The Plumber Who Hummed Opera

Our kitchen sink exploded on a Sunday morning, which is apparently the most expensive day of the week for it to happen. The emergency plumber arrived at nine: a big man in coveralls named Giuseppe, who hummed Puccini the entire time he worked.

He hummed under the sink. He hummed fetching parts from his truck. When he got the pipe fixed, he sang a line of "Nessun Dorma" out loud, full voice, in our kitchen, while the water ran clear.

My kids came running to see what was happening. He bowed. They clapped.

He told us he'd sung in a church choir in Naples as a boy and still sang every Sunday. "Plumbing on Sundays is my second job," he joked. He gave us his card. On the back, he had written "Call me for any emergency, or any aria."