Chapter 2

The Water Tank

By Henry

The sound of metal trays clattering against each other brought me back to reality. I had gotten lost in my thoughts, those recurring thoughts, because I have so much resentment inside me.

“No, Mom, it’s not that big of a deal.”

I said it while kissing her on the forehead.

My father was giving instructions to the people who were around.

I don’t understand the need to celebrate a birthday at home. We could have gone to the weekend house, or held it in an event hall, but she chose to spend it at home.

“I’m going to check how everything is coming along.”

My father says it while heading toward the back garden of the property.

I follow him out of inertia, or rather, because I’m also used to controlling absolutely everything, and I know I do it well.

I learned how to delegate. It cost me, but once I did, I was able to focus on what mattered and expand several of our companies.

It’s true that my in-laws, or ex-in-laws, own twenty percent of their companies and that I, with the remaining eighty percent, could have given those companies a much bigger boost. But I don’t want to. Maybe I’m being a bad person, or maybe I’m only being fair. Either way, in the end, I have the power.

The employees working at my parents’ house, preparing everything for my mother’s fifty-fifth birthday, barely look at me. I don’t think they like me very much, and I don’t care if they do. My father is a little more pleasant with them, and my mother allows them a level of familiarity I don’t agree with.

Over the last few years, we’ve grown a lot, and to make the final great leap, all we need is to close a very important deal with an Italian company. I understand the CEO has already arrived in our country, since the meeting is scheduled for next week.

“Henry, please, I don’t want to distract the employees from their work. Could you check what’s wrong with the tank again?”

My father goes around in circles too much. The water tank probably has nothing wrong with it, but he likes to be sure. Above all, he wants everything to be perfect that night.

Years ago, it bothered me to personally check that tank. Once, the float broke, and from that moment on, every three months, my father checks it—or rather, asks me to check it. To do that, I have to climb up, not to say practically scale, the small ladder to see if everything is in order. The height where they placed the tank is imposing.

I climbed up without any problem and maybe, just maybe, with a little anxiety, because seeing Solange chatting with Roxanne at her front door had brought back memories of a situation that had happened several years ago.

I quickly checked that everything was fine, and then, with excessive anxiety, I looked toward our neighbors’ garden.

I saw her. She was as beautiful as ever, although her features were less childish than they had been six years ago.

She was in a bikini, playing with a child.

My anxiety came from the fact that I needed to see that body and not just remember it, because I knew how much she liked being in the garden, under the sun or in the pool.

I remember that sometimes she sunbathed naked…

I never imagined she would be playing with her nephew, her older brother’s son.

I heard a male voice and thought it was Charles, her brother.

“Sweetheart, I already told the maid to bring us some refreshments.”

Sweetheart?

I thought inwardly.

Something about that didn’t sit right with me.

The man approached her and hugged her without shame.

The boy moved a little away from both of them.

“Solange, you were playing with me.”

He complained to my beautiful and unfriendly neighbor.

“Yes, sweetheart, and the three of us can play.”

“I don’t think so.”

The little creature answered her, while I watched him take a few steps back. Then, after looking at them, while they were still hugging, he began running toward the pool. He had moved away to get a running start.

I don’t know if he calculated it, but the thing is, he jumped into the pool, cannonball style, near where they were, splashing them with real enthusiasm.

“Dean!”

Solange scolded him.

“I already told you, Solange… Sola… you don’t have to be with him. You have to be alone or with me.”

I really liked that kid.

Because something about that hug bothered me, a hug that didn’t end in deeper caresses or passionate kisses because of that little creature’s actions.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

I quickly calculated that the boy named Dean must be the same age as Axel…

I sighed deeply before climbing down.

I hope Solange is alone, just like her nephew wants, so that arrogance of hers will finally come down a notch. Thinking she’s the most beautiful woman alive, thinking she’s the Venus de Milo. She’s only a pretty girl, like hundreds of thousands of others…

But she thinks she’s one of a kind. She always felt powerful.

I took away a share of that power from her. At least, I tried to…

I slowly climbed down that spiral-style ladder, with a railing far too low for my height. As I descended, I remembered the first time my father demanded that I check that tank, the day the float had actually broken. I don’t remember if the tank had been constantly overflowing or if we had been left without water…

I remember my anger at having to check it myself.

“Why do I have to do it?”

I complained to my father back then.

“You’re younger than I am, and you have more stability.”

