The shower head dripped one beat off from his heartbeat, which meant the pipes were either mocking him or dying. Judd Poxley lay in the dark, counting. Drip. Drip. Drip-half. Somebody in the building above him flushed, and the rhythm scrambled like a cheap card trick.
He got up. He always got up.
The bathroom light flickered twice before committing to the idea of brightness. Judd squinted at the guilty fixture, a chrome blob that had probably been installed during a presidency he'd only seen in documentaries. His tool bag lived under the sink, behind a fortress of half-empty shampoo bottles belonging to his ex, Delphine, who'd moved out six weeks ago but left her ghosts in citrus and lavender.
"You're the superintendent," he told his reflection. "You're the whole damn building."
The wrench fit the shower head like a bad handshake. He turned, and the threads gave a rusty squeal that sounded almost grateful. Water sprayed sideways, soaking his t-shirt, his boxers, the one clean towel he'd hung on the rack like a optimist.
"No," Judd said. "No no no."
He fumbled for the shut-off valve. His elbow knocked Delphine's lavender bottle into the tub. The cap cracked. The smell rose up, furious and floral, like she'd returned just to watch him fail.
Downstairs, Mrs. Ybanez pounded her ceiling with a broom handle. Three sharp raps. Her Morse code for *you're loud and it's late and I have court in the morning*.
Judd gripped the pipe, shivering now, water running down his neck. The shower head dangled by one thread, spitting at him. He could call a real plumber. He could admit defeat, pay someone, sleep in dry clothes.
Instead he reached deeper into the wall, fingers finding the shut-off he'd always pretended didn't exist. The water died. The silence rushed in, huge and waiting.
Judd exhaled. Then he heard the drip resume behind the wall, steady as a second pulse, where he couldn't reach it, where nobody could.
"Alright," he told the house. "You win this round."
He sat on the edge of the tub, wet through, and waited for morning.