These Times

Our five-day heat siege made me worry about Ron, a friend who’s in his mid-60s and lives without several 21st-century conveniences, like electricity. He has a residence, but barely.

Maybe you, too, had someone you worried about during our sweat dome. It was that kind of hot.

Ron lives alone in the sticks in Thurston County, and he makes money by manual labor, and by selling the art he makes and the treasures he finds. He fishes most of his food from dumpsters and his winter heat comes from wood he scrounges. Ron’s cash goes to rent and not much else.

Ron doesn’t have a car. He has a bike, and...