Drip
Drip
Drip
He shuffled in the bed. A calculated shuffle; just wiggly enough and just noisy enough to wake his sleeping partner.
“Are you awake?” he whispered.
“No,” came the muffled reply, deep beneath the winter-thick duvet.
“The tap is doing it again,” he said quietly.
“The what is doing what? Shut up. Go to sleep.”
“The dripping thing. The tap. The…” he paused, grasping in the night for the foreign word native to this land.
“…faucet!” he exclaimed.
Silence followed.
It was dark. There was no way he could see it, but boy could he feel “the look”.
Friday Fictioneers is hosted by the freshly published Rochelle. Join in the 100 word flash fiction fun or simply go read the other entries here.
me.you.coffee 
Dear Peter,
A dripping faucet can be so annoying, how ever…we all know ‘the look,’ don’t we? Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
That “feeling” is just guilt!
Clever words.
Haha this was so funny. My husband and I have these types of discussions in the middle of the night – and we speak the same language! PS I agree… I’ve never been able to take to the word faucet either.
For me it’s a tap.. but the name faucet is really better (unless it’s leaking).. and there is a rule of never waking your partner… never
… and the history repeats itself! 😀
Nicely done !
LOL. There is nothing more annoying as the ‘drip drip drip’ at night . Fun read.
I know the situation, too, and am giver, and receiver, of ‘that look’. What a fun story.
Peter,
I love the way you mentioned the different words “tap” and “faucet.” My Dad’s parents were from New England, and my mom’s family were all Kansas natives. I grew up calling it a “tap” but knowing full-well what a “faucet” was.
And the story’s a good one too. Nice work.
All my best,
Marie Gail
Nicely done. My FAVORITE part is the calculated shuffle in bed just wiggly enough to wake his partner. That is SO REAL.
That’s fun. I bet they discuss this over a tense breakfast in the morning.
And rightly so! If I can sleep through the dripping I don’t want to be awakened by someone who can’t. Tighten your own faucet, I say!
“The look”, I like that. 🙂 I’m curious, what country do they use “faucet” in, versus “tap”? England? Growing up in Canada, we used them interchangeably, so both seem normal to me.
Even in the dark, I know that’s a humorous, true-to-life story. I should have written mine before reading others’. Now I can’t post the ‘drip…drip…drip’ one I was thinking of.
I’m also in Canada, and used to purchase supplies for a rigging/millwright shop. The workers needed lots of ‘taps’, which cut thread on the inside of holes so that pipes could be screwed in – 1/4-20, quarter inch hole – twenty threads per inch. A rigger asked me one day for a ‘tap’, and I asked what size – and we went on a 5 minute verbal voyage which finally ended only when a third party loudly used the word “Faucet!” 😕 🙄
The midnight conversation and the ‘look’ – brilliant, made me smile.
A well written look but a dripping tap can be so annoying to he who hears it.
Dear Mr. Binks,Peter, Love your story but the absolutely worse noise of dripping is when it is coming from the roof while it’s raining. I know this is very annoying! Good story! Nan
I believe a wriggler that calculating deserves Sandra Cook’s screwdriver 😉 Enjoyed the tale.
I liked this, I get those looks ALL the time 🙂
KT
Funny and everyone knows “the look”.
Tracey
I had a very similar idea, but I didn’t use the “look”. I love it 🙂
One “look” speaks a thousand words – even in the dark.
Randy
I must agree…those looks are felt even in darkness. Good story!
Oh, yes. I’ve been there. This sort of thing ought to be written in to pre-nuptial agreements. Do we take turns? Does the one who didn’t turn it off do it? Middle of the night is no time to be sorting it out. Fun story.
In Texas, we had faucets, but sometimes they were taps. Outside, they were hydrants.