The Foreigners - Maxine Swann [57]
But I wasn’t ready to abandon ship yet. Staring at the semisubmerged room, I decided that one thing I could do was go around and pick up everything possible and put it on higher ground, while I waited for either Olga or Gabriel to call. I picked up all my possessions, shoes and bags and clothes, and then the apartment owner’s possessions, where possible. I cleared the books out of the lower shelves of the bookcases and put them on the table. I put smaller furniture on top of unmovable items. But wait, wouldn’t the best thing be to turn the water off entirely? I thought of the last time when I’d had no water, the whole situation of the water tank and valves on the roof. Remembering the details of this kind of thing was not my forté, but at least I could go up there and give it a shot.
As I was walking up the stairs, Gabriel called. My description of what was happening came out nonsensically.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “I’ll call Hugo. And I’ll come by myself too, as soon as I can.”
I went up on the roof. I looked at the tank, the valves. As far as I could see, there were two possible valves, or valve-like appendages. I turned one of them, turned it back, then turned it again. The only way to know would be if I went back downstairs again. I went back downstairs. The water was still streaming out of the pipe. I could only imagine what was happening below. I pictured that dark swath of water I’d already seen. Now that whole wall must be dark and wet.
The person I should really be calling is the owner of the apartment, or rather the owner’s brother. This had occurred to me before and I had asked Olga for his number, but she’d said he didn’t want to be involved with the tenants. Everything had to go through her.
As I stepped out my door to go up to the roof again, I heard music coming from the apartment upstairs. Had the guy just come home? I went upstairs again and rang his bell.Again, no answer. This guy clearly didn’t want to be disturbed. I could respect that. Still, this was a particular situation. I continued up onto the roof, where I climbed up to the water tank again and turned the second valve.
I was carrying my cell phone with me everywhere. Right after I turned the valve, Olga called. She sounded distressed. I felt like telling her I was much more distressed. She was out in Olivos, a wealthy suburb, where she was showing houses to a client who was looking for a swimming pool. She’d call the brother. She’d try to be there as soon as she could.
When I got back downstairs, I noticed a silence. Or at least a new kind of sound, gentle lapping. The water had ceased pouring out. I checked to be sure. Yes, it really had stopped. The pipe below the sink stood there gleaming uneventfully.
I got a broom and started sweeping the water out onto the balcony. It sloshed down into the back garden. I did this for a while and then Gabriel showed up. There was still an inch or so of water on the floor.
“Christ, dude! What’s wrong with this apartment?” he said.
“At least I managed to turn the water off,” I said. “You should have seen it before.”
He followed me into the living room and looked around. “Shit, girl, this is not a good scene.”
“I feel like we should get as much water out as we can,” I said. “So things don’t rot.”
“Okay, let’s do it. Hugo’s on his way.”
I handed Gabriel the broom and told him to sweep the water off the balcony with that. I went and got the mop and all the towels I had. He swept and I mopped. Then we both got down on the floor and soaked up all the water we could in the towels, wringing them out over the balcony at intervals and coming back for more. By the end, we were both sweating and tired. We lay there, he on the chaise lounge, me on a chair, exhausted.
Olga called again, sounding frazzled. I said the plumber was arriving. “Oh, good,” she said. She was still out in Olivos. Her client was “very demanding.” She whispered this into the phone.
Gabriel sent Hugo another text. He was on another job, would be there as soon as possible.
“So how’s everything?