ABSTRACT
One afternoon in the fall of 1957 I recognized that I was turning into my mother. It was an ordinary day. Horrible. Hearing a strange noise in the kitchen, I rushed in and found water pouring from the washing machine all over the floor. In my panic I couldn’t remember the location of the shutoff valve. My frantic calls to plumbers went unanswered. I watched the laundry room and kitchen turn into a swimming pool before I was able to stop the flow. After I soaked up the mess with every towel available and I was ready to sit down with a cold drink, I found that someone had left the freezer door ajar. Ice cream had melted and dripped over everything, and all of the meat was defrosting. I had just stocked the freezer from a sale and now everything was ruined.
