You will absolutely not believe what happened to me just after posting my last blog. All I have to say is that I never ever should have mentioned leaking ceilings. I went to the couch and vegetated after having my Blue Monday and a particularly rough night of begging Lanes to go to bed already. I was tired myself, but really desperately needed the ‘me’ time.
P had gone back online to feed his resume into cyber oblivion, the dishes were done, Lanes was gurgling in her sleep, and it was the perfect time to relax. A little after 1am, I was about to turn in when I heard a weird noise in the hallway.
At first I thought it was our colorful geriatric neighbor, Aunty G, messing with her plastic water bottles in the stroller that she keeps in the hallway, because that is what she does during the wee hours of the night. Don’t ask me why.
My instincts told me something was off, so I squinted and peeked out of the peephole, but couldn’t figure it out since it sounded more fluid than plastic bottles being squished together. So I opened the door and found that water was gushing out of the elevator and the ceiling above in front of the elevator doors was leaking so heavily a huge crack had appeared.
It was such a mesmerizingly eerie sight that for a moment I stood frozen in my doorway, half expecting to find a toddler on a tricycle murmuring ‘redrum, redrum’. What made it more spooky was that no one else had come out of their apartments despite the damp and noise, and this was my own private drama.
Within seconds the water was collecting in our hallway, and I realized that if I didn’t act quickly, all the apartments on our floor would get flooded out. So much water as spewing out of the elevator doors, it looked like the Hoover Dam had burst. I was so stunned and my brain was still dead that instead of going upstairs to see what’s wrong, I looked out to see if it was raining. I’m such a bright spark.
I ran to the bedroom to tell P about the situation and he didn’t even look up from the computer, saying he had no idea what to do and he was sure the folks in the apartment would figure it out. Yeah right. Now I know what the saying ‘come hell or high water means’, because let me tell you, ‘come hell or high water’, P was going to crank out resumes.
Annoyed by P’s lack of interest in the situation, I quickly called the manager of the building but she didn’t pick up her phone (big surprise there). The only other numbers I was thinking of calling were Ghost Busters (the theme song was stuck in my head) and 911. The first choice was not practical (but three cheers for me for keeping my sense of humor in a time like this) and the second one seemed too drastic.
I was left with no choice but to knock on Aunty G’s door. Considering she is a night owl, I knew I wouldn’t be waking her up and also I knew that if anyone knew who to call, it would be her, having had to endure many a disaster having lived here for almost two decades.
Aunty G was really surprised to find me on her doorstep, especially at 1am, but she opened up the door happily. When she saw the unwelcome water feature in our hallway she sprung into ‘Aunty G’ mode. She lit up a cigarette, and fanned the flames of controversy over the upkeep of the building.
While she as fighting with an automated operator on the phone, someone had alerted the Fire Department, and a small congregation of neighbors had pooled by the flood. I had gone upstairs to see the damage and finally met the people who live right above us.
Long story short, someone on the floor above had a burst pipe. That poor sap had slept through the entire commotion and woke up to find his stuff floating around the apartment and firemen at the foot of his bed.
One thing I must say is kudos to the fine folks at our local Fire Department. They were genuinely concerned about us tenants,and spent a considerable amount of time cleaning (or should I say draining) out the mess. They even sucked up all the water on floor above us and came to make sure our apartments below were ok.
We were lucky, having sustained only a crack in our living room ceiling from which water drizzled down. Some water got trapped in the light fixtures of our kitchen, and the firemen jotted that down as well. They were highly concerned about mold building up due to the dampness.
Aunty G was reveling in the action, and all the neighbors were told about the great flood of 2004 (or was it 2008) when another pipe burst and how there is mold all over the premises. She told a stunned looking fireman (and me) about how some window snapped due to mold (I knew better than to ask for an explanation on that one) and nearly severed a major artery on some woman’s neck.
After having pointed out all the spots in the apartment where pipes had burst or mold had sprung, she pointed at the stairs by our apartment and said ‘oh and that is where that man was shot and he died on the spot’. I looked mildly ill (mostly because I was thinking of ghosts again), and Aunty G burst out laughing so hard saying how easy it is to traumatize me.
The last laugh was had by me when I informed her that one of the fire dept folks shut down the water and she wouldn’t be able to use her facilities so she should tone done the laughter a little (she was laughing so much she was crossing her knees together since she nearly had to go).
It was nearly 4am when I got to bed. Meanwhile P was working right through the drama, oblivious to his wife being missing and then subsequently having various folks from the Fire Department in our living room and kitchen from time to time.
He was glad things were patched up with Aunty G, and all he commented on was that at least I have material for my blog. To this day, he has no idea on how bad the situation was upstairs and on our floor. Two of my immediate neighbors had to move to another floor since their apt had to be gutted out. And believe it or not, as I type this, he is still doing resumes!!
I got to meet a lot of neighbors (in various states of dress—or undress rather). So that is the drama for the week…needless to say P is still unemployed and Lanes’ PR card is still mia. I guess we are nothing if not consistent: ) Will write more soon…
No comments:
Post a Comment
What say you?