Wednesday, February 9, 2011

156. Frozen Forecast

"So, we might have done something really dumb," Terry said on the other end of the phone. I glanced over at Joyce while she finished up the last of her Goodcents sandwich.

I wracked my brain for anything dumb we could have done that day. Did I lock us out of our new house? No. We all had keys. Did I get the dates mixed up and we actually weren't moving in until tomorrow? No, surely that couldn't be it. Joyce raised an eyebrow at me.

"Hit me with it. What did we do?" I said into the end of my cracked phone.

"Did either of you happen to set up the gas?"

I rewound in my head back to the day we designated responsibilities. Joyce was going to set up cable and electricity. I was to set up water and trash, and Terry was supposed to inquire about a security system. Shit. None of us had thought about setting up the gas.

"Uh-oh," I said, giving Joyce a look of slight panic. "Yeah, I think you're right. We did do something wrong."

I hung up with Terry and turned to Joyce and the rest of the sweaty, exhausted movers.

"So, we might have kind of sort of accidentally forgotten to do something pretty important."

Everyone's eyes were on me, waiting to hear what we'd managed to fuck up.

"And what might that be?" Joyce said, crossing her arms over her chest. I could tell she wasn't in the mood to hear any bad news.

"Well, I think we forgot to get the gas turned on," I said. And then, "which means we have no heat. No hot water."

Joyce's half-Vietnamese eyes bulged, but my phone rang before I could hear her reaction. I picked up and it was Terry again.

"I just called and they said the soonest they can come out to turn it on is Monday. So no heat or hot water until then."

"How cold is it supposed to be tonight?" I asked Terry and everyone sitting around me.

"Below freezing," Terry said on the other end of the phone. Mom and Joey echoed it.

"Well, it's a good thing I have a life-sized heater to cuddle up to!" I looked at Cayden and he smiled.

Joey was staying the weekend with us. Cayden was staying the weekend with us. Dawn, one of my best friends and old roommates from college, was on her way down from Oklahoma to spend the weekend with us. We had a New Years party planned for that night. What in the hell were we going to do without heat and hot showers?

I stopped pacing, put my phone away, and sat down next to Cayden, close enough to where our arms were touching. I leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"I can think of one thing we can do all weekend to keep warm..."


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