2,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Next Chapter
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
For the first time, all in one place, the award-winning books, "A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities," and "I'm Not Talking About You, Of Course," PLUS seven bonus essays. If this doesn't make you smile, then you're not even trying!
In A Trip to the Hardware Store, you'll explore such quirky topics as disastrous home repairs, an unfortunate dinner party, the truth about lazy people and the weird life of a debt collector.
In I'm Not Talking About You, Of Course, you'll find humorous insights into important topics such as annoying pet people, analyzing your inner child, and just how much damage can be caused by a sneeze.
In A Smidge Of Crazy, you'll find stories about annoying ads, about figuring out what door that extra key opens, what it means to have stamina, and why it is just so hard to focus when you have the attention span of a gnat.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
Ähnliche
Quirky Essays for Quirky People
The Complete Collection
Barbara Venkataraman
Copyright (C) 2014 Barbara Venkataraman
Layout design and Copyright (C) 2021 by Next Chapter
Published 2021 by Next Chapter
Cover art by CoverMint
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author’s permission.
Contents
Books by Barbara Venkataraman
A Trip To The Hardware Store
Dinner Is Served
Lazy Bones
Your Account Is Past Due
Gadget Girl
Where Did The Time Go?
Beyond Belief
High Finance
I’m Not Talking About You, Of Course…
Irrational Fears
It All Started With A Loud Sneeze
A Jolt Of Electricity
Crazy Hobbies
Ask Me No Questions
Friends In Low Places
Martha, I Let You Down
No Right Answer
Words Of Wisdom
The Sweet Life
If I Had To Choose…
You Think You Know A Person…
A Case Of Age Discrimination
Bittersweet
Nightmare At The Sleep Clinic
About the Author
Books by Barbara Venkataraman
Death by Didgeridoo (Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery #1)
The Case of the Killer Divorce (Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery #2)
Peril in the Park (Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery #3)
Engaged in Danger (Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery #4)
Jeopardy in July (Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery #5)
Malice in Miami (Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery #6)
Jamie Quinn Mysteries Box Set: Books 1-3
Jamie Quinn Mysteries Box Set: Books 4-6
Jamie Quinn Mysteries Box Set: Books 1-6
I'm Not Talking About You, Of Course (Quirky Essays for Quirky People #1)
A Trip to the Hardware Store (Quirky Essays for Quirky People #2)
A Smidge of Crazy (Quirky Essays for Quirky People #3)
Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person
If You'd Just Listened To Me In The First Place
The Fight for Magicallus
Accidental Activist: Justice for the Groveland Four (Co-Author)
Scary Shorts: Flash Fiction
Holiday Shorts: Flash Fiction
Valentine Shorts: Flash Fiction
Dog Days of Summer Shorts: Flash Fiction
A Year of Shorts: Flash Fiction
A Trip To The Hardware Store
He always gave it his best when it came to home repairs, but my dad was in way over his head. The problem was that he wouldn't admit it. Whether it was a leaky faucet or a blown fuse, somehow he always made it worse. Then the experts would be called in, the plumbers and electricians, the plasterers and sprinkler repairmen. Invariably, the first thing they would say is: "Too bad you didn't call sooner, now I have to charge you double." As a result, nothing could get my Mom out of a chair faster than hearing the jangle of keys and my Dad yelling over his shoulder: "Back soon, I'm going to the hardware store." But she was always too late to stop him.
"Not the hardware store!" became a family joke over the years, one that never got old, but no amount of teasing on our part could ever convince my dad to stop trying. The truth is, he would have been happy with just one success, one amazing home repair that he could show off and say, with practiced nonchalance: "Oh, that? Yeah, I fixed it myself. Took me no time at all."
Like Charlie Brown, my dad kept trying to kick that football only to have the house yank it away at the last minute, just like Lucy. The most perplexing thing was my dad's crazy optimism that this time would be different. Failure was not an option in his mind, but it had become an expectation in ours. We braced ourselves for the worst and, sure enough, one day it arrived…
I awoke that morning to the sound of my sister yelling from inside the shower. Since the shower was just on the other side of the wall, it sounded like she was yelling right in my ear, through a megaphone. It was the worst wake-up call ever, but it turned out she had a good reason for pitching a fit. There was no hot water, not a drop! And with four teenage girls in the house, this was a crisis of epic proportions. This time, we couldn't afford to take any chances. Before my dad knew what hit him, Norman the plumber had been called in to assess the situation.
"Well," Norman said, solemn as a funeral director, "what you have here is a leaky pipe and there's no telling where it's coming from. Could be the size of a pinhole, but that's all it takes. The bottom line is--it's easy to fix, but it's a nightmare to find."
Realizing that someone would have to dig up the floor, (and that we couldn't afford for Norman to be that someone), my mom made a decision. She knew it wouldn't end well but she had no choice. Turning to my dad, she did the unthinkable. She said, "Arthur, you need to go to the hardware store."
This was his last chance to prove himself and my dad was determined to get it right. Luckily, it wasn't complicated stuff. All he had to do was dig up the floor and find the leak so Norman could fix it, then fill the hole with cement. And, if his daughters didn't suffer more than a few hours of substandard hygiene, he knew he would be a hero.
The logical place to start digging for our underground hot spring was the kitchen, where the floor felt warm under our bare feet. My mom was relieved that the leak seemed so easy to find, but I wasn't convinced. Didn't anyone else remember what Norman said?
Armed with a sledge hammer, my dad attacked the floor with real enthusiasm. It was back-breaking work, but he was a man on a mission. Besides, he wanted to finish in time to watch the Dolphins game that afternoon. Wet chunks of concrete were popping up from the floor like gray popcorn and my dad put his glasses on to protect his eyes. The bam bam bam of the sledge hammer was giving me a headache and I had more important things to do, like talk on the phone, and fight with my sisters over the phone, so I went to my room. (Hey kids, in the "old" days, we only had one phone and the six of us had to share it!)
When my dad finally reached the pipe a couple of hours later, we heard him groan. Actually he cursed, but this is a "G" rated story. And, no surprise, the leak wasn't there. Water was flowing INTO the kitchen from somewhere beneath the dining room. My mom started to look concerned about the carpeting. One thing was for sure-- my dad was going to miss the first half of the game.
We were recruited to move the dining room furniture. The only thing we left was the light fixture, hanging in the middle of the room. Under my mom's supervision, my dad gently pulled up the carpeting and padding then continued his path of destruction into the dining room. Thankfully, there was nothing else we could do--except feel sorry for our poor dad. By this time, he had taken off his shirt and sweat was pouring off him. I mean, he hadn't done that much exercise since--well, as long as I'd known him. And certainly not since then either.
Anyway, he kept digging and digging (not really digging, more like smashing) until the entire dining room was a construction site. To give you an idea, there was a giant hole in the floor shaped like Florida: the panhandle was in the kitchen, St. Augustine was near the laundry room and the Keys were starting to encroach into the living room. My dad was so exhausted he was struggling just to lift the sledge hammer. As he hoisted the hammer off the ground and swung it high over his head, we watched in horror as he smashed the overhead light fixture into a million pieces! Showers of glass rained down, most of it lodging in my dad's back. He started bleeding from at least a dozen different places. The room looked like a crime scene! We all rushed to his aid and, after cleaning and bandaging his wounds, we called Norman in for a consultation. Sure enough, Norman spotted the leak through all the debris and mucky water and repaired it in no time.
