No Water

I turned the faucet. Nothing. I tried the other side, as if maybe only half the sink wasn’t working. Still nothing. They shut the water off again.

Running two and half miles along the river in the Sacramento heat: great. Getting home to find out the water was shut off in your entire complex: not great.

I didn’t even know what to do. I was hungry, but I couldn’t even wash my hands. I thought about walking over to the pizza place just to use their bathroom to wash up a little. Then I saw the maintenance guy and he said the water would be back on in just a few minutes. I questioned the actual length of "a few minutes."

I was so sweaty and smelly I didn’t really want to touch anything or do anything. I just sat there contemplating my next steps. After only a couple minutes I heard the water pouring out of my kitchen sink. I jumped up turned it off and headed straight for the shower. I had a 4:30 appointment on the other side of town; I needed to get going soon.

I was only in the shower a short while, long enough to wash my hair and face, and then I heard the water starting to wane. I quickly got my face in front of the faucet as the last bit of water came out the shower head. I managed to get the soap off the front of my face before it shut off completely.

There I was standing naked in the shower, still mostly dirty. I looked in the mirror to discover I still had soap in both ears. Now what? Should I go to pizza place with no shirt on and ask to use the bathroom to wash the soap suds out of my ears? I couldn’t wait forever. I found myself carefully pouring some water from a water bottle trying to wash the soap out of my ears.I only had about 8 oz. to work with.

I grabbed a towel and dried off a bit and stood there naked in my living room again contemplating my next move. As soon as I heard the water again I sprinted back into the shower. I fully rinsed off my head and ears. Then I took out the soap and carefully washed one body part at a time and rinsed it off before I continued with the soap. I finished my right arm and the water went off again.

I got out, dried off, and did notice that I was no longer omitting a distinctly foul smell. Now at least my hands and face were clean. I grabbed some food. Before I finished eating the water was back on again, but I no longer had time. I went to my 4:30 appointment without mentioning the adventure that it took me to get ready.