Water dripped from the ceiling in the basement. Harry looked up from his book, comfortable in his new armchair, noticing the water. A bright flash of lighting shone through the small window and was followed by the loudest boom of thunder that seemed to shake the whole house. He closed his book and stared at the small dark spot on the ceiling.
He could understand if he were upstairs and the rainwater was seeping through the ceiling. However, the living room was above the basement. Unless the ceiling upstairs collapsed from the storm, there shouldn’t be any leak into the basement.
“I’ll be right back.” Harry said as he put his book to the side and pushed himself up from his chair.
No one answered him. In fact, he was the only one home. Both his dog and cat, however, were hiding underneath the couch in the basement from the storm. Harry enjoyed being upstairs during storms like this one so he could watch the rain at the window. He felt bad for the dog and cat though and thought to stay down with them. He spoke once in a while to comfort them and let them know he was there. The dog always hid, but the cat never did. That’s how he knew it was a bad storm.
Harry trekked up the stairs to check out the mysterious leak into the basement. His first thought was to head into the living room. He was pretty sure that room was above the basement. When he entered the living room, however, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
At least, not that he could tell.
Harry looked up at the ceiling, but that was dry. He took his shoe off and rubbed his sock over various places on the carpet, but no water soaked his foot. Of course, it wasn’t until he turned around that he noticed the problem.
The bathtub water was on, the water spilling over the sides of the tub. The bathroom was flooded and a steady stream was making its way to under the couch in the living room. Harry wasn’t quite sure how that worked out. He also wasn’t sure how he missed something so obvious.
He took off his socks – wearing wet socks was a terrible feeling – and dashed into the bathroom. He shut off the water and unplugged the drain immediately. Bubbles formed near the drain at the amount of water trying to get sucked down. It gurgled, making awful sounds. Harry groaned at the mess he’d made.
He rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed, even though there was no one else around him. He remembered now – he was going to take a bath when he saw the first crack of lighting followed by a subtle boom of thunder. He didn’t want to be sitting in a pool of water with a storm on the way.
So, he had taken his book and decided to sit downstairs. Apparently, he had never turned the water off.
Harry looked at his watch. The water had been running for a good 45 minutes. He felt like such an old man. How was this something he forget?
He reached into the bathroom closet and tossed a couple towels on the ground. He had a lot of cleaning up to do before his wife and kids got home.
Words: 560
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