© Madison Woods
Last week the Italians had been left with shampoo on their heads and now Dafan was refusing to pump water to the leaking tank. We had to repair the tank.
Peter claimed he had the solution. We emptied the tank and painted its interior with Peter’s magic glue. Miraculously on refilling no leaks appeared.
An English family who were travelling on the cheap, having taken passage on the inter-island boat, checked-in. On waking the next day the Englishman confronted us angrily. “You’re trying to poison us. There’s fibreglass in the water. We want compensation”.
Oops, Peter had forgotten the catalyst.
Genre: Memoir
Word count: 100
© irene waters 2015
In response to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers Photo Prompt
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About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Dear Irene,
It looks like there’s more to this story. I see ‘memoir’ in your tags. Sounds interesting. Nicely done..
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Yes there is more to the story and it is memoir so probably doesn’t quite fit the criteria but often truth is stranger than fiction.
Cheers Irene
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Dear Irene,
I know we’re called Fictioneers, but the rules are bendable where fiction’s concerned. If it’s a hundred words and has a beginning, middle and end, genre isn’t a hard and fast rule. 😉 In other words, your piece fits the criteria like a glove.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you Rochelle. I do enjoy trying to do fiction as it is a real challenge for my but I saw that water tank and couldn’t help myself. Thanks for the green light.
Cheers Irene
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Oops. I assume everything worked out okay in the end. I won’t take the water from our well for granted again!
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Interesting times and the water was a long saga but eventually……
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That will be a horrible mess to clean up!
Interesting piece.
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Thanks Mick. Yes a horrible mess to clean up in more ways than one.
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Oops.. yes that sounds like a mistake you shouldn’t do.. hopefully they just showered.
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I think the smell alerted them before they drank.
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Oh dear the best laid plans.
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I’ve learnt nothing ever goes the way you expect it to.
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One of life’s rules I’m afraid.
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Irene, sounds like a perfect plan except for that fatal flaw. So, is this based on actual events?
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We were so relieved that Peter had some magic glue it didn’t enter our heads that it may be fibreglass resin and that he wouldn’t have the catalyst to set it off. Yes it is a true story.
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Oh dear. Is this a true story?
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Sadly, yes. I have to admit it is.
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Oh dear, lessons learnt obviously.
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Certainly it was one not to be repeated.
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I admire people who can write a story like that at minutes notice 🙂
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That is such a lovely compliment.Thank you Paula.
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Oh, no! But makes a terrific tale!
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A terrific part of a tale. 🙂
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I’d love to read “the rest of the story” sometime. If you post it I hope you will alert me.
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Thanks Dawn. Yes I’ll keep you posted.
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You must have felt horrible, but I had to laugh, it is funny. I would like to read more of your memories, too, read your ‘about’ and that’s quite the bio. 🙂
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Thanks. I think you have to laugh about these things – even if you don’t at the time otherwise you’d be so weighed down. You might be interested in another Tanna memoir
https://irenewaters19.com/2015/05/07/thursdays-special-adrenaline/
Cheers Irene
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Whoops. Big boo-boo. Nice pics on your blog!
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Thanks Patrick.
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I like a resourceful man. But I prefer a meticulous one. Great story.
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Thanks Sandra
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that’s problem with magic, you have to do the spell right!! Nice story, hope it wasn’t a terrible mess to clean up
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I love that take on magic. The spell was wrong. It was a big job to clean it out again but I wove some magic with our English group. That spell worked.
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Sounds like you have the magic yourself 🙂 Smoothing that over could not have been easy
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My husband says that is where my big strength lies but it wasn’t easy.
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just wondering if they got compensation. 🙂
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No they didn’t. I worked some more magic.
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Since this is memoir, I wonder about the rest of this story!
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An unbelievable tale of chiefs and witchdoctors, magic and custom. 🙂
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Didn’t know the catalyst as used here, but now I get it! Interesting tale.
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Fibreglass I learnt comes in two parts the resin and the catalyst that sets it solid. My husband knew that as he used to be a boat builder but he didn’t know that Peter’s magic glue was fibreglass so he didn’t query it. Thanks for reading.
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This sounds like a piece that needs to be expanded! I want to know more, please.
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Glad you want to know more. There is a lot more to it – enough for an entire chapter. 🙂
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Amazing that you could take this prompt and tell a true story based on it. I’m sure we had more fun reading it than you did experiencing it.
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Without hesitation I will agree. 🙂
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Truth really is stranger than fiction. Nobody drank the water I presume otherwise this would have a part of your prison diary 😉
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LOL. No we didn’t do a stint in jail over this but where we were was far removed from the law. They didn’t get compensation either.
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