flushing first

We were going through my uncle-in-law's house, retrieving items for him and others in the family of sentimental value, since he's in an assisted living facility now and his mother died a number of months ago. Upon entry, I bee-lined for the bathroom. I was reticent, however, to do what I had to do since the house had been largely deserted for a few months. I wondered if the toilet still worked. So I figured I'd give it a flush first since my business in the bathroom was of the more substantial kind. Well it worked like a charm. So I did what I had to do, but when the deed was done, and I pushed down the handle a second time, it bounced back limply and made that clanky sound that says, "no water, chump". Damn! I thought. Had I not done the practice evacuation, then I would have had water for the real thing. After a foolish attempt to fill the back of the toilet with bottled water, I pilfered enough of it into a bucket from the neighbor's hose across the street to make the guano go down. The lesson in all this? Faith requires full commitment. Practice runs are for pansies. Or, more likely... when in recently deserted houses, don't flush first.