the kitchen growing warm and filling with good smells.
At one point,
Troy excused herself to use the bathroom. A few seconds later, Vish was
startled by a loud yelp.
“Troy?” he
asked.
She opened the
door, giggling. “You have to see this.” She beckoned him over. “I wanted to
replace your toilet paper roll, so I checked under the sink,” she said. She
pointed at the open cabinet covering the pipes. “I’m guessing it’s not usually
like this?”
The back of the
bathroom wall had crumbled away, revealing a jagged hole. The edges of the hole
were coated with what Vish initially took to be some kind of puffy plastic
insulation, until he noticed it was moving. Grubs. Huge, soft, pale grubs,
dozens of them, clinging around the edges of the gap, climbing up out of the
darkness and into Vish’s apartment.
Vish wasn’t
squeamish, but the sight made him flinch. “God. Yuck. Sorry you had to find
that,” he said. “The wall must have crumbled during the earthquake.”
“Do you have a
maintenance guy?” Troy asked.
Vish shook his
head. “The landlord lives in the building. I’ll get him.”
Troy insisted
on coming with him. Vish wished she wouldn’t. Vish liked to avoid the landlord
as much as possible. Silas was strange and marginal. His apartment, in the back
of the building on the ground floor beside the laundry room, always smelled
like old fish and burnt cheese. He consistently shot down all Vish’s tentative
suggestions—that he buy a lock for the dumpster to deter the scavengers who
crawled in there each week to look for salvage, that he clean and fill the
pool, that he replace the broken locks on the mailboxes—and Vish always left
their encounters feeling whiny and ineffectual.
Troy, on the
other hand… No one could ever accuse Troy of being ineffectual. Troy was a
cheerful force of nature. She rapped on Silas’s door and introduced herself
with a firm handshake and a knee-weakening smile, then took him by the hand and
pulled him upstairs to examine the hole in the bathroom wall before he could
think of some way to blow her off.
Silas flicked a
soiled rag at the grubs to shoo them back into the hole, then nailed a square
of plywood across the gap. He grunted.
“I’ll patch it
later,” he said. “Get some plaster up over it, paint it, it’ll be good as new.”
He straightened up and squinted at Vish. “Happened in the quake, you said?”
“It must have,”
Vish said. “I didn’t notice it until today.”
Silas made some
noise in the back of his throat. “Sure you kids weren’t messing around in
here?”
“Digging a hole
to China?” Vish asked. “No. It happened in the quake.”
Silas shrugged.
“Well, you’d say that, wouldn’t you?”
“This is a
great building,” Troy said, her tone chipper. “These units are really roomy.”
Silas looked at
her, his scowl lightening. “They are, aren’t they? Wouldn’t know it from the
outside exactly, but they’re not bad.”
“I saw the
for-rent sign on the fence,” Troy said. “Bad market right now, isn’t it?”
“Goddamn
economy,” Silas said.
“If you cleaned
and filled the pool, I bet the building would fill right up,” she said. “You
can see it from the sidewalk. It’d be a huge draw.”
That seemed
unlikely—pools were common in the neighborhood, and they certainly weren’t a
necessity this close to the beach—but when Troy said things, people listened.
Silas started to look half-convinced, then he shook his head.
“No one’d use
it,” he said. “Summer’s gone.”
“Does it
matter? You’d fill up the building. It’d pay for itself right there.” Troy
looked relaxed and engaged, like she was having a fantastic time chatting about
pools with Silas, even though Silas was tedious and off-putting. This made Vish
worry a bit, because she looked at him exactly the same way whenever they were
alone together. Maybe she thought Vish was tedious and off-putting, too.
No. It’d be the
easiest thing
At one point,
Troy excused herself to use the bathroom. A few seconds later, Vish was
startled by a loud yelp.
“Troy?” he
asked.
She opened the
door, giggling. “You have to see this.” She beckoned him over. “I wanted to
replace your toilet paper roll, so I checked under the sink,” she said. She
pointed at the open cabinet covering the pipes. “I’m guessing it’s not usually
like this?”
The back of the
bathroom wall had crumbled away, revealing a jagged hole. The edges of the hole
were coated with what Vish initially took to be some kind of puffy plastic
insulation, until he noticed it was moving. Grubs. Huge, soft, pale grubs,
dozens of them, clinging around the edges of the gap, climbing up out of the
darkness and into Vish’s apartment.
Vish wasn’t
squeamish, but the sight made him flinch. “God. Yuck. Sorry you had to find
that,” he said. “The wall must have crumbled during the earthquake.”
“Do you have a
maintenance guy?” Troy asked.
Vish shook his
head. “The landlord lives in the building. I’ll get him.”
Troy insisted
on coming with him. Vish wished she wouldn’t. Vish liked to avoid the landlord
as much as possible. Silas was strange and marginal. His apartment, in the back
of the building on the ground floor beside the laundry room, always smelled
like old fish and burnt cheese. He consistently shot down all Vish’s tentative
suggestions—that he buy a lock for the dumpster to deter the scavengers who
crawled in there each week to look for salvage, that he clean and fill the
pool, that he replace the broken locks on the mailboxes—and Vish always left
their encounters feeling whiny and ineffectual.
Troy, on the
other hand… No one could ever accuse Troy of being ineffectual. Troy was a
cheerful force of nature. She rapped on Silas’s door and introduced herself
with a firm handshake and a knee-weakening smile, then took him by the hand and
pulled him upstairs to examine the hole in the bathroom wall before he could
think of some way to blow her off.
Silas flicked a
soiled rag at the grubs to shoo them back into the hole, then nailed a square
of plywood across the gap. He grunted.
“I’ll patch it
later,” he said. “Get some plaster up over it, paint it, it’ll be good as new.”
He straightened up and squinted at Vish. “Happened in the quake, you said?”
“It must have,”
Vish said. “I didn’t notice it until today.”
Silas made some
noise in the back of his throat. “Sure you kids weren’t messing around in
here?”
“Digging a hole
to China?” Vish asked. “No. It happened in the quake.”
Silas shrugged.
“Well, you’d say that, wouldn’t you?”
“This is a
great building,” Troy said, her tone chipper. “These units are really roomy.”
Silas looked at
her, his scowl lightening. “They are, aren’t they? Wouldn’t know it from the
outside exactly, but they’re not bad.”
“I saw the
for-rent sign on the fence,” Troy said. “Bad market right now, isn’t it?”
“Goddamn
economy,” Silas said.
“If you cleaned
and filled the pool, I bet the building would fill right up,” she said. “You
can see it from the sidewalk. It’d be a huge draw.”
That seemed
unlikely—pools were common in the neighborhood, and they certainly weren’t a
necessity this close to the beach—but when Troy said things, people listened.
Silas started to look half-convinced, then he shook his head.
“No one’d use
it,” he said. “Summer’s gone.”
“Does it
matter? You’d fill up the building. It’d pay for itself right there.” Troy
looked relaxed and engaged, like she was having a fantastic time chatting about
pools with Silas, even though Silas was tedious and off-putting. This made Vish
worry a bit, because she looked at him exactly the same way whenever they were
alone together. Maybe she thought Vish was tedious and off-putting, too.
No. It’d be the
easiest thing
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