The Flood

The skies turned so black, the chickens went to roost. Pa had said something wasn’t natural, and it came. He told me to go fetch eggs from the chickens and to hurry, otherwise I’d be caught. I retrieved five eggs but I hadn’t felt the hurry that had infected my father. I took alarm when I heard a roaring in the distance, it sounded like all the bears grouping in the scrub or by the river. It was the wind. I heard it approaching from the northeast, brushing treetops in its passing. The pines whistled as it passed over me with rustle like the wings of many high-flying geese. The rain quickly followed.

The wind roared overhead while the rain was a solid wall from the sky to earth. I made sure not to drop any of eggs as I ran for Flag. Inside the shed, he quivered and shook, Flag was wet from a leak somewhere, so he stood there shivering and cold. Looking into his milky black eyes, I understood he was scared. Flag ran behind me, looking for shelter of the storm, while I was trying to bolt for the back door of the house. The door was latched, which started me to pound loudly on the door. I at first thought that no one heard me, that Flag and I would be stuck in the storm until it was over. Then Pa opened the latch and the two of us ran inside. I wiped drops off my eyes, and Ma scolded me for bringing Flag in. I went to go change my soaked clothes and reentered to where Ma and Pa were sitting to eat dinner.

The next three days, Pa would go out and milk our old cow Trixie, feed the chickens and his horse Caesar, then come back in to remove all his clothes and put on fresh ones. Pa then thought the sun would emerge, but it didn’t. In the evening, I began doing the chores to feed the outside animals. I would step out and not know where I was, like I was walking on water. When I finished, I turned back to the house, with rain blurring my way through the unfriendly atmosphere. I returned into the house, glad to be welcomed by friendly faces. The yard and harvest were all floating atop the water, crushed and lifeless. More days passed, leaving a flood of water that killed animals and plants. Pa and I would try to go out and collect cow-peas, which were flattened. More days passed as the rain became a regular event of the day. Pa and I started digging for sweet potatoes, which had started to rot from so much rain. Dinner became lavish, even Flag was suffering from malnourishment. His ribs were easily spotted through his fur, and his bumpy backbone showed as well. On the eighth day of pure rain and wind, the rain finally stopped. There was still water everywhere, but the ruckus of the falling drops ceased.

Two days later, Buck and Mill-wheel came by, asking for assistance in roaming the land, seeing what the storm had brought havoc to. Dead land creatures died and floated down the river, including snakes that were most likely to have been stuck in the holes in the ground. It was shocking for me personally to see a dead fawn drifting down the river. I gulped with anxiety. If I hadn’t gone back to save Flag, he might of ended the same way.

We camped that night under the stars. Then we returned home our separate ways. A few days later, Pa and I had gone back out for hunting to bring in game for a better dinner. We found a plague going through big cats and large bucks. I felt worrisome for Flag, if he caught the black tongued plague, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Luckily he didn’t or else I wouldn’t know what to do after that. Many animals died that year of the flood.