Winter Wonderwater DSC_4415
Only Water from the Sky
The unexpected explosion of knocking caused Farhead to make a mistake he would have to clean up.
"What? What is it?"
Nearheart opened the door and looked down at the mess that her husband had made.
"Don't flush," she said solemnly.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"You only peed," she said. "Therefore don't flush."
He reached for the handle. She swatted his hand.
"Only water from the sky," she said. "That's all we have. That's all we get. So now, until it rains again, no flushing just for pee. It has to be the other thing."
"But always I flush," Farhead complained.
"Always you did," Nearheart said, "until you brought us to this place where city water hasn't happened. Where all we have is a cistern. A cistern that's fed from the roof. Does snow feed it? No. Rain feeds it. Has it rained lately? No. So we have to conserve."
Farhead zipped up his pants, furious at the indignity but knowing she was right.
After dinner, while scrubbing a pot in the sink and staring out the window at the sea, he said, "We can have it trucked in. All the water we need."
Nearheart, at the dishwasher with a dirty plate in her hand, paused and nodded. "We could have it trucked in. Sure. All the everything we need. And you could have dancing girls. And I could have a manicurist and a hair stylist. Oh, but wait. You need a job."
"I have gotten the one. My friend Mr. Driver has said he would help me in finding another."
"That's good because driving a school bus is only a very small start."
Sometimes Farhead hated her being so right all the time. But what could he do? If she was wrong all the time, then being always right would fall to him. And that would be preposterous. Also way too much work.
The sea mirrored his frustration, frothing and fuming and dashing itself to pieces on the rocks. "All that water," he observed, "and not a drop to flush."
Nearheart asked him what had made him laugh. He told her. She laughed too. Then they were laughing together. It went on for a while. Then they finished cleaning up and had a glass of wine together on the couch by the big picture window, all the while holding hands and looking out in admiration at the raging unfathomable sea.
3 February 2022
Texas Jim
Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca
Category:Scenic
Subcategory:Coastlines
Subcategory Detail:
Keywords:Canada, Cove, Nova, Peggy's, Scotia, angry, boiling, cauldron, coast, frothing, granite, hills, icy, inlet, ocean, raging, rocks, rocky, sea, shoreline, snowy, spuming, trees, water, winter