PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART XV
PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART XV
I left the barn, and with the shadows lengthening, returned to the house for a shower and dinner. Laura was busy in the kitchen; I asked her if she has a minute and we sat over coffee and discussed my discovery. I spent a restless night but finally fell asleep and awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. I headed downstairs and found Laura in the kitchen.
Greeting my lovely wife I said, “Beautiful morning, isn’t it honey?”
Laura half turned and replied, “Think again honey! All of the sinks are blocked.” And as she stepped away I could see the sink was full of dirty water. Can you do something?” she pleaded.
“Let me see if Jack has a snake,” I shouted over my shoulder as I ran out of the house.
Jack was in the garden as usual, and I had to shout a few times before I got his attention. “Do you have a snake?” I asked.
“Of course I’ve got a rake,” came his reply.
“No, a snake, a plumber’s snake,” I shouted.
“No need to shout, got one of those too,” came his answer. “Tell you what, let me find it and I’ll be right over and clear up your plumbing problems once and for all.”
I watched him go into his house and then ran back to mine. By now Laura was bailing the sink out into buckets. The smell was terrible. I had just thought – better you than me, when Laura shouted, “Go upstairs and check the master bedroom!”
Halfway up the stairs I was met by the same sickening smell that filled the kitchen. As I neared the bathroom, I saw an ever-increasing puddle coming from beneath the bathroom door. I glanced out the bedroom window and saw Jack walking over with his snake. I thought of shouting for him to hurry but knew it would be useless.
Jack stopped at the kitchen and put the snake down the drain, met with some resistance, then the drain cleared, and the water flowed down and away. He then went to each of the sinks in the house and met with the same success. As he started to work in the master bathroom, I mentioned that this was where the problem started and seemed to always return.
“I’ll just ream out the drain with the full length of the snake. Why don’t you run along and do something useful,” Jack quipped.
I went to the kitchen to make sure Laura was okay, and that the problem hadn’t returned. Then I entered my office to try to get a little work done before breakfast.
I was at work for no more than fifteen minutes, when I heard a blood-curdling scream; Jack was in big trouble.
