Rust colored Water.

Usually when something bad or unwanted happens, a strange implacable sound is heard just mere moments before the event comes crashing into your day with a trumpet fanfare to mess everything up. A lot like the fanfare from that Minesweeper game actually.

Anyways, such an event took place one morning a few days ago.

I was sitting on my bed, checking my e-mail with my laptop, an activity that realy doesn't serve any purpose other than to further my own laziness, when this strange sound slowly began to move through my ceiling. It sounded as if a miniature army was on the move to do battle in some dark corner of the house, and the area above my room was just a waypoint to their final destination.

It was then that I stopped being a dork and realized that roommates bathroom was directly above my bed on the second floor. And the sound that I was hearing was water. This normally wasn't a problem, every time he used the bathroom, I could hear the toilet flush... eloquent no? Anyways, like I said, this was different, this time the sound wasn't isolated to one area, this time, the sound was on the move.

What happened next was like a scene right out of Aliens. I slowly put the laptop on the bed next to me as I got up, carefully watching the ceiling, waiting for what ever was about to happen because at that point, I knew something was up, my only option was to wait for it to happen.

Then it did.

Rust colored water began to flow down from my ceiling fan. Yes, my fan. And it wasn't a simple drip drip drip. Oh no, it was like The Shining all over again. And what do I do?

Stand there in amazement and watch it.

Only after a good amount escaped the confines of my ceiling did I do anything about it, and that mostly consisted of me yelling at my roommate (Steve, and all I knew was that he was somewhere in the house) as I sprinted up the stairs to see what was causing my brand new indoor waterfall. My other roommate (Shawn)saw me bound up from the first floor and asked me what in the hell was going on, and I told him as I ran into Steve's room and start to pound on his bathroom door, yelling for him to turn off the faucet which could be clearly heard running.

Shawn being the man of action that he was, forced the door open so that we could see that Steve was no where to be found, but he apparently left the faucet on, causing the sink to run over and flood his bathroom, thus proceeding to the lowest point, which was the vicinity of my bedroom.

Shawn shut the faucet off as I went back to my bedroom, grabbing a rubber made storage tub along the way and dumping its contents at the base of the steps. This I decided must contain the damage for now. Brilliant plan.

If there ever was a moment in my life where I acted like some pitiful comic book hero, sadly, this was it. For as I ran back into my room I slammed into the bed, pushing it up against the far wall and out of the direct fall line of the water, at the same time I slid the tub in it's place, beneath the ceiling fan, catching the falling Rust Colored Water. I, had saved the day. The world could go on spinning once again.

After the smoke cleared I assessed the damage, one corner of my bed soaked, a comforter and sheets that had to be quickly washed to prevent staining, a soaked area rug along with a pair of jeans, and perhaps the best of all, a ceiling fan/light fixture that emited a strange crackling, popping sound if turned on.

We’re just going to go ahead and leave that off for a while...