The Child's Tale

Plumbing leak in the basement. 
Very much like July's water problem which turned out to be a plugged line.  Probably something flushed that ought not to have been flushed.

After calling the plumber, Maggie and I were discussing the situation in front of the grandkids.  Alia (age 5) began asking questions.  "Would this happen if piggies were in the toilet?"

"Excuse me?  Pigs in the toilet?"

"Toy piggies, Nanna."

"How would toy pigs get into the toilet?"

"Well, one day I was playing in the bathroom.  And I was tossing the toy pigs around.  They flew through the air and landed in the toilet."

"Alia, if anything EVER goes in the toilet, it would be very helpful if you told us, so we could get it out and not pay the plumber a LOT of money to fix it."

"But I had to go potty.  So I did."

"Well, that's good.  But do you know how important it is that toys NOT go down the toilet?  It is SO important that I would stick my hand into the toilet (even with poop or pee in the toilet) to get the toys out.  Because it's very very hard to clean up the mess from a plugged toilet.  And it's very expensive." 

"But I forgot and I flushed."

"I understand.  You didn't know that we shouldn't flush toys.  But now you do."

So I thought that was the explanation for our plumbing problems.  However ...

a little later,
still before the plumber had arrived,

Alia began to explain the mouse problem.

She had noticed the holes in the wall where the plumbing pipes came through.  Apparently, they seemed too big to her, or she had never noticed such a thing before.  Whatever the reason, she was convinced these were mouse holes. 

"Alia, we don't have mice inside.  Those aren't mouse holes.  Those are holes for the pipes."

"No, they are mouse holes.  You do have mice.  I see them sometimes.  When I open the cupboard doors, sometimes there are mice in there, looking back at me.  YOU don't see it, Nanna.  This always happens when you're not there." 

[Suspicious story, eh?]

"Alia, we don't have mice inside."

"Nanna!  They are in the pipes!  That's why you don't see them."

"IN the pipes?  Alia, mice cannot get into the pipes."

[sigh] "Yes, they can, Nanna.  I know these things!  When I see the mice in the cupboards, I look at their faces.  There are mice whose faces are hungry-looking.  And there are mice whose faces are thirsty-looking.  And I can tell the difference!  The ones that are thirsty-looking are the ones who get into your pipes.  They want a drink of water, Nanna.  And then they chew holes in your pipes.  That's why there's water leaking out of your pipes."



Riiiiight.
Too bad I know nothing about mice.

I managed not to laugh at the child.
But as I was telling her mother the story?  Yeah, we both had a good laugh.

Thing is, after the mice story, I don't put much stock in the pigs-in-the-toilet story either.

And from what the plumber said, the pigs-in-the-toilet story sounds pretty unlikely too.  Pigs-in-the-toilet would be a comparatively simple, easy, cheap repair.