(a day in
life of a vintner)We were really looking forward to our visit with Andy and Gwen. Old college buddies, while I chose medical profession, Andy chose sales. After a few years, Andy joined a wine distributor and eventually evolved into a master vintner. He is semi retired now, but as we reached his villa on a high hill in Napa, California, all we could see were grape vines twisting gracefully along rows fading off into horizon. He certainly still had his hand in it.
We visited all morning while downing several glasses of a variety of wines that Andy had produced and tinkered with.
Finally I excused myself to find bathroom. Jill directed me down hall, to right, third door on right. Light switch on left. Being a bit tipsy, I did manage to find bathroom, but on way out, turned wrong way into another hall.
There before me was master suite. As I peeked in, I noticed what appeared to be a giant green mushroom growing right in middle of bedroom. Backing away, I weighed whether should mention it, citing my error in directions; or not, for fear of being thought a snoop. But my find was just too strange and my semi inebriated brain had no control over my mouth. As I reached doorway of sitting room I spontaneously blurted “why are you growing a giant green mushroom in your bedroom?”
Andy and Jill exchanged puzzled glances, and then glanced back at me. Their faces both changed to horror at about same time. They leapt from their chairs and dashed down hall. We followed close behind wondering if I had just stumbled into an alien nation or something.
It was waterbed. Andy had attached a garden hose to fill it sometime just before we arrived, and had completely forgotten about it.
By this time bed had swollen to size of a giant blimp. The wooden stays on bed separated and pulled apart. The sheetrock was cracking under sideways expansion into wall. The nails in bed must have been finally exposed, because bed material suddenly gave way to a huge popping sound and water began to run everywhere. It quickly saturated carpets and flowed down hall. Water began to leak to lower floors. There wasn’t much we could do but watch in dismay. Andy raced downstairs and we were quick to follow. Sure enough, water continued its downward path clear to basement.
