Back in the spring of 1986, when I was in the process of failing out of SUNY Geneseo, my roommate Dave was brushing his teeth and his toothbrush slipped out of his hand and went right into the toilet. Not wanting to reach in, Dave figured he could flush the toilet and the toothbrush would lodge itself horizontally in the bottom when the water went down, allowing him to safely retrieve it without getting his hand wet. His plan went down the drain, so to speak, when the toothbrush went vertical and straight down with the water.
Later that day, Dave, while attempting to flush his solid waste, noticed that the toilet was now completely clogged. No effort of plunging would free the obstruction. I abandoned using the bathroom in our apartment for the remainder of the semester, preferring instead to use the school facilities, or just urinating in the yard. Dave, however, continued to use the bathroom as an outhouse. The stench became pretty unbearable, and I took to hanging out in other apartments.
At the end of the spring semester, Dave and I just left everything as is…clogged toilet, dishes in the sink, rotten food, everything. Neither of us were on any lease. We had taken the place over from some kid who had graduated in December, and we just didn’t give a damn.
A few days later I was back in town for a party, and while driving by the landlord’s house, I noticed all the dirty dishes we had left behind at the old joint were now in the landlord’s front yard. He must have hosed them off. I stopped the car, and put all of the now clean dishes in my trunk, and happily drove off. Dave’s inability to retrieve his soiled toothbrush had set in motion a course of events that eventually resulted in my getting out of having to do the dishes for an entire semester.
In China, a butterfly flaps it’s wings….