My child arrived home last week carrying a water bottle with a fan attached.
She gave me one and gave the other to her younger sibling.
I must have had a skeptical expression on my face, as she turned to me and asked, “What?” She grabbed the water bottle and informed me that if I didn’t like her gift, she would return it. I warned her that if she did not change her attitude, she would have to spend her week off from school in her room. I asked her what the bottle was when she returned to the ground floor an hour later. After apologizing, she explained that it was a personal, portable cooling system. Everyone used them in school when the air conditioning in the dorms failed, but you had to fill the bottle with water and press the fan button. The fan would also cool you by blowing chilled water on your face. A portable, personal air conditioning unit must have cost about ten cents to produce, and I wondered how many people were becoming wealthy from this not particularly ingenious creation. When did the air conditioning break down? She stated that the semester was only two months old and that it would not be repaired until Spring break. I advised her to go to the dollar store and also make some. At $1 each, she could sell them for $5 each and still make a bundle. She may be the queen of portable, personal air conditioning. She laughed and stated that someone had previously attempted and been expelled.