It was almost 4 p.m. on a Monday in late July, and the temperature was near 110 degrees. But the scorching heat didn’t seem to bother Geraldine King.
The 93-year-old woman was sitting in the shade in front of the Westward Ho near downtown Phoenix. For a chair she used her walker. Her long gray hair streamed down the sides of her face from a black cowboy hat. In one hand she clutched a can of Coke Zero.
King has lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the ninth floor of the former luxury hotel for 22 years. The 16-story building is now a federally subsidized apartment complex for elderly people living in poverty.
Every so often someone entered or exited the building and a blast of cold air poured out.
King said the air conditioning inside the building works fine. The power went out the evening before during a storm, but it was back on within minutes.
Then what was she doing outside in the heat?
At least three times a day King said she leaves her apartment and sits outside on her walker for about an hour. No matter how hot it got. It was important, she said, to stay acclimated.