When It Rains

by Joel Shaw

  Shania steered the delivery van to the far side of the field.

  "That's good. Stop." A male yelled loudly.

  Shania brought the van to an abrupt halt. Julian jumped out and ran back to the double door at the rear of the van and immediately started opening the boxes marked HS-Rice. He cut a strip of tape that held the boxes closed and dumped the contents on the ground near a large hole. The emptied, plastic two-gallon jugs bounced on the hard-packed earth. Some of them fell into the hole, hitting the rungs of the aluminum ladder that extended to the bottom.

  "Hey. Watch it. I have so many jugs down here I can barely move."

  "Sorry," Julian called out.

  "Is that you Jules? Figures." the voice from the hole said.

  Another male voice...”What’s the pressure reading Jamie?”

  "Eighty PSI. It's fallen since last week. The OAs got a leak somewhere, or their well is drying up.”

  "Whats the OAs?" Amber, stood still, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

  Shania joined her. "OAs is short for official assholes. It's a blanket term that covers most government officials. They tend to be quite selfish and self-centered. Do you have a headlamp?"

  Amber searched her pockets, finding her small headlamp in her cargo pants. "I do."

  "Does it have a red filter?"

  "I don't know. I haven't used it much."

  "Let me see it." Shania took the lamp from her and rotated the lenses. She turned it on and handed it to Amber.

  "There you go. Red light is less visible from a distance and you won't impair your night vision capabilities."

  "What does that mean?"

  "That means you can see better in the dark." Shania laughed softly. "I'm not laughing at you, Amber. I laugh a lot when we are out in the field. It's nerves, I suppose. How old are you, Amber?"

  “Twenty-nine.”

  "How much schooling have you had?"

  "The schools closed when I was a year old. I haven't had any schooling, except for home schooling with my mom and some neighborhood kids."

  "Your mother taught you how to read?"

  “That...and other things.”

  They stood in silence, passing the water-filled jugs from one to other along the chain of people, filling the floor of each available truck in succession with the two gallon jugs.

  Amber suddenly realized what she was doing. “This is water! Water! Hot damn in downtown. And is that a well?" Amber asked pointing at the hole. She was astounded by her general lack of awareness. She had just handled more water in one hour than she had handled in years.

  “Can I have a drink?”

  Someone sneaked up behind her and poured water over her head. Amber reverted to her old ways, trying in vain to catch every drop. She forgot herself again and began to reprimand the prankster, “Have you lost your fucking mind? That’s....

  Everyone nearby cracked up. She caught herself and began to laugh with them.

  Shania escorted Amber to the edge of the hole. "We call it our 'well.' Truth is, sixteen feet below our feet is a three-foot diameter water pipe that runs from Kansas City to Denver. We're not supposed to know that it's here, of course...and, we're not supposed to be taking water from it either." Shania's white teeth shown pink as she smiled.

  "I figured that," Amber replied. This was the strangest event she had ever been part of. “If there is so much water, why do you have to steal it?”

  Shania laughed again. "That my dear is a very good question. To make a long story short, this pipeline is owned by a multi-national corporation and the water it contains is on its way Denver.”

  “What’s so special about Denver? Don’t they want the water in this town?”

  Shania was a bit perplexed by Amber. She seemed to be somewhat ignorant of the world around her.

  “Denver is the capitol of the United States.”

  “What are you talking about? I thought that Washington D.C. was the capital.” Amber was confused. She obviously had missed out on some important events.

  “Washington is under water. You know, the glaciers melted, sea levels rose and many coastal communities are under water. Didn’t you know that?”

  Amber shook her head feeling slighted by the remark.

  “Where have you been, girl?”

  Amber hesitated before answering. She didn’t like being interrogated. “Where I grew up, in East Texas and we didn't have to buy water either. We were allowed to have water every day."

  "How much?"

  "Ten gallons a day when rationing first started. Now it's down to six gallons a day. At least it was when I left."

  "Six gallons a day. What do you think about that?".

  "I don't know. I don't give it much thought. I've learned to live with it."

