Nonna’s Pasta Shop
Space. Room for four.
The Water Rota: Book Nine game
Short Shifts · No. 09 · Heat Wave
RELIEF SIGN-UP
Ice on one side of the street, fans on the other. Bring a cup.
Three days of heat on one block. Two grandmothers have each opened a relief station, and neither will hand the other a cup of water. Eight neighbors need to get through it. You have the clipboard.
The rota: the game
Today’s rota is the same for everyone on the block. It starts over every morning at seven, Machattan time.
Warming the water…
This bit went mushy. Reload, or use the plain version below. It works without the fancy layer. Skip to the plain version
Today’s humidity by district.
On the street
Your phone
You: (Your own firmness, for the courier apps.)
The relief stations
Lao Lao’s Noodle Shop
Ventilation. Room for three.
| Neighbor | Where | Firmness | This shift | Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
the campanelle over the Trattoria elder, upstairsTop floor, no elevator. Wears a sun hat indoors, on principle. |
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the hand-pulled noodle on Marinara Row elder, upstairsHas outlived three landlords and is working on a fourth. |
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the ditalini over the launderette elder, upstairsCan name every dryer downstairs by its noise. Will not name the landlord. |
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the rice noodle on Broth Street elder, upstairsWill not leave without the cat. The cat will not leave at all. |
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the bucatini on Marinara RowWorks nights. Sleeps through alerts. Has slept through this one twice. |
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the pappardelle with the flower stallSays her stock is wilting in solidarity. |
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the conchiglie over the pharmacyTeaches the only swimming class in Machattan. Enrollment: one, himself. |
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the trofie on Broth StreetCouriers for Forkd. On his fourth surge order of the morning. Rated three stars: damp. |
This shift
Priced per minute. If you have to ask, you’re melting.
What happened
Sundown, day three
How it works
Take the clipboard
Walk neighbors to relief
Three moves a shift, three days
The rules, in words
The rules, in words
- Three days of heat, four shifts a day: morning, noon, afternoon and evening. You keep the rota.
- Eight neighbors start the first morning at home. At the end of every shift the heat takes some firmness from everyone: a little on the first and third days, more on the second, and more again from an elder stuck at home up a flight of stairs.
- Firmness is in words, from the top: firm, al dente, tender, soft, limp.
- Two relief stations face each other across the painted line. Nonna’s station has space: room for four. Lao Lao’s has ventilation: room for three, and its fans are worth twice as much. Ice starts on Nonna’s side of the street and fans on Lao Lao’s.
- A station gives everyone in it water and a seat, plus whatever its running fans and its ice are worth. At home there is nothing but the heat, unless you send help.
- You get three moves a shift. Walk a neighbor to a station, or back home. Switch a station’s fans on. Carry ice or a fan across the painted line, which costs the station that gives it a point of pride; each starts with two. Send a helper with a crate of water to a neighbor at home, for one shift. Take the courier order the apps send you. Let somebody make a speech.
- A speech does nothing measurable. The block gives them anyway.
- Every shift a courier app sends you a surge order with a heat bonus of three cents. Taking it uses a whole move and some of your own firmness. Run out of firmness and the apps pause your account.
- On the second evening the power goes out for two shifts, and the fans go with it. Ice does not need power.
- Going soft is never the end. A neighbor who goes all the way limp is carried into the nearest shop to cool off, and is back on their feet a shift later, at home, because nobody on this block likes being carried.
- At sundown on the third day, if all eight are on their feet, Nonna says you owe her.
- PREMIUM SHADE is for sale the whole time. You can’t afford it. The sign explains why.
- Finishing Book Nine opens the rota’s after-hours mode, sealed further down this page.
Every move is a button. Tab moves between them, Enter or Space presses one, and a short summary is read out at the end of each shift.
The plain version
After hours
SPOILERS UNDER PROTECTION PLUS Opens when you mark Book Nine finished. Coverage: Basic (free). Premium (also free). Platinum Elite (free, but Louie calls you).
After hours: what finishing Book Nine adds to the rota
One more move, two more lines and a new ending.
- The exchange
Both stations count double for the rest of the rota. Costs each a point of pride. Once. Nonna and Lao Lao meet at the painted line, in front of the whole street.
Nonna: “I have ice. Your shop has better ventilation.”
Lao Lao: “I have fans. Your shop has more space.”
Neither of them mentions it again.
- PREMIUM SHADE
Louie: “Twenty dollars. Per minute.”
- The audit
Ralphie: “You’re at approximately forty-seven percent integrity.”
- Every ending
“A start.”
Pass it on
Share the rota
Edit the message, then share it or copy it. The link goes to this short shift’s page. Nothing posts by itself.
The plain version: a relief pamphlet: the rules and a sample three days, for reading without JavaScript
Found under a wiper on Marinara Row. Printed on one side by BoilWatch. Written on the other side by the block.
BOILWATCH
HEAT WAVE RELIEF
WHAT TO DO IN A HEAT WAVE
- IF YOU FEEL SOFT, THAT IS THE CORRECT FEELING
- HYDRATE PRIVATELY
- DO NOT GATHER IN GROUPS LARGER THAN YOUR FEELINGS
- LET THE DOOR DECIDE WHO COMES IN
- SHARE NOTHING THAT MELTS
- RECOMMENDATION: ACCEPT YOUR SOFTNESS
THIS PAMPHLET IS FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE. DO NOT PASS IT ON.
THE WATER ROTA on the back, in pencil
- Elders in first. Stairs are the enemy.
- Switch the fans on. Lao Lao’s count double.
- Ice doesn’t care about the power. Fans do.
- Whoever’s left at home gets a helper with a crate.
- Ice crosses the line if it has to. It costs pride.
- Courier orders: three cents. Think about it.
- Speeches: allowed. Effect: none.
- Nobody stays limp. Carried in, back next shift.
A sample three days
- Day one, morning. Every phone screams, clear sky. Fans on at Lao Lao’s. Both elders from Nonna’s side into Nonna’s.
- Noon. SoHo posts its thermostat. Both elders from Lao Lao’s side into Lao Lao’s, and the conchiglie with them.
- Afternoon. The Feast is canceled. The bucatini and the pappardelle into Nonna’s. The conchiglie, firm again, goes home to make room.
- Evening. Louie moves his rope. The trofie into Lao Lao’s, a helper up to the conchiglie, and one courier order. Three cents.
- Day two, morning. Ninety-eight. Helper to the conchiglie, another order, and the shift ends early. Nothing else needs doing.
- Noon. Ralphie audits the block: about half. Helper, an order, done.
- Afternoon. The ditalini goes home for a charger and comes straight back. A crate of ice crosses the line to Lao Lao’s before the power goes. Nonna does not watch. Helper.
- Evening. The lights go, and the fans. The ice holds Lao Lao’s. Helper, an order, done.
- Day three, morning. Still dark. Helper, done.
- Noon. The grandmothers argue about whose water is wetter, and both feel better. Helper, done.
- Afternoon. A fan comes back from the repair counter to Nonna’s. Switched on. Helper.
- Evening. The water tower leaks on Nonna’s side, onto nobody who’s home. Helper, done.
Sundown. Eight of eight on their feet. Four courier orders, twelve cents. Nonna says you owe her.