Chapter 8 - The Water That Ran Too Hot
The knock came after dinner. I remember because my noodles were still warm and Dad told me to leave them.
A man was at the door with a gray toolbox. He had rolled cuffs on his jeans and his hands looked scraped. He said, "I'm Ray, building maintenance," and Dad shook his hand and let him in.
Vanessa stood by the hall with her arms crossed over her cream cardigan. She smiled too fast. "Finally," she said.
Ray set his box down in our bathroom. The white tub looked big with no steam in it. The air felt cool. I held my bear tight against my shirt so the fur wouldn't touch my gauze.
Dad lifted me up to sit on the closed toilet lid so I could see but not get in the way. "You stay right here with me," he said. His sleeves were rolled again and his watch clicked against the porcelain when he moved.
Ray turned the hot knob. Water rushed out. He held a little stick with numbers under it. I watched the red line climb.
"See?" Vanessa said from the doorway. "I told you."
Ray didn't answer yet. He let it run. The mirror started to fog a little. The drain made a sucking sound when the water circled down.
He looked at the stick and frowned. "Hundred and thirty-eight," he said. "That's high for a kid's bath."
My dad's jaw moved. "We didn't set it that high."
"No. Building boiler's been running hot since the fix last week," Ray said. "First draw spikes, then it settles." He turned the knob down and then up again, slow. The stream thinned. He held the stick under it again. "Now a hundred and two. That swing will get you."
I stared at the numbers. I didn't know what they meant, only that grown-ups looked worried at them. The water sounded loud in the tub, then soft, then loud again.
Ray glanced at me. "You like bubbles?" he said.
I nodded and squeezed my bear.
He smiled a little and turned to Dad. "You got to temper it every time. Run it a full minute. Hand under, wrist test, then elbow. Count to five." He put his own wrist under the stream to show. Drops bounced off his skin. "If you have to pull back, it's too hot."
Dad copied him. He held his wrist under and kept it there. "Like this?"
"Like that," Ray said. "And don't trust the knob position. These old stems drift."
Vanessa stepped closer. "See? It was the building," she said. Her voice was lighter now. "It wasn't me not paying attention."
Dad didn't look at her right away. He dried his wrist on a towel and checked my face. Then he said, "The heater can spike and an adult still has to test every time."
The bathroom went quiet except for the water draining. Glug, glug, then thin.
Vanessa's smile thinned. "I know that," she said.
Ray cleared his throat and packed the stick away. He pulled a small paper from his pocket. "I turned the unit heater down," he said. "Logged it. Front office will send notice." He looked at Dad. "Get a bath thermometer. Two bucks at the drugstore. Floats. Can't argue with color."
Dad nodded and typed something in his phone with his thumb. The timeline he kept. I saw the light on his face.
"Rule stays the same," he said. "No bath without me checking first."
I listened to the last water go down the drain. It made a hollow sound at the end. Ray put his hand on the faucet and made sure it was off tight. A drop hung and fell. Plink.
On the toilet lid, my legs swung. My arm itched under the gauze but I didn't scratch. Dad saw me looking and put his big hand over my sock feet to still them. Warm from the water test.
Ray picked up his box. "All set," he said, and Dad walked him to the door.
Vanessa stayed in the bathroom with me for a second. She looked at the empty tub, then at my bear. She didn't touch me. Dad came back fast and put his hand on my shoulder.
May you like
"Okay, peanut?" he asked.
I nodded because the loud water was gone.
