$42.70

(Apologies to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)

If you call the repairman, they will tell you a window of time to expect him.
If you are expecting him between 10 and 1, he will arrive at 12:45.
When he arrives at 12:45, you will have had time to clean out the laundry room.
Cleaning out the laundry room will make you remember you have been meaning to clean behind the dryer.
You pull it out. You look behind. You might throw up a little in your mouth.
Looking at all of that yuck will cause you to promptly break out the Pine-Sol.
Wiping all of that lint with a wet cloth will make you wish you had reached for the broom first.
You get the broom and sweep. And then you Pine-Sol the dickens out of the floor, the dryer hose, the walls, and the dryer.
You peek behind the washer.
You’ll probably see 6 odd socks, a shirt, and a toy back there.
The washer is heavier than the dryer since it is not working and full of water.
You bail out most of the water. The washer scrapes against the tile while you shimmy it out of its spot.
You clean furiously because the repairman could arrive at any moment.
At last, when the laundry room is cleaner than it has ever been, the repairman knocks on the door.
You proudly usher him into your piney smelling, sparkly washroom. He doesn’t notice the angels singing as he crosses the threshold.
The two of you peer into the washer. You notice a rectangle eraser in the bottom of the water.
You show him how that eraser has jimmied a little broken lever on your washer for the last nine years. The eraser must have slipped for the first time. He is not impressed when you put the eraser back in and the washer works perfectly.
Because you put the eraser back, the repairman’s work is done unless you want to pay $180 for him to fix that little lever.
No thanks, you say. The repairman leaves. You start your washer and hope the eraser doesn’t move for another nine years.
Because if your eraser moves again, you just might have to call the repairman.