The night before last was a great sleeping night. Not too hot or too cool. Enhancing the soothing night's sleep, we hear, around 1:30, the gentle patter of rain outside our door. Over time it felt increasingly humid too; not entirely unpleasant but very humid. We continued sleeping.

Suddenly, the smoke detector sounded an intermittent alarm, the humidity increased and the worst part . . . it was not raining outside.

Our new zillion dollar antique, Victorian-style shower thingy had a supply line come loose and start spraying gallons of warm, soothing water all over the floor and into the kitchen below. My worst fear, personal tragedy notwithstanding, is our gargantuan cast-iron bath tub drops through the floor, through the kitchen and onto the basement is suddenly becoming more realistic by the water-spraying minute. While I paced in a chaotic state, Trish simply turned off the water, removed the battery from the smoke detector (total coincidence it went off now, I guess that's the good part of the story) and quieted Frankie. Things settled down, Suzi crawled back into bed with ears down indicating she just went somewhere in the house and took a whiz and I sopped up the mess. Only took about 45 minutes.

The next day, we got things back in order and made plans for kitchen ceiling repairs. Someday, I will rent again and be free from the torment of the American dream that is home ownership.