Last night, for the first time since my husband died in July of 2018, I put a dab of his comforting Carlos Santana cologne on my wrist before I went to bed. I desperately needed at least the illusion of his presence.

It had been a decent afternoon of running errands. But, when I got out of my car in the garage, a steam-engine loud hissing sound accosted me. At first, I thought I’d forgotten to turn the engine off. I opened the car door to check. Quiet. The noise was coming from the wall at the front of the garage.

I flew into the house and chased the sound. Ended up in the furnace room. And there I encountered a Yellowstone Park-size geyser of water exploding to the ceiling from the water softener. Knowing absolutely nothing about unanticipated geysers, I tumbled out of my house to a neighbor.

She answered the door on my first ring. “Is your husband home? I have an emergency!” She screamed: “Lois has an emergency!” Her husband tumbled out of somewhere and together we raced back to my house and my furnace room. He turned the water off. Geyser stopped.

Ceiling dripping. Paper towels soaked. Water sliding down the furnace exterior. An electrical dingy-thing swimming in water. How does one rest in such a mess?

You don’t. Especially when the water heater decides to get in the fun and starts hissing away also as if it’s mad it’s not getting any attention.

Update to now, twenty-four hours later. A plumber’s been here to coddle the water heater so it’s quiet for the moment. It needs a part yet, so I’m not counting on it to stay quiet. I’ve been in contact with the water softener folks twice. Seems the emergency person I talked to last night was supposed to tell me about a reset valve. She didn’t so I had no water all night. The second person this morning apologized and told me to get a hammer and hit a particular button. Luckily, I found a hammer among Marv’s tools. Then I could turn the water back on, so I had water, but the water heater was still hissing because the plumber had not arrived yet.

So now I await the plumber’s return with the part for the water heater, and I’ve gotten three quotes for a water softener, one at $800, one at $1700, and a third at $1200.  Meanwhile, I’ve been told our water is good here, I probably don’t even need one.

Oh!  I forgot to mention that now, tonight, I have no water coming out of my kitchen faucet. That’s happened before when a plumber came, so it’s maybe feeling neglected too.

Why? Why, did I even come home from AZ?

I think I need a man around this house. Marv’s cologne didn’t help.

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