12-12-2022, 06:32 PM
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Where exactly should I start this story? At the very beginning? But what is the beginning? A year ago? Two years ago? Ten years ago? Fifteen years ago?
I guess for me, the story really started in the middle of a scorching hot summer night in a small town in South Texas about a year ago. I woke up with a start in my bedroom, drenched in sweat. Summers in Texas are a lot like summers in India. Even the nights are hot. In fact even hotter. Thank heavens for ubiquitous air conditioning and ample electricity in America, you didn't suffer it much. Which is why I was confused as to why the room was so hot. I am usually a heavy sleeper. Once I even slept through an earthquake. So for me to wake up like this, the room had to be really hot.
In the darkness I got up and walked to the AC. It was making more noise than usual. So it was clearly on. I put my hand over the vents. And I understood the problem right away.
"Apara, the AC is broken." I instinctively said, and then bit my tongue. If she hadn't woken up, why wake her? She was the exact opposite of me, a very light sleeper. Luckily, there was no response. So I hadn't woken her up. Phew!
The good thing about living in a motel is that you have a huge selection of bedrooms. So what if the AC in our small manager's apartment was broken? Half the guest rooms were unoccupied. I could have my pick. I went back to the bed to get my phone from the night stand. By now my eyes had gotten used to the darkness. And that's when I first noticed it.
My wife wasn't in bed with me. I could see the bathroom door was partially open and the light wasn't on.*
I didn't really think much of it at that time. In our business, such situations can arise in the middle of the night. A guest checking in late, some complaint about noise from some room, the night clerk having to leave in the middle of the night, the security officer or immigration officers visiting us to ask if a particular fugitive is in the motel, or literally anything else you can think of. As the light sleeper, if such situations arose, Apara was the one who usually handled them.
I walked out of our apartment, remembering to take my phone and keys with me. The corridor wasn't as hot as my bedroom, but it was still not cool by any means. I checked my phone. It was 3:30 AM and the temperature outside was 38 Celsius. Ouch! No wonder. Pulling at my sweat soaked t-shirt to air it out, I walked to the front desk, which was just around the corner.*
I was half-expecting to see Apara there. But it was Pepe, a guy who occasionally filled the night shift. The 20 year old Mexican immigrant inhaled deeply when he saw me.
"Meester Hitesh!" he said loudly.
"Pepe." I nodded yawning and rubbing my eyes. "Is 106 still empty?"
If I had to choose a room, that was the best. It was the closest to our apartment. And it had the newest and strongest AC. But even as the manager with the master key, I couldn't just walk in. I had to make sure it hadn't been given to some guest.
"Que?" he said, looking either confused or scared.
I grimaced. Growing up in India, I used to think everyone in America speaks great English. It was only after I moved to the small Texas town close to the Mexican border that I realized that there were probably more English speakers in any random Gujarati town. I never understood the logic behind having a guy with zero grasp of English working at the night desk. What if someone who only spoke English showed up in the middle of the night? Apara brushed those concerns away saying, that situation in our region was highly unlikely.
"Uno....zero.....cinco." *I said trying to remember the Spanish numbers. I didn't really know too many words. Apara had grown up in Arizona and was fluent in Spanish, so if a situation arose when the language had to be spoken, she handled it.
"Uno cero cinco." He nodded.
"Is it still empty?"
"Emp....tee?"*
"Ocupado?" I said, hoping it was the right word for occupied.
He understood. Looked at the computer screen.*
"Uno cero cinco......no ocupado."
"Okay, I am going there to sleep."
Where exactly should I start this story? At the very beginning? But what is the beginning? A year ago? Two years ago? Ten years ago? Fifteen years ago?
I guess for me, the story really started in the middle of a scorching hot summer night in a small town in South Texas about a year ago. I woke up with a start in my bedroom, drenched in sweat. Summers in Texas are a lot like summers in India. Even the nights are hot. In fact even hotter. Thank heavens for ubiquitous air conditioning and ample electricity in America, you didn't suffer it much. Which is why I was confused as to why the room was so hot. I am usually a heavy sleeper. Once I even slept through an earthquake. So for me to wake up like this, the room had to be really hot.
In the darkness I got up and walked to the AC. It was making more noise than usual. So it was clearly on. I put my hand over the vents. And I understood the problem right away.
"Apara, the AC is broken." I instinctively said, and then bit my tongue. If she hadn't woken up, why wake her? She was the exact opposite of me, a very light sleeper. Luckily, there was no response. So I hadn't woken her up. Phew!
The good thing about living in a motel is that you have a huge selection of bedrooms. So what if the AC in our small manager's apartment was broken? Half the guest rooms were unoccupied. I could have my pick. I went back to the bed to get my phone from the night stand. By now my eyes had gotten used to the darkness. And that's when I first noticed it.
My wife wasn't in bed with me. I could see the bathroom door was partially open and the light wasn't on.*
I didn't really think much of it at that time. In our business, such situations can arise in the middle of the night. A guest checking in late, some complaint about noise from some room, the night clerk having to leave in the middle of the night, the security officer or immigration officers visiting us to ask if a particular fugitive is in the motel, or literally anything else you can think of. As the light sleeper, if such situations arose, Apara was the one who usually handled them.
I walked out of our apartment, remembering to take my phone and keys with me. The corridor wasn't as hot as my bedroom, but it was still not cool by any means. I checked my phone. It was 3:30 AM and the temperature outside was 38 Celsius. Ouch! No wonder. Pulling at my sweat soaked t-shirt to air it out, I walked to the front desk, which was just around the corner.*
I was half-expecting to see Apara there. But it was Pepe, a guy who occasionally filled the night shift. The 20 year old Mexican immigrant inhaled deeply when he saw me.
"Meester Hitesh!" he said loudly.
"Pepe." I nodded yawning and rubbing my eyes. "Is 106 still empty?"
If I had to choose a room, that was the best. It was the closest to our apartment. And it had the newest and strongest AC. But even as the manager with the master key, I couldn't just walk in. I had to make sure it hadn't been given to some guest.
"Que?" he said, looking either confused or scared.
I grimaced. Growing up in India, I used to think everyone in America speaks great English. It was only after I moved to the small Texas town close to the Mexican border that I realized that there were probably more English speakers in any random Gujarati town. I never understood the logic behind having a guy with zero grasp of English working at the night desk. What if someone who only spoke English showed up in the middle of the night? Apara brushed those concerns away saying, that situation in our region was highly unlikely.
"Uno....zero.....cinco." *I said trying to remember the Spanish numbers. I didn't really know too many words. Apara had grown up in Arizona and was fluent in Spanish, so if a situation arose when the language had to be spoken, she handled it.
"Uno cero cinco." He nodded.
"Is it still empty?"
"Emp....tee?"*
"Ocupado?" I said, hoping it was the right word for occupied.
He understood. Looked at the computer screen.*
"Uno cero cinco......no ocupado."
"Okay, I am going there to sleep."
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