Baartock

by Laura Dent Crane

  Chapter 15

  It had rained all the rest of the day. Baartock had a great time up athis bridge. The water was racing under the bridge, making a wonderfulgurgling sound. It made hiding under the arch like being in one of thestories his father told. The only thing missing was someone walkingover the bridge. He would come out from under the bridge screaming hisloudest and run up the side of the stream bed. He could just see themrunning away.

  Right then it really didn't matter that there wasn't anyone crossinghis bridge. Baartock now knew so many humans and so much about them,that was easy to pretend who was walking up to cross the bridge. Therewas Mr. Fennis, of course. He had run away so wonderfully. Then therewas Ms. Laurence. Baartock could scare her easily. He didn't pretendto scare Mrs. Jackson or Mrs. Stogbuchner. Somehow they didn't seem like people to scare. But that girl in hisclass, Janice, Baartock scared her again and again. And some of theother children in the class. They were all so easy to scare. He washaving a great time.

  He even pretended that Jason was helping him scare people. Not thatJason was anything like a troll, but Baartock liked him and he thoughtJason would have fun scaring people.

  After a while, when it started to get dark, Baartock went back home inthe rain. He was glad that his father had known it was going to rain.They had gathered in extra firewood. Even though it wasn't cold, thefire warmed the cave and helped him to dry off.

  Though it had been raining all day, his mother had fixed an extra goodmeal. Baartock really liked the cricket and green bean salad. Laterthey all sat around the fire and his mother patched his pants and sewedon the new winter coat she was making, and his father told stories. Hestayed up late, and it was still raining hard when he finally went tobed.

  The next morning it was still raining, and his mother told him to gowait for the bus, but if it didn't come when it should, to come backhome. And his father surprised him by saying he would be staying homeif it kept on raining. The room he was working on in the cavern wouldprobably be flooded, and he wouldn't be able to work.

  So, while it was still raining quite hard, Baartock went down to standby the side of the road and wait for the school bus. Actually, hewasn't waiting right beside the road in the rain, but back a littleway, under some trees that still had lots of leaves. He thought hecould see the bus in time to come out and catch it. He waited andwaited, but he didn't see a bus or a car or anything coming down theroad. He went over to look at the culvert. Rain water was comingroaring down the stream bed right at the culvert, but there was so muchthat it couldn't all get through. There were branches and rocks thathad come down with the water that were blocking the opening. It wasbeginning to make a pool on that side of the road. On the other side,it was shooting out of the culvert, but it was beginning to make a poolthere too.

  When Baartock felt he had waited long enough, he went back home. Hisfather was carving out some extra shelves in the kitchen. He went towatch his father work, and started handing him tools. They worked mostof the morning. His mother came back home and saw the mess they weremaking, and started making some sandwiches. They all finished aboutthe same time, and his mother chased them both out of the cave so shecould clean up. There were rock chips all over the kitchen.

  Then Baartock and his father went up and sat under his bridge and atetheir sandwiches. For a while, his father told stories, about when hehad been a young troll, before he'd earned his name. Then they lookedat some places that Baartock had had trouble with building his bridge.They stood in the stream and the pouring rain, and his father showedhim some better ways to do the stone-work. They even took a few of thestones out, and his father worked on them, then they put them back.Baartock was much happier about the way the bridge looked now. Thenhis father showed him places where the water might weaken the bridge ifthey weren't fixed, not today, but later when the rain stopped and thewater went down.

  While they were working the rain eased up as if it were going to stop,then it started coming down again as hard as before. They had quite abusy afternoon, and his father said that it was time to go home, evenif there was still a mess in the kitchen for them to clean up.

  It rained all the next day, too. Not as hard as before, just a steadyrain that went on and on. Baartock went down in the morning to see ifthe bus would come, but it didn't. He waited a long time, playingbeside the stream, but nothing came along the road.

  The culvert that he had hidden in was completely blocked now, withbranches and rocks. The water had made a big pool, and it was flowingover the road. He went up the hill a little way and sat there,dropping small branches into the stream, and watching them float down,across the pool and across the road.

  After a while, he went back home. It was such fun to splash his way upthe stream. He got thoroughly soaked. When he got home and dry, hehelped his father make one of the closets larger. His father chippedand dug at the rock wall, and Baartock swept and picked-up, and carriedall of the trash outside in a bucket. They worked most of theafternoon. Dinner was a simple meal. It had been too wet to go getanything, so it was mostly left-overs.

  The rain stopped just after dinnertime, and Baartock went out to lookaround. It was getting dark, but he walked up to his bridge. He wasworried about the spots his father had pointed out. When he got there,his bridge was all right. An opossum was hiding under the arch, tryingto stay dry, and it growled at him. It wanted to be left alone andBaartock was able to see what he wanted to, without chasing it off.

  Going home in the dark, he slipped and fell into the stream a couple oftimes. He was glad to sit by the fire and get dry, now that he knewthat his bridge was safe.

  The nest morning it wasn't raining, though there were still a lot ofclouds overhead. But they were blowing away, and it might be sunnylater. Baartock walked down to wait for the bus. He went down thepath beside the stream. Even though the rain had stopped the nightbefore, the stream was just as full as it had been when it was raining.It was still rushing and splashing its way down the hill.

  Baartock couldn't get all the way to the road. The water had riseneven higher. It wasn't a pool, it was a lake. The road was completelyunder water. It was almost as deep as he was tall. During the night,two of the trees beside the stream had fallen over, and were lyingacross the road. The holes, where the roots had been were filled withwater. And there was still more water coming down the stream. Hewalked along the edge of water for a long way. Finally, near thedriveway to the 'old Howard house', there was no more water coveringthe road.

  Baartock played by the side of this new lake for a while, skippingstones. When he grew tired of that, he went up the driveway, and home.He left his lunch bag, and went up to check on his bridge again. Theopossum was gone, but there was still too much water for him to work onhis bridge, and he went back home.

  His father had decided that he couldn't go to work again, so he wassleeping late. His mother was busy in the kitchen, so Baartock got outhis pencil box and some worksheets he had brought home from school andsat near the mouth of the cave and did them again.