Still Waters Run Deep

Maui 2010

So there we were, having an innocent Saturday afternoon after a  morning of shopping and weekend chores.   We were just canoodling and enjoying each other's company.   RJ had just gotten to second base, when a fierce pounding on the door disturbed the moment.  We elected to ignore it, given the circumstances, but when it came again a scant 5 minutes later, we figured we should answer the door.

Turns out it was a neighbour, who pointed wordlessly to the hall behind him, which seemed to be under water.  You know that sound that wet carpet makes when you step on it?  Slushh, squish, squash...  

The Mister hastily donned his superman cape and his baggiest sweatpants and surfed down the hall and up the stairs, searching for the source of the flood waters, which were now rising everywhere.   It didn't take long to find the culprit, a neighbour who had filled her kitchen sink with heads of lettuce,  and then turned on the tap to give them a good cleaning.  And then went shopping for a couple of hours.

We checked on our next-door neighbour, a delightful elderly lady who has a little dementia, and found her sitting in her chair, entranced at the water pouring from the light fixtures over her television.  I grabbed a bucket and a couple of towels and managed to take care of the worst of it, while Dorothy rocked and cackled with lively interest.  In the meantime, on the third floor the bucket brigade (everyone in our building who was sober enough) arrived in short order, and with mops, towels and fans, rolled up their pants to tackle the astonishing sight of a 2-inch deep swimming pool in the middle of a living room. 

Ralbernia - our cherished abode - has escaped from the tsunami (at least so far).  My heart goes out to my guilt-ridden neighbour - a responsible, smart and focused woman, who became distracted for just a second, and set off a virtual calamity.   It could have so easily been me and my forgetful, careless, bitchy buddy Tammy Ox.   Phew.