As he approached the elevator on the ground floor, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
The sign taped to the door said, ‘Closed for maintenance.’ After the day he had already suffered, this really was the last straw. As he trudged up the six flights of stairs, he felt he should be grateful to have someone waiting in the apartment that would be understanding and always happy to listen to him. His flatmate was going to have trouble believing all this, but anyway, it’ll be good to get it off his chest. He thought about his friend. As a companion he does have his drawbacks, but he’s a good listener.
Finally, gasping for breath, he went through the front door, calling out, “Home! Home early!” He heard, “Hi! In here.” He found his buddy sitting in an armchair reading the paper.
He stood for a moment, still catching his breath. Eventually, he said, “Hi! You simply wouldn’t credit the day I’ve had. It has been one disaster after another.”
His friend smiled. “Oooh! Do tell.”
As he sat down opposite, he said, “So much has happened.” He screwed up his eyes to bring it all back. “It all started in the office, just before lunch, when the Internet went down. Of course, that stopped everything and we had to take our break early. The canteen was crowded, so I decided to get some printing done while the queue thinned out a bit.
When I got to the machine there was this sign hanging on it saying ‘Out of Order’. It was really frustrating, so I thought I’d get a cup of coffee to let myself down a bit. It had a sheet of A4 paper with ‘Not Working”, scribbled on it. So I went back to my desk to make a note about doing the printing later. That’s when the air-conditioning cut out. I mean, it just stopped!”
His friend said, “Unbelievable!” and shook his head, obviously taking it all in.
“Anyway,” the other went on, “that’s when the boss turned up and sent everyone home. Well, I knew I needed to get some cash out, so I stopped at the bank on my way to the bus. I was surprised to find quite a crowd in there, then I saw the reason. A sign on the ATM, saying, ‘ATM under repair’. So, I cut across the park to get to the stop and was amazed to find a notice stuck on the door to the public toilets that read ‘Closed for Repairs’, and another sign hanging off the drink fountain saying ‘Do not use’. I couldn’t believe it. What are the chances?”
The other just sat shaking his head.
He went on again. “When I got to the bus stop, I had to stand and wait, because the seat was broken. Of course, the bus was late, and when I got here, and this will make you wonder whether I’m making all this up, what do you suppose was stuck across the elevator’s door?”
He looked across at his friend.
The hand, that moments before had been massaging the back of his neck, dropped to the side. His eyes went a dull grey and he slid sideways with a limp arm hanging over the side of the chair.
The other got up and went to his flatmate. He stood for a moment shaking his head. He opened the top buttons of his shirt, exposing a small panel in his chest. He flipped open the cover and checked the tiny screen.
Flat battery!