Music in the Key of Love

Chapter 18: Catastrophe

A/N: So even I can't keep up this breakneck pace forever, right? I'm going to slow down this next week, so don't freak out if I don't update every day. I'm doing my best 😉

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When it happened, it happened quickly.

Graham was at the piano, as usual, wrapped up in the intricate third movement of the Rachmaninov, when suddenly he heard a huge noise, a creak, like an old ship would make. The sound came from over his head, where a sound like that should never happen.

He stopped playing and looked up, just in time to see the crack in the ceiling open up and an absolute deluge of water come down on him and the piano.

WTF?

Graham jumped up and leapt away from the water. He ran to the other side of the room, staring at the hole in the ceiling and the water, which seemed to be following him in a small rivulet across the floor.

Mikey's astonished face appeared in the hole, which was now the size of a coffee table. "Graham? Are you okay, dear?"

"I'm okay," he assured her. "You should get away from the hole, though, looks like the edge is going to give way even more."

Sure enough, another big chunk of the ceiling gave one warning creak and came crashing down on the floor. He could now see very well into Mikey's apartment through the hole.

There was a tap on his door, and he opened it to find Mikey, looking concerned.

"I'm calling the landlord right now," Graham got his phone out. "Yes, hello? This is Graham Stevens, your tenant on Myrtle Street? That's right, 1A. Well, something's gone really wrong, a leak or a water pipe broke or something. Yeah, there's a huge hole in the ceiling and water everywhere." He looked at Mikey, who was peering around interestedly. "What? No, I can't repair it with a little plaster like last time." He listened for a moment before saying, "I don't think you understand, there's a fucking hole in the ceiling you could drive a car through, and water is coming through it at about a thousand gallons a minute!" He listened some more. "Okay, okay, I can do that, where is it?"

He hung up and turned to Mikey. "He's on his way, and he told me to go to the garden and turn off the water main." He and Mikey went outside and hunted around, until Mikey finally found it, a great, huge knob under a cover next to the house. Mikey couldn't turn it, so she called for Graham.

He came over and turned it until it wouldn't turn anymore.

"Okay, so that's done, now what?" Mikey asked.

"I guess we wait for Rufus." Rufus was their landlord.

"I'm surprised Cressida didn't come down to see what was going on, she must've heard it up in her apartment, don't you think?"

"Cress has class right now."

They went back in to survey the damage.

The water had spread across the floor of most of the apartment, leaving interesting patterns where it had run down the wall.

"Oh, Graham, your piano!" Mikey was aghast.

"I know, I know," Graham groaned, squelching through the water to survey the damage. Up close, it looked even worse. The water had broken through the top and soaked the soundboard. A big chunk of ceiling sat on top of it. Many of the hammers had also broken.

"Will you be able to repair it?" Mikey asked.

"No, I don't think so. It would cost more than the piano's worth, even if I had the money," Graham replied, running his hand through his wet hair. "Dammit!"