A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities

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A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities - book excerpt

He always gave it his best when it came to home repairs, but my dad was in way over his head. The problem was that he wouldn't admit it. Whether it was a leaky faucet or a blown fuse, somehow he always made it worse. Then the experts would be called in, the plumbers and electricians, the plasterers and sprinkler repairmen. Invariably, the first thing they would say is: "Too bad you didn't call sooner, now I have to charge you double." As a result, nothing could get my Mom out of a chair faster than hearing the jangle of keys and my Dad yelling over his shoulder: "Back soon, I'm going to the hardware store." But she was always too late to stop him.

"Not the hardware store!" became a family joke over the years, one that never got old, but no amount of teasing on our part could ever convince my dad to stop trying. The truth is, he would have been happy with just one success, one amazing home repair that he could show off and say, with practiced nonchalance: "Oh, that? Yeah, I fixed it myself. Took me no time at all."

Like Charlie Brown, my dad kept trying to kick that football only to have the house yank it away at the last minute, just like Lucy. The most perplexing thing was my dad's crazy optimism that this time would be different. Failure was not an option in his mind, but it had become an expectation in ours. We braced ourselves for the worst and, sure enough, one day it arrived…

I awoke that morning to the sound of my sister yelling from inside the shower. Since the shower was just on the other side of the wall, it sounded like she was yelling right in my ear, through a megaphone. It was the worst wake-up call ever, but it turned out she had a good reason for pitching a fit. There was no hot water, not a drop! And with four teenage girls in the house, this was a crisis of epic proportions. This time, we couldn't afford to take any chances. Before my dad knew what hit him, Norman the plumber had been called in to assess the situation.

"Well," Norman said, solemn as a funeral director, "what you have here is a leaky pipe and there's no telling where it's coming from. Could be the size of a pinhole, but that's all it takes. The bottom line is--it's easy to fix, but it's a nightmare to find."

Realizing that someone would have to dig up the floor, (and that we couldn't afford for Norman to be that someone), my mom made a decision. She knew it wouldn't end well but she had no choice. Turning to my dad, she did the unthinkable. She said, "Arthur, you need to go to the hardware store."

This was his last chance to prove himself and my dad was determined to get it right. Luckily, it wasn't complicated stuff. All he had to do was dig up the floor and find the leak so Norman could fix it, then fill the hole with cement. And, if his daughters didn't suffer more than a few hours of substandard hygiene, he knew he would be a hero.

The logical place to start digging for our underground hot spring was the kitchen, where the floor felt warm under our bare feet. My mom was relieved that the leak seemed so easy to find, but I wasn't convinced. Didn't anyone else remember what Norman said?

Armed with a sledge hammer, my dad attacked the floor with real enthusiasm. It was back-breaking work, but he was a man on a mission. Besides, he wanted to finish in time to watch the Dolphins game that afternoon. Wet chunks of concrete were popping up from the floor like gray popcorn and my dad put his glasses on to protect his eyes. The bam bam bam of the sledge hammer was giving me a headache and I had more important things to do, like talk on the phone, and fight with my sisters over the phone, so I went to my room. (Hey kids, in the "old" days, we only had one phone and the six of us had to share it!)

When my dad finally reached the pipe a couple of hours later, we heard him groan. Actually he cursed, but this is a "G" rated story. And, no surprise, the leak wasn't there. Water was flowing INTO the kitchen from somewhere beneath the dining room. My mom started to look concerned about the carpeting. One thing was for sure-- my dad was going to miss the first half of the game.

We were recruited to move the dining room furniture. The only thing we left was the light fixture, hanging in the middle of the room. Under my mom's supervision, my dad gently pulled up the carpeting and padding then continued his path of destruction into the dining room.