The appointment window

The cupboard under the kitchen sink is still empty. Everything I took out for the repair is on the table, leaving just enough room for a plate.

Water has been escaping from the joint beneath the sink when I empty it. I put a bowl underneath and reported it. The reply offered an afternoon window and asked me to be home to let the person in. I confirmed that I would be.

Before work I moved the cleaning things, wiped the cupboard floor, and left the bowl where the water would land. There was nothing else to prepare.

At work I opened yesterday's reply beside the file. Keep the old total beside the new one. With the instruction there, the remaining sections were easier to work through. Some of the sentences described only the old result. I changed those as I went instead of assuming the figures were the whole job.

I had said when I needed to leave. Before lunch I sent another message saying which sections I expected to finish and which might remain. The answer was to send what I had before going and leave the rest marked.

So that was what I did. I stopped at the time I had chosen, attached the file, and left a note at the next unchecked section. I did not stay to make the unfinished part look smaller.

The bus was supposed to get me home before the appointment window began. I had allowed for the walk from the stop and another stretch of time that was not assigned to anything. I remember feeling pleased about that. Actual spare time, instead of several jobs all borrowing the same ten minutes.

The bus came. For a while we moved normally. Then the traffic ahead backed up through an intersection, and we spent the next green light beside the same car.

I checked the time after we missed another one.

At first the spare time covered it. Then it covered only part of the walk. I sent the repair contact a message while I could still have been early: the bus was delayed, I was on my way, and I might miss the start of the window.

I asked whether they could call before arriving.

They did.

The person was already close to the building. I explained where I was. I could give the distance much more confidently than the time. The bus moved while we were talking, then stopped again.

They asked if anyone else could let them in. I said I had not arranged that. I asked if they could put another visit ahead of mine.

They had another call to get to and could not promise to come back. I asked them to let me know if anything changed, and thanked them before hanging up. The thanks came out briskly, as if we had agreed on something useful.

I kept the phone in my hand for the rest of the trip.

By the time I reached the apartment there was a message saying they had left. I called back from inside. No later visit was available today. The next window they offered was another afternoon when I would be at work.

I said I would have to check before confirming it.

The bowl had done its job. There was a little water in it and none on the cupboard floor. I emptied it, dried it, and put it back. Then I stood up too quickly and caught my shoulder on the edge of the counter.

I was angry enough to want one thing I could identify as the mistake. I went through the messages again. They had the leaving time, the warning, the request to call. I had sent the file before leaving. The repair person had other people waiting.

I put the phone down without finding anything to correct.

For supper I moved the cleaning bottles off the table onto the floor. Afterward I washed the plate, ran more water than I meant to, and had to empty the bowl again.

I have written the offered window in a message to work. It asks whether I can leave early again, with the file still unfinished.

I need an answer before I can call back. I sent it.