Swimming upstream

I'm in a house with all of my fellow co-workers. We are working on an assignment where we are to explain why the water from the river next to the house flow up through the pipes and sprays from the top of the chimney like a fountain. There are no pumps and it is a natural physical phenomenon. I try to guess capillary action, but they say no because the pipes are about 6 inches in diameter. Then my co-workers figure it out and try to explain it to me and I don't understand at all. I keep saying "I don't get it" and feel really dumb.

Next, I find myself in the river next to the house wading across to get to some balls on the other side. I believe these balls are the magic key to the upwardly flowing water. I'm stepping barefoot through some wet mossy areas, and then I realize that the river gets deep and start to swim across. Suddenly, I see my 3-year-old daughter in the river as well and try to tell her not to go in too far because it is too deep. She doesn't listen, so I have to scoop her up and swim with her to the other side. It is hard to swim against the river, but I manage to get to the other side. I grab the balls which look like multi-colored tennis balls and then swim towards the slider of the house. There is no dock or anything, the river runs right up the the slider. I help my daughter up and then hop inside with the balls and my sloshing wet clothes.

Observations: My 6-year-old son is now in the habit of saying "I don't get it" all the time. Earlier that day I was left off the a distribution list for a list of problems from our customer and felt out of the loop. My solar system is also broken, spewing water all over the roof when the pumps are on (no magic there!).