She lifted the plunger. Water dripped from it like tears. She looked at the bowl’s curved bottom, then at the flat rim of the plunger. Of course. This was a sink plunger, not a toilet plunger. A toilet needed a flange—that extra rubber lip that folds into the drain. Her plunger didn’t have one. But she also didn’t have a car to drive to the 24-hour hardware store.
Sarah froze. The bowl was empty. Then, from somewhere in the plumbing, a triumphant glug-gug-gug-gug echoed, and fresh water rose to its normal level, clear and calm.
“I am a god.”
Glug.
So she did what any reasonable, sleep-deprived adult would do: she guessed. unblock a toilet with a plunger
She didn’t even look at it. She just flushed the toilet one more time, watched it drain perfectly, and whispered to the empty bathroom:
The seal.
The water in the bowl trembled.