It Happened Right There!

This beautiful Tudor home was undergoing a massive renovation when I first came on the scene. I worked here for many weeks and got to know these people very well, too well actually. But that is another story. I remember the one really weird thing that happened here, and will never forget it. 

The master suite on the upper floor was being enlarged by incorporating another bedroom and closet to give room for a massive en suite and two walk-in closets. The floors had been ripped up and there were only open floor joists in one end of the room. The carpenter was carrying some materials across the joists when his foot slipped and came crashing through the family room ceiling below. I had just painted that ceiling and now I had to call in a drywall and texture repair guy. He came very quickly and it was soon ready for another paint job. It was perfect and you could not see where the incident had happened. 

A few days later, the  lady of the house returned from her holiday and told me she had heard that something had happened to her family room ceiling. I recounted the story and then showed her where the foot had come through and asked her if she could see where the damage had been repaired. We were standing in the adjoining kitchen, peering intently at the very spot where the damage had been done, trying to detect any telltale marks, when right at that precise moment, two feet came crashing through the ceiling, right there. I was speechless, but the carpenter was not. He was screaming in pain. He was straddling the floor joist with a load of materials to give him added weight, and he did not care much about any damage he had done other than to himself. 

When he came limping back from the hospital a few hours later, we offered to buy him a new piece of equipment. A parachute!