  "Do you know how much water the people in Denver use per day?"

  "No."

  "One-hundred gallons a day. That's their ration. If they want more, they simply buy more."

  Stunned, Amber remained quiet. Then wondered out loud, “What do they need all that water for?"

  Shania laughed loudly. "You are priceless, Amber. And you are right to ask. You and I have learned to live with less water due to rationing. I don't know about you, but I did very well with ten gallons of water a day. I knew that I had enough and my neighbor had enough and the folks in the next town had enough. We learned how to conserve and re-purpose our water."

  "What does re-purpose mean?"

  "I'll give you an example. I wash my hair in the morning with clean water. I catch the water in a basin. I use the water in the basin to wash my underwear and socks. I then take the same basin of water outside and water my small flower garden and my herb garden. That's repurposing. In that example I have used two gallons of water for three different tasks."

  "I've done that all my life." Amber said in a matter of fact tone.

  "Exactly. The problem arises when some individuals, like those in the Oligarchies such as Denver, Chicago, New York, DC, Seattle, LA and dozens of others feel that it is their right to use as much water as their fat bank accounts will purchase, regardless of who suffers as a result of their excessive and wasteful water consumption. Car washes, pools, golf courses, lawns, fountains, irrigating desert landscapes, and the list goes on. The water flowing in this pipe comes from the High Plains aquifer. That aquifer should be public property; it's not. It was purchased by BuenoAqua LLC and is being harvested and sold to the highest bidders in north america."

  "Who did they but it from. I mean how can anyone own water under the ground or in a river?"

  "It requires power motivated by greed. By power I mean money. With a large amount of money one can purchase land, mineral rights and water rights. Once one owns enough land and rights to everything on and under that land, one has control. If there is water running through the land, one has control of the water. If anyone objects, out comes the wallet and the lawyers and the objections or objectors are bought out or made to disappear. Voila; no more objections."

  "I think I understand that. We lived next to a lake that was actually a reservoir serving Ft. Worth. One day they started to fence it in. We never set foot in the lake again. We could see it. That was it. It was too much for most folks. Whole neighborhoods packed up and left."

  “Exactly, and were you invited to move to Ft. Worth?

  Amber laughed this time. It was a harsh laugh. A vengeful laugh. "My dad asked. He was told that he would need ten million dollars to move into Ft. Worth. Twenty million to move into Dallas. Poor folks were bused out of town to live in wherever. They could go ‘inside’ to work, but they couldn't live there."

  "I'm sure that's not far from the truth, Amber. The citizens of this country have been at the mercy of unscrupulous and greedy people for a long, long time."

  "So, what are you doing here. I mean why are you taking water out of this pipe? What are you going to do with it?"

  Shania closed the door of the van. “We’re full,” she yelled. How many more trucks need filling
?”

  "Two." Someone yelled.

  “Good...Anything on the scanners?"

  “Negative. Scanners are all clear, Shi," another voice replied.

  "Good. You're doing great, Jamie. Just a few more minutes and we'll be out of here."

  "Roger that."

  She turned to Amber. "As you might suspect, there are thousands of people in America who don't have Federal Id Cards. Without a Id they are unable to get Federal Water Cards...so, they have no legal means of getting water. Those are the folks we serve. After dark. We are an official non-governmental aid agency during daylight hours when we deliver food rations to local distribution centers. We skim some of those rations as well and give them to the so called illegal immigrants. We do what we can. There are literally thousands of people dying every day from dehydration and starvation. I'm talking locally, now; not nationally. I don't even want to speculate about that; it's too depressing."

  "That's it, Jamie. Get out of there. Let’s roll.”

  "Roger that." Jamie ascended the ladder. A well organized team collapsed the ladder leaving it in the hole, then pulled a large camouflage tarp over the hole, anchoring it with soil.

  "Let's roll, Shi." Julian jumped in the driver’s seat and ignited the diesel before putting a headset on.

  "This is captain Jules, ready to roll, over."

  Shania motioned to Amber, “Let’s go girl, we have to get back to town and unload before daylight."

