My Cardboard Balcony

The Trickling Water by Belinda Roddie The trickling water turned into a flood, and thus, the houses and the yards were swamped in the deluge. Cars sank into fresh mud, and in our new galoshes, we all tromped in single file to higher, drier ground. My mother brought dried fruit and crackers so we'd have something to eat. We also found some bottled water, thanks to Cranky Joe, our neighbor, who always stayed hydrated even in the dead of winter. We stayed at a friend's house 'til the storm abated, and floods turned back to trickling water. Aid came to our town eventually, but we knew that this disaster made history.

I lost everything that day, and all in an instant. From the moment the glass of the windshield shattered into a thousand crystal pieces, I felt all the people and things I loved slip away from me. We had been moving that day - our suitcases had been jammed into the car trunk. Our dogs had been in carriers, and my wife had been laughing and singing to pop music in the car. That was all gone now. All of it. Gone.