The Drop Below the Dry Tap
Chapter 1Wet Again
The floor beneath the garden tap was wet.
Dovid had wiped it once. Now a narrow puddle shone beside the wall again.
His little brother Bentzy stood nearby with an empty watering can.
"Did you spill more?" Dovid asked.
"I didn't spill the first one."
Dovid looked at the can. It would be easier to believe Bentzy if he had not been carrying something made for pouring water.
The porch floor sloped toward the step. A small channel normally carried rain away, but Totty did not want a slippery patch beside the door.
Dovid went to get him.
Chapter 2The Dry Mouth
Totty came out and kept the boys on the dry side of the porch. He put an old towel over the wet patch.
Dovid pointed at the tap.
"Perhaps Bentzy left it dripping."
The tap was closed. Its mouth was dry.
Totty held a small cup beneath it for a minute.
Nothing fell into the cup.
"See?" Bentzy said.
Dovid folded his arms.
"It might have stopped before we came."
Totty set the cup on the bench.
"Perhaps. But we still need to know why the floor gets wet now."
Chapter 3Not From the Can
Bentzy put his watering can on the dry bench. Totty wiped the floor and left the can there while they watched from beside the door.
A fresh bead of water appeared at the bottom of the wall.
It grew, slid onto the floor, and joined another bead.
The watering can had not moved.
Dovid looked at Bentzy.
"That one didn't come from you."
"Neither did the others."
Dovid did not argue this time.
The water seemed to come from below the tap, but the pipe there looked dry from the front.
Chapter 4Three White Strips
Totty brought three clean strips cut from an old white cloth.
He wrapped one loosely around the tap's mouth, one around the connection behind it, and one around the pipe farther down the wall. He kept them separate so water could not pass along a strip from one place to another.
The boys watched without touching the plumbing.
The lowest strip grew dark at its top edge.
"There!" Dovid said. "The pipe leaks at the bottom."
Totty lifted the strip away.
A thin wet trail continued upward behind the pipe.
"That strip tells us water passed it," he said. "It may have started higher."
Chapter 5Behind the Connection
The strip around the tap's mouth stayed white and dry.
The cloth behind the tap grew damp on the side nearest the wall.
Totty used his little mirror to look behind the connection. A bead formed on its underside, touched the pipe, and ran down the back.
From the front, the pipe still looked dry.
"That's where the fresh water starts," Dovid said.
Totty nodded.
"A small leak behind the fitting."
He shut off the garden water at its supply valve. The boys stayed inside while he worked.
The last bead crept down the pipe and fell onto the towel.
Chapter 6A Different Job
Totty arranged for the plumber to repair the leaking connection. Until then, the garden tap stayed out of use.
Dovid carried the old towel to the laundry basket and put a dry one on the floor where Totty asked.
Bentzy picked up his empty can.
"Can I fill this in the kitchen?"
Totty helped him fill it halfway so he could carry it safely.
Dovid waited by the porch door.
"I said you spilled it because you had the can," he told Bentzy. "I hadn't seen you spill anything. I'm sorry."
Bentzy looked at the half-full can.
"You can carry the second one."
Chapter 7After the Repair
When the plumber finished, Totty checked the repaired connection and the floor beneath it.
The boys watered the garden.
Dovid set his can down carefully, but a little water sloshed onto the porch.
Bentzy pointed.
"That puddle is yours."
Dovid looked at the spilled water, then at his can.
"This one is."
He fetched the towel before anybody stepped in it.
