If and when any of the residents got round to quizzing him about his past, Gervase appeased their curiosity with a standard patter. He understood that many of them were just being polite, not really interested in him. He was after all only staff, although of a more exalted degree. You had to know how to get along with the rich, get the tone just right. He might need a superlative reference some day. 
“Where did you learn such excellent American English, Gervase, if you’re from Quebec? I’ve had to learn some new “English” myself since I’ve been here.”
“In Chelsea, where I grew up, though it was Canadian English, or possibly French Canadian English.” replied Gervase. “That’s right Mr. Arbuthnot, there is a little town in Quebec called Chelsea.”
“I thought at first you meant you learned in London,” chortled the bemused Englishman.
“No sir, never been there. Well have a good day then, bye.”
Gervase had first worked in Montreal as a bartender and a bouncer, leaving home some years before, intending a career in hospitality. Actually what he really wanted was to go to Colorado; Vail or Aspen, where you could both work and ski. Lately, friends who were already out there said that there was work but nowadays you pretty much had to take what you could get. His steady concierge job might just be the ticket to some much more lucrative care-taking position in the wealthy playgrounds of the west. In the meantime, he really did like being right next to big lake, seeing and hearing it every day. He often took the dogs that way.
There were other perks too. He could pretty much drink all year on the wine and liquor gifts he received at Christmas; a stroke of luck for him, as his youthful appearance guaranteed he was carded wherever he went. Many people were extra generous, even though their association fees included his services. He reflected that a uniform, usually designed to keep a person looking just the same as everyone else, actually in this job made him stand-out; the “guardian at the gate”, keeping out the riff-raff, the “go-to guy” for the hard to make reservation, the “keeper of the keys” as well as a lot of secrets, if the truth be known. Discretion was his constant companion, though he was not above telling the dogs a story or two as he walked them.
He was in the midst of his morning rounds. “Good morning.” he called out as he knocked on a unit door, bearing deliveries. “It’s Gervase, with your package.” He always identified himself in this way, leaving the choice of opening the door or not up to the owner. “Shall I just leave it for you at the entryway?”
“Sure, and thanks Gervase.” warbled a voice from inside, “I have the cat on my lap.”
Moving on with his next delivery, he searched through his keys and let himself into a unit. These owners were away down south. Hanging up the dry cleaning in the entry closet, he glanced around. They had recently told him they wanted to sell their unit and were doing a single party listing with R.M., who was showing it this afternoon to the interested party.
Gervase was diligent about who he admitted into the lobby. When he asked about how a single party listing worked, R.M. explained to him that this was not an MLS listed property in the ordinary sense, like the majority of units on the market. In the case of those, Gervase would know they were for sale and agents could bring potential buyers into the building for scheduled showings. A lot of agents, as a courtesy to Gervase, would let him know ahead of time that a showing was scheduled so he would be aware of non-residents being in the building. An agent could also come in and preview a listed unit as well, without bringing a customer. But in this case, where the arrangement was with one seller and one buyer, R.M. would bring in the potential buyer himself. Either the seller or Gervase, depending on who was there, would buzz them into the building.
The owners had phoned to request that Gervase do a last minute check on the unit, and would he please water the plants while he was there. He knew that he wouldn’t have to do much checking. R.M. always came early to stage a showing, see that all was looking its best. Very reliable type, he noted. Takes one to know one.
Gervase, as long as he was already upstairs, decided on a quick turn into the solarium room. Any excuse to take in the lake view, and anyway it would be part of the showing later so he wanted to spruce it up. All the common areas were customarily part of a showing. As usual at this time of day, he had the panorama all to himself. Once again, he marveled at how different the lake appeared each day. And it was odd how close and yet distant it seemed from so high up. Even if the windows could be opened, he guessed that he would not be able to hear it. All so very different than walking beside it where there was less color, more sound and occasionally fury. Being in the mountains was so much more immediate, he remembered, inescapably going either up or down.
Turning away from the windows, he began a quick tidy, setting to rights the squashed sofa cushions and placing the chairs back in their customary positions to afford the best views. “The Prospect on Prospect”, dubbed the ‘POP’s’, his building, had a lot to show: this solarium, the terrace, the meeting room, the exercise room, the pool. In the latest in a line of condominium buzzwords he’d heard, a meeting room had now become a “social networking lounge.” The exercise room, then fitness room, had fared no better, and was currently replaced by “wellness center”. Some of the residents coming out of a workout session looked anything but well, he’d noticed. An infirmary would be more like it.
And they paid for it all through their monthly fees whether they used any of it or not. The more the extra facilities and the larger the unit, the higher the fees were set, was the way it generally worked. Pools were especially pricey, indoor or out, as was anything that required a lot of additional maintenance. The regular maintenance was included of course: the snow and trash removal, the landscaping, the maintenance and insurance of the commonly held areas. There was supposed to be an adequate reserve fund kept in case of any special assessments or maintenance needs. In this building the fees also included cable, heat and air, as well as hot water, though this varied by development. Hot water, he said to himself, that’s something I could get into every day in this job. Easily.