Category: Heating

I whistled as I cracked open the front door of my house, excitement at escaping the brisk winter air getting the better of me.

         ‘Honey, I’m ho—’

         The frigid air inside the house shocked the breath from my lungs as I rapidly pulled the zipper back up on the jacket I’d been about to remove.

         ‘Honey?!’ I called out into the house.

         My wife appeared in the hallway, bundled into layers of all her winter clothes and smiling at me.

         ‘How was your day?’ she asked, walking towards me.

         ‘How was my— what happened in here?’

         She looked confused for a second, then the penny dropped.

         ‘Oh, you didn’t know about the heater.’

         ‘The heater? What’s wrong with the heater?’

         ‘Nothing, nothing,’ she soothed me. ‘But it is broken and not turning on.’

         ‘That’s something,’ I shook, the images of me taking my feet off near the heater duct after a long day, slowly freezing solid in my mind.

         ‘We have someone coming to look at it, don’t worry.’

         ‘How long will they be?’

         ‘Not long.’

         ‘How long?’

         ‘A week or two.’

         ‘A week?!’      

         ‘Or two.’

         ‘Why?!’

         ‘Well,’ my wife crossed her arms, ‘this is their busiest time of the year, when everybody needs their professional ducted heater servicing. Around Canberra it’s even worse, apparently – we should consider ourselves lucky.’

         ‘I’m not feeling very lucky,’ I glowered, kicking my snow-covered boots off.

         ‘Oh relax, it’s just a bit of cold,’ my wife laughed. ‘You’ll be okay.’

         ‘I was looking forward to being warm!’

         She giggled again and walked into the kitchen. I followed after her, still dutifully zipped into my jacket.

         ‘How many places did you call?’

         ‘Places?’ she asked.

         ‘You know, companies that do heating services, near Canberra.’

         ‘All of them, dear,’ she rolled her eyes. ‘I know how dramatic you get when it’s cold.’

         ‘It’s not dramatic,’ I protested, ‘it’s proportional.’       

         ‘Right,’ she rolled her eyes again.

         ‘I have very low body fat,’ I defended myself weakly.

         ‘Yes, dear,’ she said. ‘Pie for dessert?’

         ‘Yes, dear,’ I sighed.

‘Have you ever b-been so c-c-cold?’ Miguel shivered next to me in the cave, huddling against me for warmth.

I considered whether we should head back out into the snow and stay with the plane – both as a landmark for if we were going to get rescued and because the last time I’d seen it, it had been on fire.

A low keening howl on the wind made me drop that plan pretty quickly.

‘What are we gonna d-do, Jake?’ Miguel asked, and I noticed his speech beginning to slow down.

‘We’re going to make it,’ I said sternly. ‘That’s what we’re gonna do.’

‘H-how? We-we’re stuck out here, nobody flies that p-path.’

‘They’ll come looking,’ I reassured him, rubbing his arms over his jacket. ‘We’re already an hour late for our landing, they’ll be looking.’

He didn’t seem convinced, so I searched for a new strategy.

‘You know, I just had my annual ducted heating service, for my Canberra home.’

‘W-what?’ he frowned, confused.

‘Yeah, just had it done.’

‘Wh-why are you—’

‘It’s a good question, “why?”,’ I interrupted. ‘They say it’s supposed to be annual, but I’m a lazy homeowner. Plus, I just don’t spend that much time in Canberra anymore.’

‘Oh?’ Miguel said, seemingly content to let me distract him. ‘Why not-t?’

‘Just the flights I’ve been getting, been spending more time in the other capitals.’

‘Ah,’ he nodded.

‘But I arrived in Canberra last week, and you know the first thing I thought?’

‘How n-nice the airport i-is?’

‘Of course that, but also how much I desperately needed a heater servicing. Canberra is usually so warm too, so I barely turn the thing on, but as soon as the weather dipped it was all I could think about.’

‘Warm…’ Miguel whispered to himself, eyes drifting closed.

‘Yeah, buddy,’ I sighed. ‘Probably for the best. I’ll wake you up if anything interesting happens.’

And then I was alone in the cave – save for Miguel’s snoring, and the low howling in the distance.