  #

  CHAPTER 15 - MAY 6

  “So, you’re from Texas, huh. Where abouts?” Jules was pulling on his matted dreadlocks, trying to extract some organic debris remaining from the previous night’s outing.

  “Trinidad.” Amber said, choking up. She hadn’t said that in ages.

  "Trinidad. That's a cool name. I like the sound of it...Trinidad. What's Trinidad like?"

  "It's a small town. Not much going on there, anymore. Mostly scrappers living around there, now."

  "Whaddya mean, scrappers?"

  "You know, people who pick anything made out of metal and sell it to make a living. Scrappers. That's what they call themselves."

  "Sounds like a hard way to make a living...You got family in Trinidad?"

  "Not any more. My dad was killed. My mom died a few days ago."

  "Shit...sorry. That sucks. My dad was killed, too. My mom is still alive, though. I don't know where she is. We got separated when they threw us out of KC...I mean Kansas City.”

  "Threw you out? What do you mean by that?"

  "My dad worked for the city. Something to do with wastewater treatment. Anyway, they started to fence sections of the city where all the rich fucks lived, you know. We were right on the border of rich fuck city and they told my dad we had to move. My Dad refused. Then they started talking about eminent domain or some bullshit because they wanted to run a fence right through our living room. My dad still refused to leave. He and all the folks that lived near us signed a ...whaddya call it....a...petition? They had thousands of signatures on that thing. I even signed it, I didn’t want to move. My dad took it to the Governor’s office and said he wasn't leaving until he got to talk to the governor. He chained himself to the door. They cops came and cut the chain and hauled him to jail. He sat in jail for three weeks on a hunger strike. He didn't eat anything and kinda wasted away.

  In the meantime all the folks who had signed the petition were being forced to move. It was all over the news. Didn’t you see it?”

  Amber shook her head no, realizing how little she knew about the country she was living in.

  “No? Wow! Anyway...they bought out all the property for less than half of what it was worth...not even close. After that, my mom tried to get my dad out of the jail. He was acting kinda goofy by then. He would punch or kick a jailer on the way out the door and be sent right back inside the same day. My mom went home and packed some of her shit and left. I guess she was out of it. My Dad fell into a coma. It made me sick to look at him. He couldn't talk or anything. I tried to find my moms, but I never seen her again. She was doing a lot of drugs. I think she just forgot about me. We never got along, anyhow. Sucks, but that's the way it is. Life sucked until I met Shania. Now it ain't so bad...I guess. I get to do cool stuff, you know what I'm sayin'?"

  “Umm...I think I do." Amber looked around the small cafeteria located on the second floor of the windowless warehouse. All of the uniformed workers appeared to be younger than she except a few older men and women seated in the far corner.

  "Are those your bosses over there?”

  Jules looked across the room then nodded.

  "Shania is our boss, I guess. I don't think of her like that, though. She's more like my big sister. The others are supervisors. They look out for all the punks that work here. The guy on Shi's left is Calvin. He's a pretty cool dude. He's got cool tattoos and stuff. The guy on her left is Tarek something or other. He's got the hot's for Shi, but she's not interested in him. He's Muslim, kinda fana..fantatic...he's nuts about religion. Shi don't believe in God or any of that stuff, so she don't want anything to do with him. The red head sitting next to Tarek is Sheila. She's awesome. Kinda goofy lookin, but tuff as hell. She don't take shit from no one. I seen her kick two guy's asses at the same time. Man, that was awesome...cut em' pretty bad. It was sick. Next to Sheila is Robert. He's the oldest one here. He's like sixty or something. He doesn't say much. He just watches and listens. Shi told me he used to work for the CIA or NSA or something. Some hot shit government agency. You gonna stick around?"

  Amber focused on the redhead."I don't think so. What did you say the redhead's name is?

  "Sheila. Aww shit, you a lesbo. Shit, don't tell me that. You...awww..."

  "I am not a lesbian, Jules. I'm just interested. I might know her. Well...I mean I don't know her personally but I think I know her brother. Do you know if she has a brother?"

