The next day was cool and rainy. Kate was thankful for the little shuttle bus that ran practically non-stop all day long between the dorms and the campus, carting the students that couldn’t, or simply didn’t want to, walk there to and fro. Kate had received a schedule of stops with her admission papers, and had thumb-tacked it to the cork board in her room shortly after moving in. Looking at it now, she realized that she had exactly six minutes to before the next bus was scheduled to leave for the campus, and the next one would be a twenty or thirty minute wait. Grabbing her books, purse, and a jacket, Kate flew down the stairs like she had just grown wings, and made it to the bus stop area just in the nick of time. Breathless, she found her way to a seat and flopped down, heart racing from her unexpected morning workout.

“Dang it!” Kate exclaimed, accidentally out loud, earning a few glances from fellow bus riders. She just realized that in her rush to not miss the bus, she had forgotten to lock her door. She silently prayed that it’d be okay, and all of her stuff would be safe and sound and untouched when she returned. She would come back on her lunch break to check everything out and be sure to lock it then.

Minutes felt like hours, and the hours felt like days during the time leading up to lunch. All Kate could think --and worry-- about was her unlocked dorm room. She hoped and prayed that everything was still there when she returned.

At long last, her last class before lunch was dismissed, and Kate made a beeline for the exit door. Outside in record time, Kate realized that the rain had finally let up, although it was still cool out with moisture still in the air. Deciding that a brisk walk would probably beat out waiting for the shuttle bus, she headed towards her dorm. The closer she got, the faster she walked, and was breathless by the time she reached her door --still closed-- to her room. Bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath, Kate propped her stuff up against the wall and cautiously turned the knob. A small creeeeaaak! came from the hinges, which Kate had never noticed before. But she was never scared of someone lurking in the shadows, ready to jump out and nab her any second. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Kate straightened her back and took a couple large steps into her room. Eyes jumping from spot to spot in her room, everything appeared just as it was before she had left this morning. Further and closer inspection confirmed this. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kate left the books and materials she wouldn’t need for the afternoon and left again, double checking that the door was locked this time.

She stopped in at the little coffee shop for a quick lunch. Glancing at her watch, she realized she was going to be late. Slugging down the her coffee that she had been saving for last, she rushed out the door. She just couldn’t catch a break today. Kate was glad she had ordered the coffee at the last minute. She was definitely going to need some rocket fuel to get her to class on time.

****

Later on that same evening, Kate decided on a long hot shower to help relax her from the rushed, stressful day. Undressed, she stood in front of the bathtub testing the temperature of the water with her fingers. Finally deciding the water was just right, she pulled the ‘hot’ knob outwards to turn on the showerhead.

“What on Earth?” Kate said, becoming quickly exasperated. Water was barely trickling down from the shower. “You have seriously got to be kidding me.” Releasing a frustrated sigh, Kate threw her clothes back on, becoming more agitated by the moment. After all the craziness of the day, all she wanted to do was to take a long, hot shower. And now it was broken. It worked just fine last night. Kate let out a long “Ughh!” and looked up the office number on her cork board. Punching the digits into her phone and hitting ‘send,’ she waited through five rings, and then a message came on. It was after hours, and the dorm office was closed. If it was an emergency to call 9-1-1, otherwise you could call back in the morning, or listen to the list of numbers rattled off for other departments in the dorm. Snatching a pen from her nightstand, Kate scribbled the number for ‘maintenance’ on the palm of her hand. “Hope he answers.” Kate said, hanging up and then automatically dialing the number that had been listed for the maintenance. The message said his name was Steve, head of the maintenance department.

After two short rings, there was a “Maintenance. This is Steve.” from the other end. The voice was male, of course, and had a hoarse sound to it, like he had a bad sore throat or something.

“Um, yeah, hi. My name is Kate Anderson. I live in room 14B in building 2 of the dorms, and the showerhead in my bathroom has next to nothing for water pressure. I don’t know what the deal is. It was working fine yesterday.”

“I see. Alright. Well, give me just a few minutes and I’ll be over there to take a look at it for you.” he answered.

“Okay. Thanks so much!” Kate replied, hopefully. Maybe she’d get that hot shower in after all.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at her door. Getting up and looking through the keyhole, Kate saw a man in a blue button up shirt, with grease stains all over it. The sewn-on name tag read ‘Steve’ in red cursive lettering, and the shirt looked like it was about a size too big for his small, skinny frame. He had 1950’s style glasses, with big thick black frames above the top of the lenses, and no frame under the bottom part of the lens. Under his glasses was the most piercing blue eyes that Kate had ever seen. His hair was pin straight and the color of rust on an old bike that had been left outside during too many rainstorms. Opening the door slowly, Kate invited him in. As he walked in, the stench of stale cigarettes wafted in with him. Well, that explained the hoarse-sounding voice, anyhow.

“Uh.. Hi. I’m glad you could make it over on such short notice. The bathroom is over here.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it. All these rooms are set up identical. No variation whatsoever.” Steve answered her.

Feeling slightly put off, Kate wandered over to her desk and sat down, saying, “Alright. Well, I hope it’s nothing major and it’s an easy fix.” Steve’s reply was just a muffled grunt from the bathroom.

After about fifteen minutes of banging, clanking, and the sound of water being turned off and on, Steve appeared from the small bathroom.

“All finished.” He announced.

“Oh, okay. Thank you. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble. Do I owe you anything?” Kate asked, turning from her computer screen to look at him.

“No, the school pays me. It was no trouble at all. Well, have a good night.” Steve replied, reaching for the doorknob and letting himself out into the hallway without another word.

‘What an odd guy,’ Kate thought. “At least he fixed my shower.” She said out loud. Closing the laptop, she headed back into the bathroom to take her long-awaited shower.

****