Old Man Wither helped us carry the groceries through the frigid temperatures into our trailer that felt only slightly warmer.
“Might bit chilly in here. Don’t you think?” he asked, rubbing his hands together.
“A little,” I said, trying to sound blasé. “The heat's been acting up since the storm started. I’m sure the landlord will send someone out to fix it," I said, not wanting to admit that Lucinda had neglected to pay the rent.
“Hmmm, who knows when he’ll be able to get a repairman out here with it being the holidays and such,” Mr. Wither said. “I’m going to run over to the station and grab some tools so I can take a look at it.”
“No really, you don’t have to do that. We wouldn’t want to trouble you more than we already have,” I said, shooting an uneasy glance down the hall at Lucinda’s closed door.
“It’s no trouble, and I won’t be in your hair since the unit’s outside,” he said, looking at me meaningfully.
“Are you sure?” I asked quietly.
“Positive, my dear,” he said, heading out the door.
I was halfway through making dinner when the air that had been pumping through the floorboard vents began to warm up instantly, taking the chill of the interior of the trailer.
“Yay, Katelyn, we have heat,” Kevin said, sitting on the vent in the living room.
“Well, don’t block it, dork,” I said, laughing at him.
I expected to hear Old Man Wither’s pickup rumble to life as it pulled out, but the sound never came. It wasn’t until I was washing our silverware with a jug of water that I kept by the sink that I heard a soft knock on the trailer door.
Drying my hands on the back of my jeans, I walked to the front door and pulled it open.
“Mr. Wither, I thought you left an hour ago,” I said, surprised to see him.
“Nah, there were a few other things I wanted to take care of. Why don’t you go turn on the kitchen faucet and see if anything comes out.”
Excitedly, I rushed to the kitchen sink, not daring to believe. When I twisted the knob, I giggled in delight as water poured from the faucet. My giggles turned to happy tears as I realized that Kevin and I would no longer have to trek across the street at all hours of the night to go potty.
Mr. Wither joined me in the kitchen. “Very good,” he said, twisting the knob to high to check the water pressure. “Now, just keep this one running at a trickle when the temperatures dip too low and that should keep the pipes from freezing again,” he added.
“Thank you so much,” I said, throwing my arms around him.
“No problem, my dear,” he said, patting my back uncomfortably. “Don’t go being strangers now that it’s fixed, though,” he told Kevin and me sternly as he headed for the front door.
“We won’t,” I reassured him, walking him to his truck. “Thank you so much for all your help today. You’ve single-handedly saved Christmas for us now that my stepdad is away…” I added, letting my voice trail off for the last part.
“Did he go away on business?”
“Not really,” I said, skirting away from the truth.
“Will he be home by tomorrow?”
“Um no, I don’t think so,” I said, avoiding his eyes.
“Well, you two take care, and have yourself a nice night.”
“You too, Mr. Wither, and thanks again for everything,” I said, shutting the door behind me quickly so none of our new blissful heat could escape.
“Alright, bud, I’m going to go scour out the tub, and then you can take a nice hot shower,” I said, grinning at Kevin happily.
“Woohoo, no more freezing our butts off to go potty,” Kevin crowed, following me to the bathroom. He perched on the closed toilet seat chattering away as I cleaned out the tub.
I smiled at his glee. It didn’t take much to make us happy. All we needed were the basic human necessities: food, shelter, water and heat, and we were good to go.
It took a lot of elbow grease to finally remove the rancid ring that had formed along the inside of the tub. I used the Comet liberally, making sure the tub sparkled before I would allow Kevin to use it.