Episode 26 - Water Sports
Jules had been online for nearly 24 hours straight over the weekend. She and Helen made grand plans. The one serious problem Jules had was cash. She decided that next week she was really going to look for work.
She got up and boiled the kettle to make herself another coffee. Her hands were shaking from lack of sleep, excitement and an overdose of caffein. She touched her lip while the water boiled and hoped like hell the swelling would go down before Helen arrived. She didn't want to pick her up from the airport looking like the Elephant Man.
She opened the fridge and pulled out an empty milk carton.
'Great!' she grumbled. She didn't have a cent on her to buy any more so she decided to go and freeload off Nan. She sent a message to Helen telling her she'd 'BRB'.
Nan was out on the landing in her chair with the racing guide in her lap. Her small transistor radio was announcing the latest race results. Jules grinned at the sight of the elderly lady marking off horse names with a pen and a cigarette dangling from her lower lip. She looked like an ancient bookie.
Nan saw Jules coming and raised her hand, stopping Jules from talking. Nan's race was nearly finished and by the sounds of it her horse was in the lead.
'Come on you sodding thing!' she yelled. She looked up at Jules and appologised for her language then went back to listening to the race. It got pipped at the post and she slammed the newspaper to the ground. Her cigarette was still hanging unheaded from her mouth and she wore a fair amount of its ash in her lap. She swept it off with one wrinkled hand.
'No good, huh?' Jules asked. Nan grumbled that she hoped the horse would be turned into dog food. Jules chuckled. 'Would you mind if I borrowed some milk, Nan?'
'Help yourself, dear. You know where the fridge is.' Nan said, scrutinizing the guide again. Jules thanked her and went in and got a cup of milk. When she came out, Nan was looking at her with a concerned expression on her face.
'What's wrong? Do I have a booger hanging?' she said, picking at her nose.
'I was wondering if you would like a bit of work, Jules. You always seem to be in need of some extra money.' Nan said. Jules looked dubious,
'Doing what?' she asked.
'The pool cleaner hasn't been here for a week. I tried to phone him but the operator said the number has been disconnected.'
Jules had heard that he had gone up north to have a sex change but she didn't divulge this information to the old lady.
'So, Nan continued, 'if you were interested, how would you like to do it?'
Jules didn't have a clue about pool maintenance but she agreed immediately. She could always look it up on the internet. Nan told her all the equipment was in the shed and gave her the key. Jules put it in her back pocket,
'Cool. I'll start tomorrow.'
Nan gave her a wary stare,
'No, Jules. I'd prefer it if you would start now. The lads are complaining that they are getting ear infections from the water.'
Jules thought that it wasn't ear infections they should be worried about. It was common knowledge that a few of the boi's brought back their dates for midnight skinny dipping.
'Ok, I'll just pop home and get changed.'
'Good grrl,' Nan said, going back to her racing guide. She had been more worried that Jules, as unreliable as she was, would keep putting the task off. She thought it was better that she start straight away.
Jules reluctantly logged off from her beloved computer, changed into shorts and a tshirt and headed towards the shed that backed on to the apartments. Inside was an array of hoses, poles and nets. She dragged everything out and laid it all beside the small swimming pool, that was indeed looking like a swamp. From what she could figure out the hoses were for the pool vaccuum, which end went where she had no idea.
She decided that scooping out the dead leaves seemed an easy starting point. Once that was done, she snuck back into her apartment and did a search. She got a rough idea of how the vaccuum was supposed to work and discovered the wonderful world of pool filters and pH. Armed with her new knowledge she confidently strode back to the pool.
She found the filter and in the basket she discovered leaves, litter, condoms and a dental dam. She had never seen one up close before.
It took her an hour to work out the vaccuum cleaner and after wrestling with the hose, she was merrily sucking up scum off the bottom of the pool. She saw Lee pull up and waved to her. Lee nearly fell over at the sight of Jules doing actual physical labour and even more amazing, she was out in the daylight.
Jules told her excitedly about her new job and as usual, Lee was extremely sceptical. She didn't think she'd last a week but she supposed at least she was trying. Lee started to think this Net grrlfriend wasn't too bad after all if she could motivate Jules into being a productive member of society.
Lee left her to it and Jules went into the shed to tackle the issue of chlorine. She thought a few handfuls would do it. She didn't bother reading the warnings on the bucket and grabbed two handfuls.
She cast the granuels into the pool and a gust of wind sent some of it back into her face. Her eyes immediately began to burn. She screamed and rubbed at her eyes with hands that were covered with chlorine powder.
Her tears turned to acid.
to be continued... |
