Hand to the Slaughter

 On hot afternoons, the AC would always be turned on by the teacher at the request of the sweaty student. The kid goes up to the teacher and asks her to turn on the air conditioner, sweat just dripping down his face. She surveys the class before doing so, and everyone agrees. Happily, the student returns to his seat and within a few minutes he is all dry.

 In this particular classroom whenever the AC is activated, the huge outdoor unit which is located outside the window arouses as if it were a bear that had been hibernating for the past six months gathering all its strength to catch a mighty meal. The startles you the first time you hear, but after some time you get used to it. Those who sit at that window need to close it, otherwise all their material and hair will immediately blow off their desks.

 On this particular afternoon it was 30 degrees Celsius, however, it felt like 40. The sweaty student went up to the teacher, as usual, and the request was granted. Nonetheless, there was a new student sitting at the window where the outside unit monster slept until awakened. When it did, it did not frighten the student nor did the kid close the window. Instead, she put her hand out to play with the wind like we do when we are little kids riding in the back seat of the car going on a road trip with the family. The hand just glides rising and descending with the wind.

 When the teacher noticed what she was doing, she asked the student to put her hand in and close the window before it got caught in the machine. This startled the student for she was making believe that her hand was an aircraft flying to distant lands. All that was heard was a high-pitched cry. “Turn off the AC screamed the sweaty boy!” He was pale. The girl sitting near him couldn´t hold it in and threw up on the classmate sitting in front of her. When the teacher got a look at the whole scene, filled with horror she asked another student to go get help. The new girl´s hand was being chewed up by the outside unit monster.

 The teacher tried her best to help the poor girl. There was blood everywhere because it took a few seconds for the machine to stop rotating. It was as if the teacher had predicted what was going to happen. It was just a minute too late. The paramedics arrived and also the cleaning staff. Students were told to go out to the open areas, and some were sent to the nurse´s office.

 What a tragic afternoon! No more AC for this group and minus four fingers for the new girl.

 

Written: April 7, 2022 (This is a work of fiction)

Photo: Meire Marion

The Strange Smell

 

         Close to midnight the intercom rang louder and louder awakening from a deep sleep, thanks to the medication that I take, I stumbled to answer it. “You need to come to the garage there's gas leaking from the tank of your car”, the voice on the other side desperately reproduced this sentence three or four times before I realized I needed to go downstairs. While changing into a T - shirt and sweatpants, the intercom rang once again. I answered and said that I was on my way without even paying attention to what the person on the other side wanted to say. Before going to sleep I had noticed a stench coming from the staircase, but to me it seemed like turpentine; I knew that the staircase and garage floors were being renovated therefore I ignore it and went to bed. After all it had been such a tough day, I needed the rest.

Reaching the garage which is on the second sub floor, I was greeted by the Superintendent and the night watchman who had filmed the gas leaking from under my car, which was pretty nice because then I could see it without having to kneel. It made no sense to me how the smell of turpentine was coming out of my car. According to the night watchman, it could have been bad gasoline. He explained that sometimes they add chemicals to the gasoline to have more to sell. I had heard of this, but doubted that the same gas station I had been filling up the tank at would start doing this now.

With the medication in my body, I looked at the two of them and I asked “And now what do I do?” My brain was foggy and I couldn't make heads or tails of the situation and they were really kind in helping me by telling me what to do. So, I called up the car insurance agency and asked for a tow truck two remove the car from the building because by then the neighbors were freaking out thinking that the whole building was going to go up in smoke. They kept writing the most absurd comments in the building´s social media group. My stomach is starting to turn. At this point I didn't know if it was the turpentine, gasoline, the lack of sleep or the comments.

The tow truck arrived in 30 minutes. By that time the night watchman had taken my car to the first garage that way it would be easier for the tow truck to get to the car. Nonetheless, we called up the fire department to see whether or not we could turn the car on despite the night watchman having said that it would be OK because during the day he was a car mechanic.

He turned the car on because clearly, I was in no conditions to doing so. I decided to stay because if the car was going to blow up with this kind man behind the driver´s seat, I would blow up with him. After all it was my car. Now that I think of it, I think that this was the medication talking. I remember that before he turned it on, the superintendent grabbed my arm and threw me in the elevator so that we would wait up on the first floor. The smell was still horrendous and it didn't make sense that the gasoline could stink up building up to the 15th floor.

The tow truck arrived around 1:00 AM, hooked up the car and took it to a garage connected to the insurance that would open on the following day which happened to be a Saturday. If it was just the gas tank hose, they could fix it up on the same day. At this point my fingers and toes were crossed. The following week would be heavy at work and I really needed my car.

It had been such a heavy and tiring week and deep down inside I wanted to cry to release the tension but I couldn't find the strength to during the week; However, after this episode it hit me like a rock and I cried. After a good cry, sleep comes easily, but it didn't happen to help me sleep a wink. Nevertheless, I did read a lot of pages. I ended up falling asleep around 4:00 AM and woke up at 6 anxiously waiting for the garage to open at 8.

By noon, the car was back and its spot all fixed up, resting for the week ahead. I am grateful to the people who helped me, the night the doorman, the Superintendent, the night watchman and the tow truck driver.

On Monday around 4:00 PM, after coming home from a long day, the social group messages started popping up and apparently people were complaining of a turpentine stench around 10:30 AM. They checked all the cars to see if there was another leak and found out that the stench was really turpentine.

Luckily, it had also happened on Friday and I was able to discover that there was a leak in my car. It made me wonder how long I had been driving with the leak losing precious gasoline which is super expensive nowadays but judging from the information that I got from the mechanic, I only lost 3 liters of gas which isn't that much if you come to think of it.

 

Written: March 14, 2022

Photo: Meire Marion