Plumbing

It started as an unexplainable need to be near Poppy at all times. Branch found himself changing his schedule to meet her queen agenda. Of course, he was taking care of her calendar lately so it was easy combining chores.

Since the Golf game, he was addicted to her, like he needed to drink from her endless fountain of joy at all times, but as the events unfolded, he found it challenging to keep the high spirits. Old grumpy Branch made a comeback.

At the game where he chose to cheer for the red team, Poppy enrolled herself into helping Synth to cheer for himself. Branch's sour mood started to make an appearance there.

Believing it would be over soon, Branch volunteered to help, only to end up with a bruised knee and a bump on his head. Worse than Synth's cheering was Holly's whistle. That thing took his concentration away and each time he heard the acute noise, he felt like growling in irritation.

He didn't go to the final game. To the Hair with it. It took him a long time cleaning the floor from the broken jars on his groceries bag, so he did what his grumpy old self was dying to do: he locked the door to have a peaceful and quiet night.

The ritual to get in a better mood followed by coffee, some ration inventory and finally with a good amount of reading while he enjoyed an aged underground water while sitting on his favorite armchair and blanket.

Shakespeare got his attention for a good amount of time, but his watch and the following plumbing trepidation made him sign and lay the book aside once more.

Branch was getting annoyed with his plumbing system, he thought while jiggling the handle that he had installed as an alternative and temporary way to avoid flooding the bunker.

What was happening to him? He wasn't the kind of troll who would avoid chores and changing the plumbing system was one major chore he wouldn't be able to avoid much longer. The floor plans were rolled on the bookshelves for weeks, but he barely had the time to study them because he had been attending too many events in Trollstopia.

And when he wasn't… well… his mind would turn to Poppy. The fresh memories of her hugs seemed to create a mental vortex which dragged him willingly under the sweetest wonderings. Sometimes four hours would pass in a blink when he was merely contemplating her picture.

"Okay, Branch. It's time to get back to business." He said aloud, taking the hydraulics plans to unroll them on his kitchen table. "Work must always come before fun, no matter how much fun you're missing."

According to the plan - Hair, did he even remember the last time he opened that one? - he had installed the hydraulic pump underground so, at the end of the day when groundwater level went up, it would be sent to the lagoon - now techno lagoon. Apparently, the pump wasn't handling the saturation and soon it would fail.

Studying the floorplan, it was obvious that it was his own fault the drainage was failing. It was his own inexperience that led him to use too many plumbing parts to build the way out. The biggest mistake was the reducer adapter on the way out, then there were ninety-degree elbows and female tee, then more reducing tee, forty-five degrees elbow. No, no, no… it was all wrong. He needed a clear way out because all the turns were making the pump work three times harder than its capacity.

Wow… no wonder there were so many leaks lately.

First, Branch was going to need to cut the water supply, during the low groundwater level period and work hard to get it done before it was raised again.

Could he redo the drainage system by himself in six hours?

Branch rolled the floorplans and put them on the shelf again. There had to be a way to do it.

He needed to work on a new hydraulic plan, then get the parts he needed and plug them together before cutting the supply. It was the most efficient way to go. But still… It felt like a lot to do by himself.

Oh, well, it's not like he could count on anyone else to do that kind of hard work.

He did trust Poppy to do small chores around the bunker, like doing the dishes or helping him with the cleaning, but plumbing… well… it was too much for her to handle.

Besides… he didn't want her to know there were flaws in his design. Once she had been scared about the possibility of the bunker flooding during a storm and he had said he had designed a flawless system.

If she knew there were flaws… or worse… that the whole system was failing… she would never stay over again.

Branch couldn't have that happening.

*plim*

Oh jeez… time to jiggle the handle.