73 - Got covered in spores.

joneworlds@mailbox.org

There's this, I don't know, some kind of spa down on the north end. I was there the other day to do the annual test on their water service backflow assembly. The place is like this really old warehouse or workshop building, mostly empty. The crawlspace hatch is in the corner where all their customers are sitting. They're all sitting around in cheap lawn chairs, with their feet buried in big buckets of dirt, and wet towels draped over their heads. All ages, but all homo-saps - no Olds. Some helper goes around checking on them all, but mostly no one even notices as I pass through. Not quite sure what's going on here, but hey, whatever floats their boat.

Anyways, I get to the hatch, go on down in there with my flashlight and test kit, spot the assembly, crawl over to do the test. It's dark and cramped, but I'm used to it. Then I notice that the assembly is surrounded by some of those weird mushrooms that I find here and there around these parts. The ones with the blue stripey heads, and that bizzare sychronized rhythmic movement going on somehow. They kind of creep me out, to be honest. But I got a job to do, so I go to crawl carefully around them as best I can. But then I somehow catch my wrist in a root or something, and stumble, and land face-first right in the middle of the mushrooms. A few get crushed. Yeccch...

I pick myself up, and then I notice that all the mushrooms have stopped their funny little dance. All just sitting there, like they were offended or something. And then it happened. There's this audible POP sound, and they all turn inside out and blow off their seeds or spores or whatever. The cloud of them fills the whole corner of the crawlspace where I'm in, and I take it all straight in the face. I'm coughing and choking and spitting, and it's just awful until it all settles down. It feels like few minutes before I can clear myself out to the point where I can function again. I test the assembly quickly and get out of the crawlspace as fast as I can. Although funnily enough, the lingering smell of all this is actually kind of pleasant. It reminds me of freshly-made waffles.

Anyways, job's done. As I'm heading out the door at the other end of the warehouse, I notice there are these two little gnomes sitting on the floor there, playing jacks or marbles or something. Which is kind of odd in itself. But when they see me coming, they stop playing and just stare at me. As I leave the building, they hastily stumble backwards to give me plenty of room, staring at me all the while. Sort of weird.

I had another job after that one, but I wasn't feeling up to it. I drove back to the motorhome to lie down. Had a headache.

Next - 74 - Snuggle gnomes.

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