A Path Through . . .

(Found here ) As it happens, a decent day— blue sky, a fresh breeze—goes bad. Mid-cycle, the washing machine simply stops. Of course, there’s a week’s laundry piled up on the floor. But the motor’s kaputt , my German grandfather would say. And now, my wife’s found a leak under the bathroom sink, a gasket also kaputt , between the faucet and the water line. We have the money for a plumber and can afford to replace the old broken washer. But as we look at new machines on-line, I start feeling bad for having options as though we deserve our dripping sink line and no-go washing machine. Still hours till lunch, I think of those who must use the local laundromat, endure leaky pipes, feed their families. I’m looking for something, anything to take my mind in a different direction— I’m like a child expecting some adult to supply an alternative, some sleight-of-hand to get me out from under my maddening preoccupations. And then my wife suggests I go outside, where the day that began well is st...