I am in a hotel room in Lancaster, California, and I am up at 6 AM---in fact have been up since 5:30 AM---partly because my brain is on Massachusetts time, and it is three hours later there. But also because I was awakened by the sound of water. Not gush, gush, but trickle, trickle. Not drip, but trickle...meaning it is flowing, though not very fast.
I got up to investigate and discovered that the toilet is leaking. The floor around it was quite awash, though now I have mopped it up and the base of the toilet is swathed in towels. It continues to flow, and I will have to add new towels soon. Here is a photo (and some of you loyal readers will cringe at the awareness that I published another hotel-toilet photo not terribly long ago. There is a trend here. Sorry).
This would not be a terribly serious problem were it not for the OTHER photo which I will now add, the photo of the cartons and cartons of books delivered here on a dolly by Barnes and Noble last night. You can't appreciate the geography from these two photos. But the flood is inching toward the cartons.
Can the hotel get a plumber up here in time? I am now going to get dressed, go downstairs, see if they have coffee available this early, and inquire about flood control.
Stay tuned.
Oh man, I think my heart stopped beating when I saw those books. SAVE THEM, PLUMBER!
Posted by: JAKE THE GIRL | June 04, 2009 at 09:33 AM
Thank you for your visit to Joe Walker this evening. My daughter enjoyed meeting you and hearing your story. I look forward to reading the books I bought for her this evening. (I'm still young at heart)
Molly's Mom
Posted by: Dawn Bower | June 04, 2009 at 09:40 PM
Ewwww!! You mopped up the toilet water from a hotel toilet?! But... I like your blogs about stuff like this. Yes, even the writer of The Giver mops up water from a leaky toilet. :) I, too, hope those books are saved! I'm teaching summer school this year (I think). I'd love to show this blog post to the class and say--"Okay... in this story of Lois Lowry's life at the hotel in California, what part of the plot would this be?" :)
Posted by: Jennifer Elliott | June 04, 2009 at 09:47 PM