Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 19

Niko was having a good day.

Keyword: was.

Work had actually gone well. Things were looking up, sales were going up. Deadlines were being met on time, if not early, and everything was going well. He even got to talk to one of the companies that he had been trying to get ahold of for a whole month. After talking to them, they had actually been able to come up with an agreement. Once that was settled, he wouldn't have to worry about talking to them for at least another year.

It was all fantastic.

Until he came home.

He opened the garage door to see that there was water flooding his floor. He stopped the car before he got too close and ran towards it. He had no idea what was going on, and he knew that the workers weren't going to be there then. He had gotten home late, when their shifts were normally over. He didn't even know how long this had gone on. How much damage was this going to be?! Where was this even coming from?!

He raced through the water, unafraid of damaging his shoes or pants. They were both completely soaked as he trudged through the water and into one of the rooms that connected it. It was the storage room, and the boxes were already damaged from all the water flowing through it. He wished that he could yell at someone who was there. It would have been nice to have someone to help him at least.

He raced through the storage room to the next one, finally finding the source of the problem.

His washing machine! Water was gushing out of it like a fountain!

How could he stop it? What was he going to do? He needed to call a plumber and fast, but he wasn't even sure which one to call.

Niko ran out of the room and back to his car. He had been in such a rush that he left both his phone and wallet in the tray area. His wallet was the first thing he found. He started scouring the thing for all of the cards that he had in it. He kept everything, just in case he needed it.

One of the first cards in the stack that he had was Solomon's. He looked at it. It was a green one with the company name on it: 'Amor's AC, Plumbing, and Appliance Repair'. It wasn't the most creative of names, but it was straight and to the point. And it had the perfect thing that he needed on it.

He dialed the number. Hopefully they still worked this late. He had been in the office doing extra paperwork, and, of course, something had to go wrong. He never had to worry about this kind of thing with his mansion before. He had no idea what was going on with his washing machine, but the longer he waited, the more damage was done to his house.

"Amor's AC, Plumbing and Appliance," that amazing voice came over the phone. "Solomon speaking, how can I help you?"

"Solomon, it's Niko," he said. "I need you to connect me with one of your plumbers or something. I have an emergency."

"What's going on?" thankfully the man caught onto his urgency. His voice sounded like it was all business.

"My washing machine's broken!" he told him. "It's spraying water everywhere, and I've already got three rooms flooded!"

"Okay," he heard the sound of a car starting up. "The first thing I need you to do is shut off the main water valve."

"The what now?!"

"Are you outside at the moment?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you see a metal lid in your front yard?" Solomon asked him. "It should say 'Water' or 'City of Amor' on it."

Niko knew enough about his house to know where that was, thankfully. He ran over to it.

"Yeah, I found it."