Thursday, November 13, 2014

The phone in the bathroom doesn't work

I call you on the phone.  "Hello!  How are you today?"

You hesitate.  And then you say, with obvious distress, "The phone in the bathroom doesn't work".

"The phone in the bathroom?", I say.  "There isn't a phone in the bathroom".

"Yes there is", you reply. "there are several"

"I don't think so", I say. "I am on my way to your place, I will be there in 10 minutes, and we can look at it then".

"Get Bruce to come." you say, "I need him to fix it.".

What could this be, I think to myself?  Do I dare go there alone, after the negative commentary about me following the donut event? He is obviously confused.  I call Bruce and ask him to meet me there.

We arrive, to the continued smell of burnt plastic in the air, now 3 days after the donut event.  The look in your eye scares me a little bit.
The bathroom sink cabinet door is open, with the contents of cleaning solution, removed, sitting on the bathroom floor.
Your rotary style electric razor sits on the countertop, disassembled.  The sink drain stopper, removed, sits adjacent to the razor head parts.  You continue to obsess about the razor parts on the countertop, and about the visible sink drain base (a normal part of the drain, but that you had  worried about and tried to remove from the kitchen sink last summer)

Now I think I understand?  The "phone" in the bathroom is actually your electric razor?

You then state "the phone numbers don't work.".  "None of the phone numbers work."  As you repeat similar statements I realize you are talking about the phone numbers that are written on the refrigerator, my phone number, my cell phone, my office phone, Bruce's phone number.  I also discover that the receiver for the phone in the dining room is missing. The receiver for the phone in the living room is off the hook.  I test them, everything works normally.
Bruce re-assembles the electric razor.

"Don't worry dad. Everything is going to be OK. There's nothing you need to worry about".

For the first time I see a slight smile of relief and comfort.

******************************************************

What you meant to say was you were unable to use the electric razor in the bathroom, and when you went to call me to complain about it, you were also unable to use the phone.

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