Walter And The Amazing Pipes

January 13th, 2006

My bathroom sink sits, draining terribly slowly. This happened quite suddenly and right now I can’t even hear the faintest whisper of the water swirling down the drain. I’ve tried the plunger and some microbiotic drain cleaner that’s always my first defense. Nothing’s happened. I started to wonder what I would do if I could never unplug it. What if all my drains were stopped up? What if I couldn’t find a plummer? This beginning of a story popped into my head shortly after that.

With all the drains in his house completely clogged, Walter had no choice but to check in at the local Please Stay Inn. Throughout the entire ordeal, despite his mother’s declaration that the move to Pewter, CA was a bad choice and despite his father’s stance that he was always welcome at home, Walter never called his parents. A boyhood full of parent disinterest (at best) and neglect (at worst) didn’t build a strong sense of “home” in anyone. Walter picked up the key to 208 on a Friday night and didn’t return it until 2 months later.

No plummers lived anywhere near Pewter; Walter found himself without an expert to call upon. Friends knew little about pipes and such. Apparently, no one in Pewter ever experienced a sink backup drastic enough to need anything more than Drain-O or some other simple remedy. The local lore provided no solution to Walter’s problem. The sinks in his house stayed full of slowly-draining, tepid water for his first 2 days at the inn and Walter, upon his first re-entry into the house, discovered the unique stench of old water. He learned to plug his nose effectively and quickly.

“Oh, shit. That’s bad.”

And with that, Walter decided to learn the plumming trade in a town that never experienced plumming difficulties.

Have your say...

Comment Preview: