Overload [antikvár]

Heat!Heat in stifling blankeí layers. Heat that enveloped all of California from the arid Mexican bordér in the south to majestic Klamath Forest, elbowing northward into Oregon. Heat, oppressive and enervating. Four days ago a hot, dry thermal trough a thousand miles long, three htmdred wide, had settled over the state and sat there like a brooding hen. This morninga Wednesday in Julya Pacific froníal system was supposed to shove the heat wave eastward, in-troducing cooler air, with showers on the north coast and in the mountams. It hadn't happened. Now, at 1 P.M., Californians still sv/eltered in temperatures from nínety degrees to well over a hundred, wiíh no relief in sight.Throughout cities and suburbs, in factories, offices, stores and homes, six millión electric air-conditioners hummed. On thousands of farms in the fertile Central Valleythe richest agricultural complex in the worldarmies of electric pumps gulped water from deep wells, directing it to thirsty eattle and parched cropsgrain, grapes, citms fruits, alfalfa, zucohini, a hundred more. Mulíitudes of refrigerators and food freezers ran unceasingly. And else-where the normál electrical demands of a pampered, spoiled, convenience-oriented, gadget-minded, power-guz-zling populace continued unabated.California had known other heat waves and survived their consequences. But in none had demands for electric power been so great."That's it, then," the chief electric dispatcher said un-necessarily. "There goes the last of our spinning reserve."Everyone within hearing already knew it. And everyone, in this case, included regular staff and company executives,