That wasn’t what I meant, and he knew it.

I decided to be clearer. I was quite immature and thought I could take on the world, or at least pretended I could.

“Hire someone, or tell the gardener. It’s just checking whether the water tank is clean.”

I didn’t know why it bothered me so much on a Saturday morning. It wasn’t that early, that was true, but it was still morning, and it was a Saturday when, for once, I didn’t have classes at the university.

There were no classes that day because the building where I studied was being disinfected, and my plan had been to sleep until noon.

But no. My father wanted me to help him with that damn tank. I think he did it just to annoy me, at least that was what I thought at the time, because I believed the gardener was supposed to handle that.

That’s why I study, to make money and not have to deal with these stupid things, I thought. And I don’t know why I remember that conversation and what I was thinking so clearly. That had happened… I try to do the math. More than six years ago…

“You can also tell Ethan.”

I had complained to my father.

“He’s younger.”

“Yes, in age, but he’s my size.”

“Get up there already, please. Uncover the tank, and if it’s in good condition, cover it again and that’s it. If something is wrong, I’ll tell the gardener.”

“He can do it!”

“You’re stubborn. It’s time you learned how to maintain a house.”

I didn’t agree, but I decided to climb up because he wasn’t going to change his mind, and in any case, I was already awake.

I remember hearing the music our neighbors were playing at a rather loud volume.

I hated that music and those neighbors. Well, not all of them, but the youngest daughter of that family. She was as unfriendly as they came, rude, never said hello, and always looked down on me.

I understood that she was almost a child. Back then, she must have been sixteen or seventeen, but she wasn’t so young that she could walk past without saying hello.

Her brother did greet me. He is a little older than I am, which was why we didn’t have much contact either, just a simple greeting.

The water tank at our house was on a kind of tower, near the dividing wall that separates the two properties. I think they have a small pool. My mother had mentioned that once. I didn’t know for sure, and I didn’t care either.

Maybe I was unfriendly too.

In reality, I didn’t get involved in the neighbors’ lives, but they did get involved in mine by playing that music so loudly.

Pop music. It must be Solange’s mother listening to it. I didn’t dislike that lady too much, but she couldn’t listen to music that loud.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that moment… or about what happened that night…

I climbed up, or rather practically scaled the ladder. It was uncomfortable, although not that unsafe because it had a sort of protective barrier, but as the years passed, I always thought we should have made the railing higher.

I heard the music change. It was a song in English, which seemed strange to me.

My mood changed, because I did like that song, but they were still playing it too loudly.

Nothing suited me that day.

I kept climbing, and when I was at the top, the music changed again. They had put on reggae.

I’m amazed by my memory and by all the details I’m starting to remember.

I looked toward the neighbor’s garden. I didn’t know who was listening to such varied music.

I was more rigid when it came to music.

I heard laughter, and my eyes searched for the owners of those laughs.

I saw the unfriendly Solange and a friend of hers, who was also from the neighborhood. Her name was Roxanne. She was the one chatting with her when I entered my mother’s house today. That girl, at least as a teenager, did say hello when I ran into her around the neighborhood.

On that occasion, I stood still for a moment. They were sunbathing almost naked. In bikinis, yes, but without the tops.

My eyes couldn’t leave Solange’s body.

What did she eat?

That’s why I remember every detail. Seeing her like that, at that moment, got completely inside my head.

Shit…

She, unaware of my presence, got up to change the music again. She was listening through her phone, which was in the shade, but she must have had some speaker connected because it was truly playing very loudly, though by then I had stopped paying attention to the sound.

Roxanne was a little fuller, without being fat, but Solange was…

My cock hardened as I looked at her…

Her tits weren’t very big, but… they were so perky that I wanted to suck them until I collapsed.

When she stood up to change the song, my eyes went to her ass.

Watching her walk through her garden, I was hard as cement.

She, oblivious to everything, returned to her spot, dancing to the rhythm of the song she had put on.

“You look so happy, girl!”

Roxanne told her.

I didn’t care about that brat at all, and yet I had lost control of my body. Of course, back then I must have been twenty-two or twenty-three.

“Yes, tonight we’re going dancing, and I’m going to see him.”

So she had a little boyfriend or something, I thought.

I’m dying to know where they’re going dancing. I’d go, and if I run into her…

The things I could do to her.

My contempt for Solange back then was intense.

And so was my desire.