Chapter 40
Turning on the music, Pandora started to give her home a good spring clean. She knew she was a little early but she was already halfway done so there was no complaining. She just wanted it completed, so she could start getting her babies‘ room ready for them.
She took the load of clothes that Derrik left in her home down to the laundry room and threw them into the washing machine, to get washed. There was nothing wrong with them and since Derrik had been an asshole, she would just drop them off at the local homeless shelter.
She headed back upstairs to get on with cleaning the spare room. Derrik used it as an exercise room. During the divorce, he got all the weight machines and other stuff he needed, even though he hardly used them after he had lost his initial interest in them. She tried to get him to sell those things years ago, but he refused to part with them because they were ‘his.‘ The more she thought about their marriage, the more she knew it was much more horrible than she had ever admitted to herself.
Pandora looked at her watch to see that she had another thirty minutes until she needed to leave for her appointment with Benjamin. She headed back down to the basement, knowing a load of washing should be done. She wanted to get them in the dryer and start a load of blankets before she left. She only made it halfway down the steps when she saw the whole floor was flooded.
“What the hell?” she asked out loud. Moving quickly down the stairs, she had to wade through the water to get to the washing machine. The water was spraying up from behind the washer and everything was soaked.
“Shit!” she yelled and clasped her head. “What the hell do I do now?” she asked out loud. “Turn off the water, stupid,” she mumbled to herself, “And electricity,” she carried on.
Knowing there was too much water for her to even look for the water main, she moved to the power box, and without thinking, pushed the main off. Thankfully, she did not get shocked, but that seemed to be the only luck she had right then. Wading across the basement, she moved back upstairs, knowing she needed a plumber, immediately.
Grabbing the phone book given by the housing association, as she dripped water all over the floor, she looked through the pages. Between being wet and cold, the overwhelming need to pee had her rushing off to the toilet.
“Bean, Curd, please leave Mama’s bladder alone, she has to take care of a huge mess,” she begged.
She took care of her needs and flushed but instead of the water going down the drain, the toilet started to back up and water started going all over the floor.
“What in the heck? Come on!” she yelled. She washed her hands before heading back to the kitchen.
“Okay. Find a plumber. Fast,” she told herself.
Flicking through the pages, she saw emergency services and called the number right away. Thankfully, her cell was charged, as the power was off. They told her they were on the way, but it could be up to two hours before they arrived.
After hanging up, she
aded back down the stairs and the water looked deeper than it was.
“I will need to do this the old–fashioned way.”
Going to the cleaning closet, Pandora grabbed her mop bucket and headed back to the basement. She started tracking up and down the steps, filling the bucket and carrying it up to dump it out the back door. The steps were a mess, and she was soaked, but she kept at it, though she was fighting a losing battle.
She was on her seventh trip through the
to spill the contents of the bucket all, tchen with a bucket of
the floor.
water, when her doorbell rang. She was startled by the bell and slipped slightly, causing her
“Shit!” she yelled in a huff, as the bell
rang
“Pandora, it’s Benjamin,” she heard called through the door and she turned pale. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay,” she called back, opening the door
I pulling it
open.
“You didn’t turn up or cancel your appointment, and I got worried about you,” he informed and his eyes dropped as he looked her over.
I’m sorry, I should have called… things are such a mess.”
“What happened?”
“My basement flooded, and then my toilet backed up and flooded my bathroom,” she sobbed out, finally breaking down from too much stimulation.
“Come on,” Benjamin reassured, helping her into the house. “Have you turned off the water?” Pandora shook her head at him.
1/2
“The water is too deep, so I was trying to empty it with the bucket.”
Benjamin’s face hardened. “You’re pregnant. You shouldn’t have been doing that.”
“I had no choice. The plumber isn’t going to be here for up to another hour.” Benjamin stood up and moved away from her. “What, where are you going?” she asked him loudly.
“To turn your water off.”
“No, don’t do that,”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re my doctor?”
Benjamin stared her down but she just returned the stare back at him. There was a knock on her door, but she kept her stare locked on him. As the second knock came, Benjamin huffed and walked off. Getting up, she followed him to see that he had answered her door.
“Basement,” Benjamin said as he let the plumber in. “Where can I examine you?” he asked, turning to face her once more. His voice was soft and kind, but it didn’t match the strained look on his face.
She was so taken aback that she couldn’t help but stutter, “What?”
“The babies, I was here to make a house call, to check on you and the babies.”
“We can go up there,” Pandora chuckled and just tilted her head towards the stairs.
“Go ahead and go up and get ready. I’ll make sure the plumber doesn’t interrupt us.”
