3:30 am… in the middle of a suspenseful, secret agent dream (I think I was running from someone through caverns and waterfalls and a maze of dark corridors), there was a repetitive, time-clock ticking steadily, like an endless faucet… “click-click-click…” pushing and rushing me along… “click-click-click…”

Slowly, the clicking sound in the dream started to seem more and more real… the dream faded away… and I became aware and awake… and the clicking was still clicking…

It was the pilot light on my stove in the kitchen… the pilot light was clicking (not lighting) and would not shut up… and was mixing together with a splashy, gushing sound… of water…

I jumped out of bed, ran into the kitchen to find… the sink was overflowing and spilling out into the rest of the house… about an inch deep in some places… I ran for a bucket and began filling and dumping the water outside into the back alley… trip after trip… until the water finally stopped. There was black gunk everywhere and it took me the next couple hours to mop and clean the floors.

Thankfully, the only real damage was to my persian rug in the living room… that soaked up all the water… dreadful… I stayed up the rest of the night cleaning… and watching the sink, waiting to see if there would be any more water (and black gunk) coming up… no more.

The plumber came first thing in the morning and cleared the pipes and made everything right. Thank you Mr. Plumber. The Gas Man came to check the gas. Thank you Gas Man. I jumped back in bed for a few hours. Thank you bed.