Paula sat on the side verandah looking at her garden. It was a beautiful day and she’d love to be drinking a cup of tea but she didn’t want to swallow any more liquids at the moment. What went in very quickly had to come out these days. Not that she minded having to go behind a bush in her own yard. It was what she’d discovered there that had sent her heart racing and turned her legs to jelly.

As she had stood up from her squatting position, she’d heard a rustling sound beside her. She looked down to see a fat, stumpy monster, like something from a dinosaur movie, near her feet. She screamed and it opened its mouth, exposing pink spotty flesh, and hissed at her.

Tarzan had barked furiously from the small enclosure around his kennel where she’d put him so he couldn’t follow her behind the bush. Paula had run for the protection of the verandah and huddled there until Tarzan’s distress had driven her to let him out. He was settled beside her on the old wicker chair where she now sat, waiting for Rowena.

Over the phone, Dan’s aunt had sounded as if she knew just what to do about the plumbing. With any luck the toilet would be fixed by the time Paula needed to use it again. The idea of going back to the garden with the prehistoric lizard made her shudder.

Hopefully Rowena would be in a good mood. Paula also wanted to talk to her about dogs. Dan had a birthday coming up and Paula had thought she might get him a pup, but she didn’t know the first thing about sheep dogs or where to buy them.

The sound of a vehicle racing up the track made Paula shake her head. That would be Rowena. She only had two speeds in a vehicle – flat out and stop. Paula went through the house to meet her, Tarzan at her heels.

Only a few minutes later, her earlier optimism vanished.

“This is something major,” Rowena declared, after she inspected the laundry and the toilet. The water level in the troughs had lowered quite a lot but the toilet was much the same as when Paula had first discovered it. “This won’t do you any good.” She waved a device with a wooden handle and a black rubber cap on one end.

“What is it?” Paula asked.

Rowena raised one eyebrow. “A plunger for unblocking drains.”

“Should I ring a plumber?”

“You can try. I don’t know who would be able to come out at short notice.”

“There must be someone.”