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Spring Flood (149 words)

by Lori Sheroan

GIF created by Lori Sheroan (using GIPHY and news footage from WSGS, Hazard, KY)

 

Granny and Nell watched from the porch. 

The river juggled tree limbs.

Two hubcaps clanged to the surface. 

A Halloween bucket sloshed in the waves, 

grinning like a fool.

"Debris in the middle means 

water’s on the rise," Granny said. 

The river never flooded Granny’s 

Appalachian home;

but it climbed the banks,

jerked saplings off the hill, 

muddied Papaw’s garden.

"My brother threw me in once," Granny said. 

“Same brother dragged me to shore. 

Nearly killed me, but saved my life.”

Nell imagined the river pulling Granny's legs,

Granny’s brother pulling Granny’s ponytail.

Tug o' war, with Granny as the rope.

The river was a thief...

and a moody neighbor, 

lazy and handsome one day, 

ugly and fierce the next,

wielding the power to baptize or drown.

Granny and Nell watched

as the river waved a red-checked tablecloth.

Nell waved back,

so grateful the river had not taken Granny.