Sewers pt.2

After some time spent vacuuming up trash, Lobert felt like making the time a little more entertaining. After all, he found this job pretty boring and monotonous, so he initiated a conversation.

"This job is pretty 'shitty', isn't it? Ba-dum-tsss." Lobert was quite proud of his word play but Marc didn't seem to laugh.

"It puts food on the table and keeps a roof over my head, so I can't complain."

"True, but do you want to work here until you drop dead? Don't you have any dreams for the future?"

"Of course I have dreams, if I didn't have dreams I wouldn't really be living."

"And what would a guy like you dream of?" Lobert asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I wish to have enough money so that I can pay for my brother's higher education, then I would rent us a bigger apartment in one of the private districts. New clothes, enough to change them daily and expensive food should not be missing either. Of course, I'd buy you a drink."

"Big dreams for a big man." Lobert gave an ample nod of understanding. "I'll take you up on your offer when the time comes."

"Optimistic today?" Marc commented. "What about you, what do you dream of?"

"Hmm..." Lobert thought for a moment, there were many things he desired.

"First i would-"

"Shh!" Marc interrupted. "I think I heard something."

Lobert closed his mouth and tried to hear what Marc had heard.

For a moment all that could be heard was the soft trickle of water leaking from the pipes above them, but now that they were both quiet it could be heard quite well, a distant scurrying and squirming, with occasional squeaking.

"Rats." Marc and Lobert said simultaneously.

It was not uncommon to find rats in the sewers, and it was also part of their job to get rid of them. Still, the two were tense every time they encountered some.

"Be careful that they don't bite you or you might get the plague." warned Marc. He warned him about such things all the time, preferring to make sure in case Lobert wasn't aware or forgot.

"Are you sure the plague is transmitted via bites?"

"If you want to risk it, go ahead." Marc replied.

The squeaking sound came closer and Marc readied himself.

Lobert opened the valve on the hose and immediately the air was sucked in with a force that sent cold sweat down his forehead.

If you look into the hose at the wrong time and it suddenly starts sucking air, you could certainly get your eyeballs ripped out of your head.

The rats came closer and were soon within range of the light. Lobert began counting them. "One... Two... Three..."

They moved too chaotically for him to count them well. "...There are about seven of them."

The rats didn't know what awaited them. They were only irritated by the loud suction noise. And before the foremost rat could realize its mistake, its little feet were already lifting from the ground and it was whirling at a rapid speed towards the hose.

Before the rodent behind the poor rat understood what was happening, it was too late for him as well.

It went flup, then again, and again, until you would have thought the rats had never been there in the first place.

Lobert closed the valve again and Marc, full of relief, put the hose on the floor. "I hate rats from the bottom of my heart." Marc said while turning to Lobert, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Then you've got yourself the right jo-" Lobert was interrupted.

Marc saw a rat that somehow snuck past the hose suction and was now sitting between Lobert's feet.

Without thinking much and with a minor panic, Marc kicked the rat aside with full force.

But since the rat had made itself comfortable between Lobert's legs, Lobert was not spared from the kick either.

It swept Lobert off his feet and he flew headlong, together with the rat, into the sewage.

Lobert submerged completely for a moment and then resurfaced while flailing around frantically; he could swim, but it was not all that healthy to take a bath in the sewage.

The smell hit him, and what he previously thought smelled horrible was no match to what his nose had to go through now.

He coughed a few times and shouted, "Get me out of here!"

However, Marc had already laid down with his chest on the floor and stretched out his hand to Lobert, who, as soon as he spotted it, grabbed it immediately. He alone could only get out into the dry with difficulty.

In such situations, Lobert appreciated it a lot that Marc was with him; even if he was the one who created this mess in the first place.

Marc easily pulled up Lobert, and with him, some other unidentifiable things, hair, and parts of a plastic bag that clung to Lobert.

Finally in safety, Lobert fell right to his knees and hands, coughed some more, and whined, "Uuegh, something got in my mouth, Uuuueegh!"

Lobert shoved a finger down his throat and tried to trigger the gag reflex until he finally threw up; His contribution to the sewage.

That was the worst day of work Lobert has had so far, by far; he really wanted to change jobs, but this job was the best he could get.

Marc gently stroked his back. "Sorry."

When all of Lobert's stomach contents were finally floating in the sewage, Lobert turned around to Marc.

He looked Marc up and down for a moment and grabbed Marc's sleeve which was still reasonably clean - and wiped his face with it.

"Heey!" Marc protested.

"Apology accepted." Lobert replied.

They both laughed briefly.

×

After they were done vacuuming waste for the day they moved on to the next task; fixing the broken pump.

The pump rooms were always located at the respective ends of the sewer lines, so Marc and Lobert packed up their things and drove to the edge of the outer South District.

Once there, Marc parked the service truck next to a small service house that led to the sewers and from there to the pump room below.

Marc hopped out of the truck, slammed the door, and said with anticipation, "So, just fixing the pump and then we can to wrap up for today."

Lobert, who had also gotten out in the meantime, replied in an exhausted voice: "It's about time; it's already starting to get dark. I can't wait to get home and change my clothes, not to mention take a shower."

"You definitely need a shower, or else I'm going to start stinking like you."

Marc smiled, took the key from his hip and unlocked the door, but Lobert didn't come. "You go ahead; I have to go to the toilet. Leave the door open for me."

"I can't do that, just take the key."

Marc tossed the key to Lobert with impressive dexterity.

"See you in a minute!" Lobert shouted and ran off to look for a restroom.

To Lobert's misfortune, the restroom he ran to was closed due to some malfunction.

However, if his memory didn’t disappoint, there was supposed to be one in the opposite direction Lobert had gone.

Out of breath, Lobert unfortunately discovered that it was closed as well, oddly enough.

"What utter crap!" Lobert cursed. What bad luck he had.

Lobert admitted defeat and simply looked for a dark corner to relieve himself. He hurried because he didn't want to keep Marc waiting for too long.