Contemporary essays, fiction, and opinion offered regularly by author Anne Brandt.






Question for the week
How might I punctuate the following sentence? Students, stop cutting in line(?)stop throwing food(?)and stop leaving trash.
Ten minutes to
write.
Less time to
read.
Day Forty-One
Posted: 10/26/09
When it rains it pours. I’m in New York on business one week from the day we’re supposed to close on our new home, and Earl calls with concern in his voice. I sense it immediately.

“There’s a plumbing problem,” he says. “The builder went into the condo this morning and found water all over the place. It means they can’t lay the wood flooring because it will warp unless the water problem is solved. It means they can’t install the appliances in the kitchen until the flooring is installed.” It means . . . it means.

This is why I originally built a fudge factor of eleven days into my plans to move. This is why I’m saying let’s wait 24-48 hours before we get panicky. After all, maybe the leak is minor – not like the $3000 leak we had in another condo several years back – and can be repaired without upsetting the other installations. In this case, then, there’s no real damage done. And, if the damage is major, then this is why the added eleven days are there. ‘Fudge’ is a weak word for what those days can actually mean.


Click here to send this
mini-essay to a friend.


Previous entries
Due to the volume of entries, Anne's Ten Minutes A Day are now categorized by date and by topics. Some essays are found under more than one topic.

Click here for a chronological list.

Otherwise, select from the categories below.

2004 Election2008 ElectionAnnoyances
Changing SceneDining/FoodFlora/Fauna
Me/FamilyNostalgiaPersonal Pleas
PoliticsSmall Town LifeSpecial Events
TechnologyThings to PonderTravel
Writing