True to his word, a battered white van with a magnetic sign pulled up at 12:01 AM. Dave was in his sixties, with a grey beard and the calm eyes of someone who’d seen horrors no plumber should have to witness. He carried a toolbox and what looked like a flexible camera on a long snake.
The first three results were national chains with call-out fees higher than her weekly grocery bill. But the fourth—"Abingdon Draincare (24/7)"—had a local mobile number and a photo of a man named Dave holding a drain rod like a wizard’s staff. One review read: “Dave came at 1am. The toilet now flushes like a champion.”
While Lucy held a sleepy, curious toddler on the landing, Dave knelt before the toilet like a knight before a foul grail. He fed the camera down. On a small screen, they all watched the whale’s smug face staring back from the darkness.
“He’s wedged sideways,” Dave murmured. “But I’ve got a grabber claw. Cost me four hundred quid. Best investment of my life.”
She called.
True to his word, a battered white van with a magnetic sign pulled up at 12:01 AM. Dave was in his sixties, with a grey beard and the calm eyes of someone who’d seen horrors no plumber should have to witness. He carried a toolbox and what looked like a flexible camera on a long snake.
The first three results were national chains with call-out fees higher than her weekly grocery bill. But the fourth—"Abingdon Draincare (24/7)"—had a local mobile number and a photo of a man named Dave holding a drain rod like a wizard’s staff. One review read: “Dave came at 1am. The toilet now flushes like a champion.”
While Lucy held a sleepy, curious toddler on the landing, Dave knelt before the toilet like a knight before a foul grail. He fed the camera down. On a small screen, they all watched the whale’s smug face staring back from the darkness.
“He’s wedged sideways,” Dave murmured. “But I’ve got a grabber claw. Cost me four hundred quid. Best investment of my life.”
She called.