Page 24 of Dreams and Reptiles

“Okay, here’s the deal. I’ll try to plunge it, but we really need to turn the water off. You don’t have a wrench, huh?”

Francis shook his head, and I thought I saw the beginnings of a tear in the corner of his eye. We could not have that.

“Gotcha. Know how to work this thing?” I handed him the plunger. He nodded. “Great. How about you get to work on it, and I’ll run home and grab some tools. We’ll at least get the water turned off and then figure out what to do next?”

He nodded and entered the bathroom. His look of determination would have been cute if he didn’t seem so frustrated.

I took off at a run, flew down the path in the grass that had been flattened by our rendezvous and John Wayne, and dashed into my work shed. Thankfully, I had a tool bag that covered just about any home repair, so I grabbed it, swapped out the sneakers for rainboots, and ran back to Francis’s backdoor. I let myself in and found him plunging away, to no avail.

“Hey, no luck?”

He was cursing in time with each plunge and shaking his head.

“All right, let’s get this thing turned off.”

I found the shutoff and with a few hard yanks on the wrench, the white-water rapids finally ceased.

Francis let out a relieved sigh behind me. “I thought for sure the whole house was going to flood. Thank you.”

“No worries,” I said, offering him a warm smile. I couldn’t believe how happy I was to see him. “I’m glad to help however I can, anytime I’m around, okay? Whatever you need. Sugar, flour, tools, conversation… Want me to check the rest of the toilets? Have you had any issues with any other ones?”

“Not so far,” he said. “I swear, I’m not completely incompetent, but I never had to worry about this stuff before. We always lived in buildings that had a handyman on staff. My mom can fix stuff—she grew up working in her parents’ restaurant—but I never took the time to learn. I always figured there’d be someone else to do it, which was incredibly poor planning on my part.”

“Never too late to learn,” I offered. “Do you have any tools?”

“A hammer and a level. I knew I’d be hanging some art. I think I have a screwdriver thing that has multiple tips? That’s it.”

“How about the work shed out there? Did the previous owners leave anything?”

“No, it’s empty. Derek helped me find companies to do yard maintenance and pool service. I figure I’ll handle the housekeeping until we get really busy, and then I’ll hire someone for that. Guess I need to add a handyman to my list?”

“You can keep this tool bag here for now. And I’d love to take you to Nuts and Bolts and help you put together an emergency tool kit. What do you think?”

He gave me a gracious smile. “Thank you. Now, bugs?”

He led me up two flights of stairs to the second level, and I tried to hide my shock and awe. “This place is great. What do you think so far?”

He sighed dramatically. “I’ve loved every bit of it up until the gusher downstairs.”

“You really took on a lot out here,” I said, hoping it didn’t sound condescending.

He chuckled. “Says the man who has a whole horde of reptiles to take care of. Horde, herd… what’s the appropriate name for your cold-blooded brood?”

It was good to see his sense of humor returning.

“Actually, you’d call them a creep.”

He burst out laughing as he stopped at the top of the landing. “No way. You’re messing with me.”

“No, a mess is what you call my iguanas.”

He rolled his eyes, and I was incredibly pleased with myself that I’d gotten him to relax.

“Iguanas, huh? What else do you have?”

I tilted my head to the side. “When you’re ready, how about I show you?”

He licked his lips. “All right. I’d like that. It’s a good idea to know what lives next door, I think.”