Elara had tried the usual remedies. She’d thrust a rubber plunger at the drain, making obscene, sloshing noises that only seemed to amuse her cat, Miso. She’d poured a bottle of sickly-sweet, neon-blue chemical goo down the pipe. It smelled like a lie and worked about as well as a paper umbrella in a hurricane. The Grease King remained, a stubborn, stinking tyrant.
For a second, nothing happened. The vinegar trickled down, meeting the baking soda in the dark. Then, it began. baking soda and vinegar for kitchen sink
She leaned over, sniffed the empty drain. No sour, rotten smell. No chemical sting. Just the faint, clean ghost of vinegar and the bright whisper of lemon. The Grease King was vanquished. The Clockwork Dragon had returned to its slumber in the box and the jug. Elara had tried the usual remedies