The Flood
“Wow!” exclaimed Logan as he stared out the window in surprise, “Look at that stream of water.”
Look at that student not working I thought as I turned to order him back to his seat. In my mind, I saw only a small stream of water trickling from off the play shelter roof due to all the rain. As I approached, I glanced out the window. You know those horror movies where the music builds and builds then suddenly stops? That is when something jumps out and grabs the hero. That same thing could have been happening here as I approached the window, with the climatic pause as my eyes glanced out of the pane. Pan in for that moment of recognition. Eyes widen. Lower lip trembles. Right eye brow twitches. Bit of drool slides off lip.
Before my bulging eyes spread out the horrible scene. From the left side of the play shelter a creek had formed and now surged forward as all the water in the surrounding fields became too great to be contained and searched for a new residence. It was a seroius flow of water and all my kids bolted from there seats to gaze upon this wonder and from that moment on, chaos ruled.
I stepped outside and gazed behind the play structure to determine where all this water was coming from. To my right, Mr Smucker was growling out two kids who were using hockey sticks to splash each other in the rapidly expanding lake at the front of swings. My eyes saw a river of water gurgling from behind the play shelter. I run to the right and dashed to the back and am greeted with the scene of all the water from the neighboring field pouring over and damming up against the play shelter, the level higher than the cement inside.
I run back to the front and glanced in. Water is seeping in. Kids are running everywhere and shouting. The puddle in the front now has engulfed the swings and monkey bars. Logan had climbed on the bars and now was trapped, but I reached out and hauled him over the water so he wouldn’t get wet. Josh, though, had leaped through the puddle when it was lower and jumped on a swing. It took only a minute, but now his perch hovered over rather deep water and he was trapped. I felt no sympathy cause he had chosen this. He splashes to dry grown. I step back inside the play shelter, having to edge around the puddle that is nearly cutting off the path. A kid has opened the back door and water is cascading in. The kid is shouting in wild excitement, his eyes big and water gushing all around his shoes. His surprise and shock is so great he is not thinking about closing the door. It’s just not registering. Mr. Smucker and I bellow in unison to shut the door, the only time Mr. Smucker and I ever have been in unison.
Puddle in the front has now cut off the inside. I had to clamber across the structure to keep my feet dry. Students panic about coats being left in the play shelter. Too bad. Puddle now has reached pond status and is now flowing off into the field. Another lake is forming to the right, the water just waiting to crest the little high ground to then pour into the dip in the field. Mr. Smucker is now clambering across the structure to reach dry ground. Students applaud his efforts. A kid is using his lunch pail for a boat. A cone goes flying into the water and floats off to never be seen again.
Excitement reigns supreme as a parent shows up and tells me that the main road is being closed. Paul drives off to check on such news and finds it true. The fields all around the road are doing their best impression of a moving river. He returns with permission for our cars to pass. Parents are notified and start driving over. They are denied passage. Paul drives off again and procures permission again. Cars arrive, kids pile into the bigger cars. Then all of us with tiny cars form a caravan to ford the river. I imagined the green goblin as a boat. Not good. We drive off. Thankfully, it hadn’t rained for the past few hours so the water had subsided a bit so the passage did not require calking the vehicles.
I arrived home safe and sound and dry and shaking my head at how fast water can change life. That puddle had taken only about ten minutes to form. A serious amount of water was flowing into the school play ground. Thank God everything was fine and we really didn’t have any dangerous situations.
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