Two vans, three people and a paper map.
Harlow is Ruth, who answers the phone. Pike is Dennis, who joined her first, so the names went on the door in the order the people arrived. The shop is at 61 Copeland Street in Quincy. Both vans leave from there.
The map behind the shop counter, drawn small. The city’s water mains and shut-offs are in grey-green. An inked ring with a crew member’s initials marks each shut-off that turned up and was not on the city’s drawing. Ruth redraws the copies for both vans on Fridays.
Who answers and who comes
- Ruth Harlow
- Takes the calls, writes the prices and does the paperwork. At the shop she answers at the counter. After hours the line rings on a landline at her kitchen table, with a cord long enough to reach the stove.
- Dennis Pike
- Does the heat: oil boilers, gas boilers and anything with a burner in it. He sweeps the cellar floor before he opens a boiler, so whatever falls out is easy to see.
- Imani Brooks
- Does the plumbing and the drains. She runs the 75-foot cable and counts the feet aloud as it goes in, so the distance she tells you is one she measured.
Three things we say out loud
- The price
- Before anything is unscrewed. It is the figure on the invoice.
See every posted price - The half rule
- If a repair costs more than half of what replacing the thing would cost, we say so and put both prices on the invoice. You pick.
- The van
- When it leaves Copeland Street you get a text with the van number and the minutes. In a storm the minutes are the real ones.
What rides in each van
Van 1, Dennis Pike
- Oil nozzles in six sizes
- Cad cells and electrodes
- Oil filters and two spare circulators
- A 40-gallon gas water heater, strapped in for the cold mornings
Van 2, Imani Brooks
- The 75-foot drain cable
- Copper, press fittings and a torch for sweating
- Fill valves, flappers and wax rings
- Frost-free spigots and fixture shut-offs
Both vans carry a paper copy of the shut-off map and a spare pair of booties for the visitor who forgot.
Call and ask for Ruth.
The line rings at the shop while it is open and at her kitchen table the rest of the time.
Call, any hour617 555 0148