“Why not?” I asked, sensing she was hiding something from me. “I’m sure he’d send someone out to fix it,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Because, Miss Know-It-All, we still owe this month’s rent,” she said, stomping down the hall.
“Are we going to pay it?” I asked, thinking I was playing with fire again.
“Not unless you have some hidden stash of money I don’t know about,” she said in a snarky voice as she sat on the couch and lit up another cigarette.
“I thought we didn’t have to pay rent here for a while?” I asked, grasping at straws.
“It was for two months,” she said, taking a long draw on her cigarette. “God, Katelyn, stop being a worrywart, we’ve been in worse situations than this. They’ll release Jim on Monday, and he’ll find another job.”
I sat down heavily on the coffee table, trying to digest her words. “What do we do about the pipes?” I finally asked as she stubbed out her cigarette.
“Nothing we can do. You need to run over and get a plunger from the grocery store, so we can take care of the mess in the tub. I’d stop at the gas station first to clean up if I were you,” she said, not taking responsibility for the blood that caked my hair.
“Whatever,” I mumbled, standing up.
I woke Kevin once I returned to my room so he could go with me to the gas station to use the bathroom.
“Why do we have to pee there?” Kevin asked as we pulled our heavy coats on.
“Because the pipes are frozen here,” I said. “Frozen pipes mean no water, which means no water to flush a toilet,” I added, pulling his hat down over his ears.
“Can’t I just pee outside?” he asked logically.
“You could, but I figured we might as well brush our teeth and wash up so we both don’t have to do it later,” I said, holding up the bag of toiletries I had packed.
“Grrr, I thought we wouldn’t have to use gas station bathrooms as long as we lived here,” he grumbled, pulling on his gloves.
“I know pal, me too. Such is our life, though.”
Kevin trailed behind me, still grumpy about leaving the somewhat warmth of the trailer. I opened the door and gasped as a frigid breeze blew through the door.
“Holy crapinoli, it’s cold out here,” Kevin grumbled as we walked against the breeze.
“Let’s hurry,” I said, agreeing with him. I grasped his hand, dragging him along as we fought the wind that seemed hell-bent on pushing us back.
“Katelyn, it’s too cold,” Kevin complained through chattering teeth as we approached the small intersection.
“We’re almost there,” I said loudly over the howling wind and swirling snow that was being blown recklessly around our faces.
Kevin slipped right after we stepped into the road. The momentum of his fall dragged me down and made me land smartly on my backside.
I struggled to catch my breath as Kevin started to giggle beside me.
“Not funny, punk,” I said, trying to rise without slipping again. “We’re in the middle of the road,” I scolded him, trying to be the mature one.
“Hehehe, not like it matters,”” he said, still laughing. “We’re the only stupid ones out here,” he said, indicating the deserted roads.
He had a point. The wind had blown the snow into huge drifts in some areas while other areas were left completely barren and not a single soul was around. If not for the light shining behind the ice-covered window of the gas station with Old Man Wither behind the counter, I would have believed we were the only people left on Earth.
“Well, it doesn’t mean we should hang out in the middle of the road like buffoons,” I said, dragging him the rest of the way across the street.
Old Man Wither, as everyone liked to call him, greeted us with astonishment as we burst through the door, anxious to escape the treacherous conditions outside. “What in the blazes are you youngsters doing out there?” he asked, coming around the counter to see us.
“Our pipes froze,” Kevin said, scurrying off to use the bathroom.
“Frozen pipes? That’s a tough one. Did you folks forget to leave a tap running?” he asked, pouring a tall cup of hot chocolate and handing it to me.