My grown daughter and I lived together for a few years. One morning the washing machine started making an awful racket - boom, bang, boom. We turned it off, and checked it out but couldn't find the problem. I had the day off and agreed to call for repairs.

The nice young repairman turns on the machine and it goes boom, bang, boom. He takes the sides off, looks around, moves things, and tests some stuff, but could not find the problem.

He turns the machine on again, and it goes, boom, bang, boom. This time he asks, if he can remove the wet clothes so he can look inside the tub. I say sure, so he drains the washing machine and opens the door and boom, bang, boom falls of the floor - with a boom.

He's staring at boom, bang, boom and I'm flying across the room like a gazelle, and grabbing boom, bang, boom off the floor Let's pretend you didn't see that, okay, I ask? Fine by me, he says, then apologizes. He didn't fix anything, but he still had to charge me for the service call. That was it, I lost it and burst out laughing. The two of us laughed so long we were weak.

Let me tell you, by the time my daughter got home from work I was ready. Eventually she got around to asking if the washer got fixed. Yes, it did and it was expensive too. How much, she asked and I told her. What was wrong she asked, and I pulled her hot pink, boom, bang, boom out of my apron pocket. The expressions on her face were pure gold.

We could not stop laughing and then we could not look at each other without laughing again. Daughter one called daughter two, then held up the phone while I did my apron pocket trick.

It took two days for my stomach's laughing muscles to stop aching. Among other things, boom, bang, boom is still making us laugh.