure to keep you up at night:

Camp Makanogin: A dip in the cold lake on a hot night

Midnight Snack: roommates share more than the fudge ripple ice cream

Come Back to Bed: a little ice, a little self care, a lot of fun

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cornelia Quick
• Release date: Sep 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223170938

Cornelia Quick

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Book preview

Camp Makanogin

It's too hot to sleep.

All day long, the walls of my canvas tent were soaking up the hot sun, and now even though there's a breeze outside and the night sky is velvety black, it's like an oven inside. I toss and turn on the stiff canvas cot, sleeping bag pushed down to the foot in a pile and my thin cotton nightgown soaked with sweat. Every way I turn, I feel prickles of heat and damp sweat; my hair is plastered to my cheek in wet strands. A glance at my phone tells me it's only two o'clock in the morning — four hours until reveille, five hours before the campers start lining up for breakfast. If I don't get some sleep, I'm not going to make it through my first section of basket crafts without crashing.

Maybe it's cooler by the lake? I groan as I climb off my cot, fumble for my moccasins in the dark, and stumble out of the tent.

There's a faint breeze coming up from Lake Makanogin, but it's warm and hardly refreshing. Hardly a sound reaches my ears except my feet cracking the occasional dry twig — even the foxes and raccoons have decided not to venture out tonight. I make my way down the trail by the light of the full moon, heading toward the sound of the water gently lapping the rocky shore. Maybe I can wade in, cool my feet, dunk my head into the clear lake water, get just enough relief to be able to return to my tent and catch some sleep.

The moon reflects on the still lake, a shimmering white circle on Makanogin's black mirror. Beyond the moon's hazy glow I see stars twinkling — I can pick out Draco, Cygnus, Hercules, glittering in the cloudless sky, glinting in the waveless lake. I'm so focused on picking out the stars in the sky and finding their twins glittering on the lake that I don't see the man standing in the water until he yells out to me.

Nice night for a swim, isn't it? he calls in a deep, sonorous voice, and I nearly jump out of my skin. He laughs when I startle, and says, Didn't mean to scare you! Vicky, right?