I empty the pan that catches the leak. It’s no different, really, than eating an aspirin every morning or avoiding the back porch’s rotten board. We come to understand the wisdom of railings, and on a long car trip, we turn the dial to avoid a crackling of song. In another time, I might have tightened this screw before it fell out and got sucked up by the vacuum. But the mushrooms in the forest have kept me busy as their little skulls sneak out of the dirt where something underneath has softened.