H-2-Uh-Oh by Guest Blogger

     

H-2-Uh-Oh

HexHouse's water poltergeist lives. And if you doubt me, come visit.

There's been a lull, so we weren't sure...  but a couple of weekends back my mother-in-law brought over a new toy -- a floor steamer that cleans hard floors instead of carpets. She was going to show me how good a job it does -- but you have to put water in it.

The moment water touched it, it was doomed.

The power switch wouldn't stay on. No matter what she tried. Eventually, she admitted defeat and put it back into her car.

Apparently the water poltergeist has a devious sense of the ironic. The floor my mother-in-law had chosen to demonstrate on was the kitchen linoleum.

Last Friday or Saturday, Harry installed the new faucet in the kitchen.

(Do you see this coming? We didn't.)

Replaced the old leaky one with a brand new shiny faucet that didn't leak. Tightened it. Tested it. Admired it. Forgot about it.

We went into the Green Room to watch a VHS movie...

About half an hour into the movie we hear "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh". Thinking it was the tape, I paused it.

We hear "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". From the kitchen.

Running in there, we find the new unleaky faucet has decided to leak. No, not leak. Spray. Gush. Think fountain. Straight upwards from the cold water side.

Harry, ever the quick thinker, puts his hand over it and directs the spray downward into the sink. "Turn the water off," he says. But I have no clue where the water shutoff is.

He does. But he's holding the water. So I offer to switch and he can shut it off. Without a word, he reminds me that he's not wearing any clothes, while I have on my robe. No problem. I take off the robe and give it to him, and take over keeping the water pointed into the sink. He puts the robe on and goes Outside to turn off the water main. As my hand gets progressively colder, I thank God that it wasn't the hot water side that exploded.

Water has gone everywhere. The counter is swimming, the ceiling is wet, the coffeepot and refrigerator are drenched (Harry gets mad at me when I refuse to let him unplug the coffeepot until the breaker is off), and the floor is an accident waiting to happen.

The water safely off, Harry takes the faucet apart to answer "Why?", while I clean up the kitchen.

He says the seat gave out. Just broke. And the store he bought it from is closed, of course, so he puts the old faucet back on.

Which doesn't leak.

Oh, yeah, the water poltergeist is definitely still alive and kicking.


Copyright 2013 Michelle Hakala
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