Saturday, July 9, 2011

The People In The Basement

They appeared after the Fourth of July.  What did they want?  Merely a roof over their heads and maybe a bed or two, and a place for their dog, and two parking spots, and access to the refrigerator and washer/dryer and possibly a subscription to TV Guide.  We told them they could live in the basement and all would be granted except the subscription.  Why did we allow them into our house?  Momentary lack of judgement? Altruism at its finest?

Actually my friend and fellow writer, Roz Noonan, and her family are between houses. Their house sold, but they can't get into their new one until the end of the month. When I wrote for ALL MY CHILDREN in New York, I lived with Roz and her family in Queens and took the train into the city. So, the least I could do is return the favor for a few weeks. However, since they've arrived they have already broken the toilet. Okay, that's not completely accurate. I had this tile art piece on the wall that fell down and crashed into the toilet and cracked the tank so water started spewing everywhere about midnight last night.  Me?  I slept through the whole thing and learned about it this morning while they were all scrambling around trying to stop the water that was rushing out the door and down the hall. They succeeded in stemming the flow and turning off the water, so all is well now. My husband and I already purchased a new tank this morning and are having it replaced this afternoon.....so the people in the basement can stay and have restroom facilities at their disposal, which, as we all know, is a good thing.

Writing-wise, Roz and my sister, Lisa, and I just signed a contract this week to write a story together that is set in Wyoming, so one of the people in the basement will soon be my writing partner as well!  Looking forward to it!