The toilet paper pyramid

When a roll runs out, the kids don't pop it off the holder and carry it away. They fetch a new roll and set it against the wall. When that one is done, they stack the rolls into a pyramid, a shape that, by a father's understanding of math, isn't great for balancing things.

Inevitably the top roll goes forward and hits the ground behind the toilet, and a scream comes from the bathroom: Dad, there's no toilet paper. The reply from the hallway is that they got themselves there and can figure it out on their own.

The daughter's bathroom once held three rolls: two empty and wedged against the side, and the third standing vertical. The father closed the door and walked away, pretending it never happened. If there were ever an Ebola outbreak in the US, he suspects it might start in that bathroom, though he knows nothing about Ebola.