Sunday, May 17, 2009
Plumbing Menace
I'm the kind of person, when I have a plumbing problem, it usually is a serious one involving lots of water. My first disaster was when I was just out of college, at my parents house. One Saturday morning I get up, and take a shower. When I go to turn off the hot water, I notice when the valve is almost closed, it gives a bit -- the nob feels spongy. So to make extra sure the hot water is off, I twist it so it will be tight. When I do this, the hot water nob gives away and comes out of the wall. Suddenly a torrent of hot water is firing out, drenching the room. I yell and run naked out of the bathroom, down the hall, into the living room. "WATER!!" I scream, and my dad leaps out of the armchair where he was quietly reading, newspapers going in all directions. That is one image that will be with me the rest of my life, how he pelted from the chair as if the cushions were spring loaded. He runs over his sports page and out the front door to the water valve and shuts the water off. Turns out my mom and dad knew the hot water valve was "giving" a bit, but they didn't think it was a big deal. Then I came along.
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8 comments:
I think you meant to write, "how he bolted from his chair". :)
I kinda liked how "pelted" -- i.e. scrambled, jumped, or skedaddled, read in that combination.
Pelt can be taken two ways in that sentence. The main meaning of "pelt" is to throw or hurl something. So, I guess you meant he hurled himself from the chair?
I read it with the word's second meaning -- to beat down. Since, I believe, you were trying to say he "jumped up", the motion in pelt seemed to be moving in the wrong direction.
Ah, words. They can mean so many different things to different people! :)
Ahh -- you might be right about the direction of a pelt.
No -- wait -- I looked it up -- Pelt (Middle English) as an intransitive verb, means "to hurry".
Love the ending. "then I came along."
Well, that's the problem! I was reading the sentence with an eye toward upper Swahili. :O)
Gar! I can see how that might mix it all up!
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