We moved to Florida some years back.  We bought a home in Cape Coral.  Cape Coral is the swamp that was drained without realizing it was up to its ass in alligators.  Living there, you are 180 miles from Cuba.  It is in the subtropics.  Houses were built along the grid of canals that were dug out of the swamp.  The soil was what they threw out of the canals to make fake land.

We had a screened in pool, called a “lanai”.  I smoked, and sat listless in the heat on the lanai to idly watch as houses were built by northerners who had never been in southwest Florida in August.  One of these houses was under construction within my view from our lanai.

The sun was merciless.  It was high noon.  Two roofers had been working from the bottom of the roof with their butts facing toward the peak.  Each had a powerful nail gun.  They had been in a hurry since seven in the morning.  The construction manager arrived.  Lunchtime was soon going to give the roofers a break.

I watched them with a little more interest as they worked toward the peak rapidly backing up.  Then, it happened.  At the peak they were aligned to bump into one another.  Their butts bumped together.  It was 99 degrees on my lanai.  On that roof, in the sun, they were dealing with temperatures well into the 100’s.

I was amazed.  They turned and faced each other at the peak, with nail guns drawn.  They were having a showdown.  I leaned forward and squinted my eyes to watch for bloodshed.  Luckily, the construction manager had arrived.  I heard a harsh argument on the roof, and then I heard: “CUT THAT SHIT OUT!”

Still hot and angry, the roofers put their nail guns back into their heavy leather construction belts.  They climbed down the ladders and headed toward their shit-can of a truck. They were on lunch break and they sought out a small bit of shade by the house, lit cigarettes, drank water from milk jugs full of water, and ate in silence side by side.  The construction manager talked and gestured at them.  I could not hear.  After lunch, though, they did not return to the roof.  They drove off and the site was shut down the rest of the day.