The Postscript: A very bad smell

Of course, we should have known something was wrong.

The nice thing about living in our new condo is that we don’t have the responsibilities of a stand-alone home. There is no yard to rake, no snow to shovel. There is someone at the front desk who will take in our mail and even water our plants. We were so pleased that we could leave for an extended trip to Mexico without these worries. But then, we got a notice from our electric company that indicated our electric bill was very low. In fact, it was almost nonexistent.

“Well, we’re not using any electricity!” I said to my husband, Peter, as he...