Page 1 of Zimyra

CHAPTER 1

The rain peltS myumbrella like it has beef with it. Like it’s testing the fabric that the thing is made of. These aren’t just your average drops. No, these are big, heavy raindrops, pouring down right after I pulled up at the office.

“Great. Just great.”

I tried to stay dry by waiting it out. I sat in the car for a few minutes, hoping the downpour would slack off, but when I saw that it wasn’t letting up, I opened my car door, opened the umbrella, and just went for it. Now, I’m sitting at my desk with wet pantyhose.

I walk to the bathroom as my shoes make a squishy sound – evidence of the flood I just endured. I relieve my feet of the shoes and peel the pantyhose down my legs. It’s then that I notice the drip coming from the ceiling.

Splat.

Splat.

Droop.

Splat.

When it rains hard, the ceiling in the leasing office leaks – well more specifically the ceiling in thebathroomthat’s in the lobby of the leasing office leaks. I had forgotten all about it. Between rain cycles, it’s easy to forget because here in Columbia, we can go for a hot minute without getting rain and then all of a sudden, the sky erupts like it did today.

Splat.

Water splashes on my leg as I’m trying to dry off. This rain has got it out for me today. And it would be a Monday at that. But here’s the real kicker – the maintenance man and his two-man crew walked off the job last Friday, so for the time being, I must take matters into my own hands. In a closet, I find a bucket and place it beneath the drip. I have to get somebody over here to look at this leak along with a list of other maintenance issues that tenants have reported in their respective units.

But first things first…

Gloop.

I can’t be up in here listening to water being collected in a bucket, and Idefinitelycannot have future tenants seeing this nonsense. These are supposed to be upscale, luxury apartments – and they are, but nothing about an orange Home Depot bucket being used for water collection spells luxury. Absolutely nothing.

Irritated beyond belief, I walk back to my office, which is basically a massive desk centered in the lobby, and call my brother – the rough and rugged one – not the tamed and mild one.

He answers, “What up, girl?”

“Zan, you would not believe the morning I’ve had.”

“Are you going to tell me what happened, or do you want me to guess?”

“Ugh…attitude. Why do I keep forgetting how crabby you are in the mornings? I should’ve called Zavier.”

“Myra, just talk. Please. What is it?”

“Okay—thought you’d never ask. So, I leave my apartment in a hurry, hoping to make it to work before the rain starts, right? When I pull into the parking lot, the sky opens up, and—boom!—I’m stuck in a monsoon.”

Zander’s sigh irks me. He’s always so laid back – so easy-breezy that nothing disturbs him. Well, usually. I guess it’s his way of keeping his sanity. Being a fireman isn’t for the weak. As a first responder, he sees things he can’t unsee. When he’s not at work, he’s not at work. He’s nonchalant, mellow and humorous – at leasthethinks he’s funny. That mess works on Alyssa – not me. I need my big brother to listen to my venting and ranting because I can’t burden my best friend, Capri, with all my worries. Poor thing hears enough from me.

He says, “Myra, you called me on my day off to complain about the rain?”

“You haven’t heard it all yet. So, I get into the building and my legs are wet. I go to the bathroom, attempting to dry my shoes with paper towels and wipe my legs and there’s water leaking from the freakin’ ceiling.”

“You’re the property manager, babygirl. Get maintenance to take care of that.”

“I would if the maintenance team didn’t quit last week. All three of them bounced—left me high and dry.”

“What brought that on?”

“I don’t know. They were being compensated very well. I had a good working relationship with them. They just up and quit with no explanation, no resignation letter, text, email or nothing.”

“Dang.”

---