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Show 26 she said. She was sitting cross-legged on her couch next to a newly-surfaced spring. "You know that." "He's talking about eviction," said Fogarty. This wasn't exactly true, but it was bound to come up sooner or later; probably sooner. "He's talking about throwing you out." "But wait," said Sparkle. "I have a complaint. My toilet doesn't work. I don't have to pay rent when my toilet doesn't work. I have to use the one in that empty apartment, you know, the one you just painted." Sparkle's malfunctioning toilet was not news. A week before water had begun to leak from beneath the bowl, at the foot of the fixture, into the carpet which was now sodden. He had tried to fix it and failed. Using its disrepair as leverage against rent due, however, that was new. "Then you do_ have the money," Fogarty said slowly, tentatively, "and simply refuse to pay, right?" "Wrong. I don't have the money but I still refuse to pay." Fogarty sighed. "Sparkle, look," he said, "Jackson's not going to fix your toilet until you pay. That only makes sense. It only got screwed up last week. He doesn't have any responsibility to fix it unless you pay." Sparkle smiled away Fogarty's failure of logic. "I can't pay," she said, "when I'm not getting paid." "It's not Jackson's fault you lost your job." "Do you think it was mine?" Sparkle appeared hurt by the implied insult. |
