Water

On one day, I wake up with no electricity and no water in the house. The elevator can’t work without electricity. I live on the 15th floor. This isn’t the first time this has happened and I have run up and down those 15 flights of stairs many times. I resign to staying inside for the day and catching up on work, my house a little warm bubble inside the smoky smog clouds and cold that surround my windows.

To flush the toilet, I use the tap water that S put aside for me that day we had no water, saying that I should always keep some on hand for such occasions.

“How do you say, ‘water put aside in case we run out of water,’ or ‘saved/leftover water’ in English?” He had asked me that day. 

I looked back at him with wide eyes and an awkward, embarrassed smile. “I don’t think we have a name for that in English.”

“Well, what do you call it then? I mean, how do you refer to this jug of water set aside?”

“To tell you the truth, I cannot remember a day in America when we went without water. I don’t think we have a word or a term for it.” M and S stare back and at me, and slowly their mouths turn up in a half smile, half smirk. They shake their heads. “Oh, Amerikilik, Amerikilik…” they say in unison. “Oh, Americans, Americans…”

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