I'm the One who Called

He climbed the tenement stairs. A skinny black cat in the hall scurried away. Apartment three, he was told. He knocked on the door. "Come in," a voice said. "I'm in here." She was in the bathtub, clutching a turquoise polka dotted washcloth against her chest. Her red hair was tied up in a bun. "I'm the one who called," she said, blushing. "I'm sorry, it's so late. My big toe is stuck in the faucet. I'm going to die of embarrassment."
"No problem," he replied. He had on big black boots, yellow pants and slicker, with a red oxygen tank on his back and a plastic yellow helmet. He was still holding his axe. Wrong tool for the job, he thought, placing it against the wall. "Hang on a minute," he said and walked into her kitchen. He found liquid dish soap under the sink. He came back and knelt down beside the tub. "Do you mind if I touch your foot?" he asked.
"That's okay," she said. He squirted the translucent blue soap on her jammed toe and used his fingers to work some of the soap up into the faucet. "This should work," he said. "Give it a minute."
"This must be the dumbest call you've ever had," she said.
"You'd be surprised," he said, smiling.
"I think it's already working," she said. "Oh my God, it worked!" She freed her toe. She was staring at it like she'd never seen it before. "I am so embarrassed," she said, getting up and wrapping herself in a big maroon towel. "Now I'll have to move to another state."
"Don't be silly," he said. "Stuff happens. Hey, I'm just glad you didn't get hurt." He walked out, closing her apartment door behind him. "Thank you!" she called out. She heard his boots clomping down the stairs. She watched him from the window as he climbed into the fire truck and drove away. She returned to the bathroom and hung up her towel. She spotted his axe. He must've forgotten it, oh well, she said aloud. She squatted down and examined it closely. How many roofs had it cut into, how many lives had it saved? She picked it up, supporting its head in her hand like a newborn baby, and placed it on the pillow. She sat at her vanity, unpinned her big knot of red hair and brushed it slowly while watching her reflection in the mirror. She could see the axe head resting on the pillow. She put on lipstick and blotted her lips on a tissue. She did a little dance around the room and then she climbed into bed and turned off the light.