Code Name

XXII

 I was driving home from school when something odd happened. I was just pulling into my neighborhood when my phone rang. I saw Tracy's name on top and didn't really think much of it and assumed it was just another one of her calls.

"Hey, Tracy," I say while picking up the phone. "What's up with--"

Before I finish, she interrupts me. "Daniel! Can you get over here?! Trent and I need help!"

I'm thrown off guard but how urgent her voice sounds. "Sure, I'll be there in a moment. Are you guys okay?"

"The conservatory is flooded!" she almost yells. At this point, I'm going as fast as I can through the city. "Somebody broke a hole in the glass and now the place has a foot of water in it. Trent and I are doing what we can but we could use your help."

"Alright, just hang tight. I'll be there as soon as I can." I then hang up and continue on my way. It takes a good twenty minutes before I pull into their driveway. After getting out of my car and heading through the gate, I see the twins working on getting their stuff out of the conservatory.

Trent trudges through the place and hands soggy books and dripping paintings to Tracy whole places them along the outside of the wall as water floods out.

"Daniel, over here," Tracy calls out as I come over. I notice that most of the paintings have their lower third ruined from the water and Trent's books already shriveling up. "Trent and I got most of the stuff out. There's just a few more of my paintings in there. Would you mind?"

"I got it," I say as I begin to walk into the building and feel the water swish against the hem of my jeans. Eventually I get up to Trent.

"I'm just about down with getting the books from the bottom shelf. Get the rest of her paintings and we'll let the rest of it flow out until it dries." I nod and head for Tracy's desk.

Some of her paintings are still lodged between the wall and some boxes of supplies. Soon enough, I'm able to yank some of the paintings out of the slot. The only damage is the paint running off the bottom like the other and a slight horizontal tear along the left edge of the frame on one of them.

I turn around and see Trent pulling out the last of his books and Tracy holding the door open as the water gets progressively lower. After a few seconds, I'm outside and hand Tracy the painting.

"Here you go, Sorry about the little rip on the side. I couldn't get it out of the corner without a bit of a tug."

She just smiles. "No big deal. At least, you got it out of there. It's one of my favorites. Thank you, Daniel." She gives me a quick hug before placing the painting with the others.

I see that the painting appears to be from behind a couple on a bench looking out from a bay as a streetlight hangs over them on one side and a large tree on the other. The scene seems to happen at night as the dark colors turn grey from the water as most of the couple's bodies are washed away.

"Well," Trent begins. "I guess we'll let the place dry out and mop it up once it dries," Trent says to bring us back into conversation.

"Do you guys have any idea who did this? Are you gonna call the police or something?"

"There's nothing they can really investigate. It's just water and a hole big enough to put a hose through. I guess we'll just wait it out, get a blow-dryer for the stuff, everything else is high enough, and patch up the hole. Nothing big."

"The place got flooded and it's nothing big?"
Tracy puts her hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Daniel. There wasn't much damage and we started getting stuff out as soon as we got home from school."

"Does Becca know?" I ask.

"We only called you. Becca and Nate had work. Besides, if we told Becca, she'd just go straight into kicking fellas where the sun don't shine until she got answers." I keep my silence as it's honestly what she would do.

"We'll figure things out," Trent says while shaking his foot as droplets of water spurt out. "Thank you for your help but I think we're good for now. It was probably just some assholes pulling a prank."

I think it over again. "You guys are sure you'd be okay?" They both nod. "Alright. If anything else happens I'm always here to help." They say thank you and send me on my way. I suppose that was the great conservatory flood.