Brightest Bulb in the Tulip Patch

       When Dad was almost finished with the new kitchen at the house on Zimmerman, he and Mom went shopping for a new floor. They picked out linoleum that would come in one piece – no seams, and they were excited about it. Well, it must have been during the summer school break when the floor was going to be installed, and it turned out that I was the only one who would be home that day.

         The workers arrived and I let them into the house while I stayed outside pulling weeds from the garden – not the only time in my life when I've pulled weeds but clearly this was just an excuse to be out of the way.

         Their job did not take long and soon a new floor was in the kitchen.

Mom and Dad were not pleased when they came home.

         “Why did you let them put the new floor down on top of the old floor? Isn't it obvious to you that they should have put a sub-floor down before laying the linoleum?”

If it was not obvious to the installers, why would it have been obvious to me?

         Looking down at the floor, I could see the outline of the slats from the old hardwood floor beneath.

         “Didn't you hear us talking about the plywood floor they would have to put down first?”

         If I did, what would make Mom and Dad think that I would have interrupted the guys from what they were doing and insist they were doing it wrong? No, I assumed the guys knew better than I did how to install a new kitchen floor.

         My Folks considered this another instance of my not having any common sense – but even after all these years, I do not think I was in the wrong this time.

         They called the store, and a few days later a layer of plywood was put down on top of the new linoleum and then another layer of linoleum, seamless, was put down on top of the plywood. The store blamed the crew for the mistake and it cost my parents nothing for the fix.

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