Just before sunrise; a short stocky man pulls into an empty parking lot. With it still raining outside he unfurls an umbrella just as he gets out of his vehicle. While the vehicle may look like it is held together with nothing more than duct tape and bungie cord; the car in question was mechanically sound and safe. Its driver in question knew how to maintain his equipment on a limited budget. As the custodian and head janitor of Moon Lake Elementary he was always the first to enter the school and the last to leave. The night prior, when the skies opened up and let forth their rage, he worried what might be instore for him today.
Moon Lake Elementary, like Tachibana headquarters is one of the oldest buildings in Moon Lake. While the school may not be as old as Tachibana’s office; it was built prior to the turn of the twentieth century. Pushing well over one hundred years old, it has bared witness to many renovations, remodels, repairs and retrofits. While a good portion of the school is of modern construction and fairly recent; it was the old basement and administration area that was once the original school the custodian was worried over.
He knew that area of the school had a bad roof in need of replacing and the basement was prone to flooding in a bad storm. When the power cut out, he knew the sump pumps that where installed a few years back would stop functioning; he was hoping that there was money in the budget to put in a backup generator for freak storm such as the one that happened last night. But when Benton Knight was part of the were-council; he fought to hold back funding for the heritage building. Benton was in favor of it being gutted and rebuilt.
As he walked into the main entrance he noticed that all the lights were out. While power for the town was restored an hour ago; the janitor knew that the damage the rain storm caused must be worse than feared. Heading to the basement he gets to the mechanical room where all the breakers and electrical panels are located. What he sees upset him. Water pool up high enough that it would cover his ankles; the boilers and water heater pilot lights all put out from the water. No heat and no hot water. But what really upsets him was when he head to the panel to try and flip the breakers; a dangerous task when in ankle deep water, nothing happened. Knowing that there is no way to safely open the school for the students and faculty alike, he places a call to the principal letting him know what he has found.
****
After a tense twenty minute conversation with a sleepy principal, the janitor is inspecting the faculty office area for possible water leakage from the roof. He sees what he dreads. A large water stain on the ceiling of the faculty lounge and the brown patchwork sofa under it soaked. He leaves the school to smoke a cigarette and wait for the principal to arrive to also assess the damage. Standing in the rain with his umbrella unfurled he slowly walks from one end of the school to another. More focused on the schools foundation looking for cracks in it, he at first doesn’t notice a buzzing sound. Turning around he sees that a tree fell over on the schools overhead power line. The broken line buzzing and flailing; the water soaked ground causing the electricity to spark from the active line. “That explains the no power,” he muses as he puts out his cigarette. Not daring to approach he get on his cellphone to report a downed line to the local utility company. It is that point the principal still not quite awake arrives to see the janitor shake his head.
****
“Well shit,” the elementary principal states while looking at the flooded mechanical room. “While the school could get away with no heat for about a day or two, they can’t run the school with non-functioning hot water tanks; “and the storm caused a tree to fall over the power lines?” the principal asks.
“Yes,” the custodian answers. “I already contacted the local power company; hopefully they will fix that.”
“Still can’t open the school,” the principal sighs; “Better get on the phone with all the teachers and the school board and tell them school's cancelled for the day.”
“We also have a major roof leak in the faculty lounge,” The custodian adds.
“We both know that was to be expected,” the principal sighs; “Where are we going to find the money to fix it as well as the damage to the basement?”
The custodian knew that was a rhetorical question as both leave the basement. With the principal heading to his office to grab his Rolodex, he gets on his cell phone to start calling teachers and other staff members about the schools situation.
“Lot of kids are going to be happy that schools out,” muses the custodian; “their parents not so much.” He heads back outside to light another cigarette and waits for the rest of his janitorial staff to arrive. Despite the flooded basement and a downed power line, he needed all his staff to help him assess the entire school for any addition damage. "If worse came to worse, the board will need to find a temporary place to hold classes; if the mechanical room isn't drained and the equipment isn't in functioning order come Monday."