Nor Any Drop to Drink?

Village workmen came recently and dug up parts of the water main, or maybe more than one big pipe, under our street. A fellow from the village had come by earlier to warn us that the water would be off for most, if not all, of the morning. So I told everyone to go to the bathroom right away, and I filled a couple of empty milk jugs, while imagining a much worse situation.

Hours stretch into days without water, and the workmen have mysteriously disappeared: and no one from the village calls back. Dirty dishes and clothes accumulate, expensive bottled water is used to flush the toilets occasionally, and we begin to smell: and still the village ignores the problem.

I only imagined that scenario in passing, without really thinking it would happen that way. And it didn't. Whatever they were doing, they did it with dispatch, and the water was flowing again at about noon. We were also treated to a fire hydrant discharge across the street, which is so novel around here that I took a picture.