This post is the first in a series of posts that wants to get at the real question of the day.
How did we get “here”—and from “where” did we come?
This is not simply about “directions,” although in a twisted way maybe that is what it is all about. Garmins and TomToms will not provide the real directions or answers here—they can still be a case of garbage in, garbage out. And there I go again, figuring it out ahead of where it is supposed to all come together at the end of the post.
Perhaps it is all about garbage in, garbage out—then again, perhaps not.
What I am trying to get at is more about the metaphorical “here” and the metaphorical “we” and the metaphorical “where.”
Therefore, if anything, it is about garbage other than what buried the entire house.
It is not just about the pathetic, the unfortunate, or those that made poor choices. It is not about genetics, economic disparity or “tinkle-down” economics (now there is a topic that could piss off almost anyone–or more accurately, leave someone feeling tinkled on).
This post could just as easily be about sleazy landlords as it is about sloven tenants. Both of which were some mother’s and father’s “most-adorable-babies-in-the-whole-wide-world.”
This is also not about how this could “never happen to me”—or to you, my reader, because I know that it could. This stuff happens to people that say that it could never happen to them! It happens to good people every day of the week. Of course I do realize that is “them” and not me and you–so we are saved for the moment.
Everyone knows about the best laid plans of mice and men however.
This is a story of not how one person could come to this position in life but about how three people all in one house, all at the same time, got to this position. They surely cannot be alone in these United States.
It is a story about a house too. It is a house with no functional toilets–at least not in the normal sense of “functional.” One toilet was truly not functional, as flushing it allowed water to squirt out of a hole in the side of the toilet all over the wall and floor. Based on the amount of dust on the cover, I am guessing that a decision was made to not use this toilet. Evidence that “decisions” were still being made on some level.
The second toilet was apparently being flushed by filling the tank with water as necessary. (And one has to admire the towel covered cardboard lid.)
There was one “functional” shower in the home. By functional I mean to say that you could stand under the shower head, water would come out of the shower head, and a good percentage of the water would go down the drain.
The fact that the wall tiles were nearly entirely missing and the entire floor around the toilet and tub was rotten apparently did not lessen the obvious functional daily use of the shower.
The moldy wallpaper and moldy ceiling only adds to the ambiance.
Next time we will talk about where all that water was “really” going.
By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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