It was nice and dry under there, not like some houses you go under where pipes are leaking everywhere and there’s mud you have to crawl through. It was insulated, too. That house had been taken care of.

“Yeah, well I’m tired of this goddamn life we’re living!”

This was him screaming.

They lowered their voices, but I heard them. I was listening.

“You think he can hear us?” she said. Talking about me.

“Fuck him! I don’t give a shit if he hears us or not!”

Well, when he said that, I didn’t give a shit if he got his toilet unstopped or not. But since I was making $47.50 an hour, I decided to stay under there.

“Listen. I’ve worked my ass off for you for thirty years and you don’t appreciate it. You can’t even mow the yard!”

“I don’t know how to mow a yard! That’s your job!”

“Hire somebody!”

“With what?”

“With some of that money you’re always spending on clothes and shoes!”

So, she was fat, and she spent too much money, and she wouldn’t mow the yard and she didn’t appreciate him working so hard. I wished I could see for myself what she looked like, whether she was really as fat as he said she was.

I put my cigarette out and put the wrench on the nut. First thing that happened was, it broke. I don’t know why they put that plastic crap on there. It was backed up, too. You wouldn’t believe the stuff that ran out of there. You wouldn’t believe the things they were saying to each other in that house.

“I gave you the best years of my life! ” she shouted. Then it sounded like she threw herself down on the couch or something. I could hear all sorts of crying going on. I could tell things were coming to a head after thirty years. I knocked all that plastic out of the way with the end of my wrench and started uncoiling the sewer snake. I had a good brass nut in my pocket I could sell him for fifteen bucks. Or maybe twenty-five, depending on how he treated her and whether she deserved it or not.

“Yeah, cry! That’s all you can do is cry! I’ve had it up to here with that crying! You think I wouldn’t like to cry sometimes? You think you’re the only one that knows how to cry? I could cry over wasting my life with you!”