The apartment had been hot for a week. It didn’t seem to matter how low we set the air conditioner, the poor thing was unable to keep up.
Well, that’s not completely true. My and Zach’s room was fine…cold actually. It seemed only the central common room, kitchen, and Peter and Phil’s room that were suffering.
Every time I came into the apartment I pondered the problem, “Maybe the air conditioner is going out? One of us should go check the filter, or call the apartment complex, or something.” But none of us had time for that. We were all extremely active juniors in college. Between classes, studying, social activities, and church stuff none of us had time to address minor problems like half the apartment being 90+ degrees.
It’s amazing what problems you can put off until tomorrow when your busy.
It was a Thursday afternoon when everything blew up. Phil and I were sitting on the couch sweating. At first we were both sitting in silence roasting together. Then Phil let go a loud, “AHHHHH! It is freak’in hot bro!” We were both erupted in hysterical laughter. The humidity had driven us to delirium.
That was when an incredibly sweaty Peter erupted from his room clutching something tightly in his fist. Lines of anger ran across his forehead. “Where is Zach?” he said with an eerie calm.
“What’cha got there?” Phil said with a grin.
Peter released his death grip to reveal a crumpled piece of notebook paper with holes poked in it. I stared at his hand in confusion until Peter pointed to the vent in the living room and said, “Look!” There behind the vent was another piece of paper. Peter darted into his room and re-emerged with a screw driver. Grabbing a chair from the kitchen to stand on, he went to work on the vent.
Like clock work the front door opened and in came Zach. “Oh man. You found them.” he said to a glaring Peter.
“Why would you do this?” Peter said with rage.
“When I said my room was hot you said it was tough luck. I don’t believe in luck so I decided to fix it.” Zach said with a grin.
My mind flashed back to a conversation I had witnessed two weeks ago in the kitchen. Zach was complaining that our room was always hot while Peter and Phil’s room seemed cool. Peter had made some smart comment about it and then Zach had left the room in silence. At the time I didn’t think anything of the silence. We were tight friends. Poking fun at each other was no big deal. Looking up at Peter on a chair and then looking over at Zach’s grin, I realized that Zach’s silence had not been acceptance and defeat but rather the birth of a plan. Zach had a twisted genius we all loved, laughed at, and feared.
All Peter’s rage was gone. Now only shock remained. He said, “Bro, you can’t just do stuff like this.”
Zach smiled and said, “I won’t do that again.” Then he went to his room leaving us to wonder at the emphasis he had placed on the word “that”.
Peter looked at Phil and I confused. Phil started laughing. I laughed too and said, “I’m going to bed. It’s cooler in there. See you guys in the morning.”
You See Kids.... 