  "Don't know. Could be. She's been here a long time and I never heard her mention a brother or anything. Alls you gotta do is ask her."

  "I'll do that, but first, let's take a look at my scooter. Will you help me fix it?"

  "No problemo."

  "I could use a shower, too."

  "Yeah, me too. Wanna shower together?"

  "No thanks Jules," Amber laughed. She was curious, though. She wondered how common twenty-nine year old virgins were. She looked at Jules. He looked ten years younger than she. She wondered if he was a virgin.

  "Maybe some other time, Jules. Would you mind telling me where it is?"

  "There's a ladies room right under us on the first floor. They got showers in there. You really think we could shower together?" His brown eyes were gleaming. "I mean, later and all you know...maybe?”

  "I'm going to grab my backpack. C'mon, you can look at the scooter while I'm cleaning up."

  "Cool. It's electric, huh?"

  "Yup. It's electric."

  "Cool."

  "If you get it working, you can take it for a test ride."

  "Awesome. I'll get my tool box."

  "Don't mess with the stuff in the saddle bags, OK?"

  "No worries. Enjoy your shower." He winked at her as she left.

  Amber took the stairs to the first floor and found the ladies bathroom. The interior had been gutted and new fixtures had been installed. There was tile on the walls and some counter space between the two shower cylinders where she put her back pack. There were two stalls that each contained a large box-shaped toilet of some sort. She turned as the door opened. The red head walked in carrying a canvas bag.

  "Hi." Amber said.

  "How's it going. Thanks for your help tonight,” The redhead said, busying herself with the contents of her bag.

  “No problem. I was happy to help and have some company, too.” Amber waited, unsure of herself.

  "Yeah, Shi is good people. My name is Sheila."

  #

  "I'm Amber."

  Sheila grabbed the extended hand and gave it a firm shake. "Nice to meet you. You a new recruit
?"

  "No. I'm just passing through."

  "Really." Sheila's eyebrows raised in high arcs the same way Jordan's had.

  Amber could see that her bulbous eye sockets were the same as Jordans, bulbous, and the color...green...that was the same. The high forehead, the same ski-jump nose and pale white skin. Not unattractive, just...well...different. Amber looked away as Sheila began to undress.

  “I’m surprised. Not many people pass through these days. Where did you start from and where are you going. If you don't mind my asking."

  "I don't mind at all. I started in Tyler, Texas and I'm going to a state called Minnesota, then to a town called Saint Cloud." There went the eyebrows, again, like tiny umbrellas popping open on Sheila's forehead.

  "Really."

  "Yes. Really,” Amber said, a bit perplexed by Sheila’s responses.

  The room was silent for a long moment. Sheila laughed and blushed." Sorry. I was lost in thought for a second. I spent some time in Tyler, Texas. A long time ago. What's it like now?"

  "It's doing better than most towns. One of the hospitals closed but St Francis is there still because they run the dehydration station outside of town."

  “Human processing plants is what they are,” Sheila interjected. “I hate those places.”

  “Why do you call them human processing plants?”

  “Because I know what really goes on behind the swinging doors. That’s why.”

  Amber thought for a minute, deciding not to pursue the truth about the Dehydration Center at the moment. She was closer to being comfortable and happy now than she had been in years. She didn’t want to spoil the moment.

  “Most towns around there are empty. The roads are a mess and Cedar Creek Reservoir is almost dry...the Trinidad River is dry. We haven't had any rain down there in ten years...maybe longer...I guess...I’ve lost track. And it's hotter, like 120 degrees every day.”

  Sheila was standing naked in front of the mirror brushing her hair. Amber was shocked at the size of the tattoo that covered most of her body. From her viewpoint, it was difficult to make out exactly what it was; maybe a snake...could be a lizard. As if on cue, Sheila performed a pirouette for her benefit. Amber blushed but couldn’t turn away. Sheila continued to spin, laughing softly. Amber recognized the snake immediately; it was a Diamondback rattlesnake. The same species of snake that had eaten her kitten many years ago.