Troubled Water

10:30: a typical Sunday night. I was winding down my evening, folding a few loads of laundry, watching a little Friends, and preparing to make Christmas lists to send to Mom and Chris’s mom. I heard a quick knock on the door, very strange for that late in the evening. Chris answered it and found our neighbor, a short hairy man looking much like an aged Beatle with the 50’s haircut or perhaps Bilbo Baggins, standing outside. He asked if we had a leak; water was coming in through the light fixture in his bathroom below us. Sure enough, after checking the linen closet in the guest bathroom, we discovered that the hot water heater was leaking. Water had already filled the pan spilling onto and completely soaking the surrounding carpet. Various other items stored in the closet were also soaked.

Immediately, I started grabbing storage bags full of sheets and comforters, I grabbed several beach towels and tried to sop up as much of the water as possible, but it became evidently clear that the volume of water far exceeded the absorbency of the towels. Even after Chris turned off the water, the water continued to spill out of the top of the tank. No amount of effort seemed to help, and the bailing of the water in the pan commenced. We tried emptying the tank, but water just kept on coming. Calls to the landlord, Brad, and emergency repair men were fruitless, and Chris ended up bailing water until around 3 A.M. Finally, Brad and Chris found a way to duct tape a hose to the spigot on the tank and ran the hose through the house to the balcony as a temporary solution and so Chris could finally get some sleep. You may wonder why we didn’t just run the hose to the bathtub; that’s where I threw everything that was previously stored in the linen closet. It was packed, and at three in the morning, you take the easiest route possible. I had gone to bed long before that, but I was not able to go to sleep. It wasn’t until Chris came to bed that I finally feel into a sweet, deep sleep.

Of course, with the malfunctioning water heater, there was no way to bathe at home, so I left for my parents’ house at 5:15 and prepared for work there. Mom was wonderful. She sweetly greeted me that the door; I had called her last night to let her know that I might be coming. After I concluded my shower, I was delighted to discover the smell of bacon wafting through the house; she made me a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and raisin toast. What a woman!

Chris stayed home for most of the day waiting for the repair guys. When he finally received a call around one saying that they would not be hear until four, he passed the baton off to me. I rushed home after my after school tutoring session and have been waiting with no word for the last two hours. A message on my voicemail assured me that they would be here today, and yet here I am still waiting. I really don’t want to have to go somewhere else to shower again tomorrow morning.

Of course all of this is nothing compared to what one of my friends went through on Friday night. She had just left our high school’s football game, which happened to be about an hour away, with her husband, daughter, and two of her daughter’s friends. They decided to stop at Wendy’s for a bite to eat, and a pit bull actually pulled the window down in his car, jumped out, and attacked one of the girls! My friends’ husband jumped in the middle of the fray and pulled the bulldog off of the little girl. She sustained two bite marks but will be OK. However, my friend and her family did not get home until around 3 A.M.; they had to talk to the police and even go down the police station. Pit bulls have a bad reputation, but I have known very good ones. The owner determines the behavior and demeanor of any dog, especially pit bulls. My sister and her husband as well as some very dear friends of mine have very sweet and well- behaved pit bulls.

And on to more waiting….