The Undertoad

In John Irving's book "The World According To Garp," the main character lived on the coast. When he was young, he misunderstood his mom when she told him he couldn't go swimming because of the undertow. He heard "undertoad" and assumed that this big, bad animal was waiting beneath the surface. Later in life, he used the term "undertoad" to describe any sense of dread.

Well, the undertoad showed up yesterday at my house on my day off. During the mowing of lawn of the palacial estate, I noticed a wet, spongy area near the house...but didn't think much of it. There has been more rain than normal this spring (we've actually had a spring in Texas this year, but the meteorologist used the words "90 and muggy" during the newscast last night, so I suspect it's over by now), but the more I thought about it, the realization hit me it hadn't rained in over a week.

I asked my wife if there had been any jump in our water bill lately. She said $10 the last month. We hadn't started watering.

The undertoad shows up.

I'm guessing I should call a plumber today.

Ugh.