Drain Blues

They were just three kids. Close in age – 18, 20 and 21. They had barely experienced life but they craved it so much. They wanted twists and turns, curves and surprises. Jennifer, Felix and Oz moved into the city to find something they had never had; instability. They lusted over the very thing most people choose to avoid. Nothing bad had ever really happened to them and so they had no angst journals to write, no expressive art to create and no story to tell. Felix quickly managed to get into a sticky situation when he accidentally clogged the pipes in their tiny rented apartment. Between them they had the domestic skills of a puppet. Oz managed to find the number for some local emergency drainage contractor based in Melbourne.

Thankfully they had a cancellation and were round within the hour. The trio didn’t have much money between them, although of course they had the emergency parental funds. They had agreed when they set off for the city they would only use that money in a medical situation.

They had to pay off the plumber with their remaining cash and find jobs immediately. They hardly had work experience, although they’d only finished school with above average grades and worked a couple of summers at one of their parents property companies.

The following morning Jennifer, who thought she had an inspired idea, went to the offices of an emergency drain plumbers based in Melbourne. She told them of the clogged pipes and her desire for employment and said she would make an excellent administrator. They told her that they don’t have any vacancies and her lack of plumbing experience didn’t help. Sadly Jennifer went home and reported her lack of success to the boys, they had been equally unsuccessful. With dwindling resources and the ever attractive loom of the parental fund hanging over them, they went for pizza and agreed that the next day they would go to an internet cafe and not leave until they had secured two entry-level job interviews each.