My refrigerator died on a Saturday. I ignored the early signs of trouble with it — a Kenmore unit just four years old, yet suddenly unable to keep milk from spoiling or ice cream from melting into sugary soup.
Though I held fast to slim hopes, an unsympathetic repairman sent by Sears offered none, and the Kenmore could not be resuscitated. By the time you read this, my family will have survived for three weeks without freon-chilled produce, dairy products, tofu or soda.
This isn't a bad-customer-service sob story. As the weeks fly by — as I grow to enjoy walking the dog to the store each morning to spend $4 on two 3 kg bags of ice for a cooler, and as my 2-year-old daughter forgets about yogurt — I have to ask: Who needs a refrigerator?