I was told bad things come in threes

I know checking my pockets for car keys after the door is closed is not the best time to do it but there I was, in the rain, fifty feet from my truck, checking my pockets. My pockets turned out to be car-key-less, no matter how many times I checked them.

There was only one place that they could have been so I didn’t even bother walking back to check. I got to where I was going a little later than usual but finished everything that I needed to and then asked to borrow her car. The round trip took about twenty four minutes and as I approached my truck, with my spare key in hand, I wondered for a moment about the noise.

The noise was that of a running engine. At least it was purring nicely but it wasn’t the best way to end the day.

The next day, I had put the wondering of how I could have left my vehicle running behind me as I chalked it up to ‘things happen,’ but things weren’t done happening. As I was turning around in the shower I slipped. Occasionally, I do slip but I’m always able to catch myself; what was different about this slip was that there was no way I could catch myself so I did my best to fall well.

The way I was headed I was going to catch my lower back right on the side of the tub and when the results of that got played in my mind: it hurt, so I changed the way I was going to fall, which launched me right out of the tub and onto the floor. I missed the toilet and the towel rack that stands on the floor and landed hard on my ass. It wasn’t the best way to start the day.

I got to work on time and besides a slight ache, I was doing fine, until my cellphone rang. It was my sister and she was crying and in a panic. It turned out that a plastic bolt that holds the toilet tank to the toilet bowl had broken off, which caused the tank to leak. My sister tried to shut off the water feed to the toilet and as she was doing such a joint in the copper pipe came loose which caused fresh water to come rushing out as fast as the pipe could shoot it.

She was calling me from the basement because she couldn’t find the shut-off. Eventually I was able to give her enough direction over the phone as to where it was located.

All the time I was on the phone I was making my way to a company car. I got home in about fifteen minutes.

The pipe gave way at a fitting and pipes only give way at fitting if they weren’t soldered correctly. I cursed the handyman before me for being a hack. The fitting was right where the copper pipe passed through the side of the vanity, as such I could heat the pipe up without burning the vanity so I had to move the vanity.

As I was moving the vanity, the plastic drain pipe popped off at an elbow. I just shook my head because I can understand not being able to solder a copper pipe correctly but plastic drain pipes only need to be cleaned and glued.

I fixed the copper pipe and then looked down at the drain pipe. I had cleaned it the best that I could and felt it would be tight when I glued it back on but I couldn’t remember exactly what the angle on the pipe had been. I could have put the vanity back in place and line it up with the drain on the sink but then I was certain I wouldn’t be able to hold the glued joint in place, with the proper amount of force, for the recommend thirty second. So at least I knew why the guy before me screwed up the glue job. I ended up just best guessing it and my best guess was good enough.

I got back to work within two hours. I was probably not even missed but I had had enough surprises for a Friday so when I had spent enough time at my desk, I took a half a day vacation which I spent at my favorite bar which wasn’t such a bad way to end the day.