025 POV sukee at door. 874

I freeze. Damn you Sukee. Can't you just leave us be? We're not being that loud. Sure, he's screamed, but compared to the other tenants in this building I'm by far the quietest the majority of the time. The man who lives directly below me plays his music loudly at least three times a week. Sukee normally gives him about an hour of making a racket before she goes and bangs on his door. Why can't she give me the same leeway? I figure it's probably something to do with the blood in the hallway. 

'Susan, open up, what going on?' Sukee calls out as she wracks knuckles on my door again. 

'Get rid of her, but don't open the door.' The man says through gritted teeth as he presses the gauze on his wound, stemming the blood flow. 

'How the hell am I gonna do that? She's like a Jack Russell with a bone.' 

'I don't care. If you don't want her to die, you'll figure something out. Pass me more gauze.'

I hand the man the rest of the packets of gauze then get up. My mind racing over the best way to deter Sukee. 

'Leave the washroom door open. If you open the front door or try to move out of my line of sight I will shoot you.'

'I believe you.' I mutter as I walk into the living room. 

Sukee pounds on my door again and yells. 'Susan, open now.' 

'Sukee, I'm fine. Sorry about the noise.' I say with very little conviction. 

'What's all the yelling?' She calls back.

'My friend fell over.' I say, and cringe at just how weak this explanation is. 

'Bullshit. Now you open door. What going on?'

'Nothing is going on Sukee. Really, we're fine.'

'Tell her that as a tenant you have privacy rights. She needs to give you twenty-four hours notice before she can come in and inspect the premises.' The man says loud enough for me to hear but quiet enough that it's unlikely Sukee got the specifics of that. 

I look to him, lying in the bathtub, his silenced handgun aimed directly at me. I really don't want to say anything like that to Sukee, but the man waves me on.

'Sukee, I don't have to open up. I've got privacy rights.' I say with next to no gusto.

'Twenty-four hours notice,' he reminds me.

'You're supposed to give me twenty-four hours notice before you can come in to inspect my apartment.'

Sukee is silent for a second. I can imagine her processing this. She finally breaks the quiet with, 'If you no open now, I call cops.'

Somehow I knew that would be her response. She's not one to back down and give up easily. Once she's got her mind set on something, she won't give up. 

'Tell her if she calls the police you'll report her for multiple superintendent violations.' The man calls to me.

I don't want to threaten to report her to the council, but it's better I try and deal with her than what this man would do. The whole building is in a terrible state of repair. But the thing is, I knew that moving in. The man waves his gun at me again, urging me on. 

'If you call the cops, I'll report you to the council for your superintendent violations.' 

'I do nothing wrong. It you make noise, put blood everywhere, not me.'

The man calls out, 'The elevator doesn’t work, the fire exits are blocked, there’s no functioning fire extinguishers or smoke detectors, the banisters are broken, the stairwell’s a mess. As a superintendent you’re in violation of half a dozen codes, all of which carry fines of up to twenty five thousand dollars each and three of which carry penalties of up to five years jail time.'

I stare at the man, wondering how the hell he knows all that. 'Say it.' He commands. And I do my very best to recite what he just said. When I'm done there's absolutely silence from Sukee. 

I can't see her, but I can image her face pinched in anger. Never in a million years would I say something like that to her because I know just how she'll react. I brace for the torrent of abuse I'm sure is about to come. She's not one to take a threat like that lightly and back down. Or at least I didn't think she was. To my surprise her reply is a muffled 'Humph,' followed by the gentle patter of her steps down the hallway and the thump of her door as she slams it closed behind her.

I wait a moment, half expecting her to explode back out, master key to my apartment in hand and for her to force her way in. But she doesn't return. Sukee stays in her home. I'm stunned by this. I turn to face the man and ask, 'Who the hell are you? How do you know so much about building-codes and council by-law violations not to mention home surgery?'

The man doesn't answer my question. Instead he says, 'Give me a hand, I need your help to get this wound bandaged.'