by Marta Perry
“I think the hooked rugs should go next,” she said, nodding to the colorful pile. “They’re heavy, so don’t try to take too many at once.”
The woman nodded, moving immediately to the task.
And speaking of heavy, she’d certainly loaded this box up, but she couldn’t waste time taking things back out, not with so much to do. She lifted it in her arms and headed for the stairs, her back aching from the effort.
Mary paused, a bundle of rugs in her arms, looking out the window. “Looks like they’re sandbagging the house across the street,” she said.
“Sandbags won’t do much gut, from what I’ve heard,” Donna said, coming back down for another load. “You can stop fire, but you can’t stop water.”
Susanna pushed herself on, not wanting any of the women to think she couldn’t do her share because of her limp. She heard the door open, turned to look, and missed a step, coming down hard on her knees.
In a moment Nate was next to her, shoving the box aside to help her up. “Are you all right?” His voice was gruff.
“I’m fine.” She could feel the color coming up in her cheeks. “I wasn’t looking where I was going is all.”
“You shouldn’t be carrying anything this heavy,” he scolded, as if she were a child or an elderly person. “Donna, you shouldn’t be letting Susanna do the heavy carrying.”
Donna looked stricken. “Ach, I’m sorry, Susanna. Let me take it.”
“I’m fine,” she said, embarrassed at having attention called to her disability. “I can manage.”
“There’s no need.” Nate lifted the box as if it were a feather. “What’s in here? Fabric? Better not to put it upstairs then.”
“Why not?” Embarrassment made her voice tart. “The water surely won’t be that high.”
“No, but if even a little gets in the ground floor, the damp will go up through the walls.” He turned, heading back down with the box, which forced her to follow him. “I’ve got the store truck and driver outside, and I brought a couple of other boys to help.”
“That’s wonderful gut of you—” she began, but he didn’t seem to be listening.
“Thomas, Matthew, start loading the truck. Anything that can be harmed by the water or damp should go. As soon as the sisters have a box loaded, you take it.”
The two teenage boys who’d followed him in nodded and set to work carrying boxes out the door. Both were Amish, and Susanna had seen them working at Nate’s store, although she couldn’t have put first names to them. An older man, Englisch, who was probably the driver Nate had brought, went outside to help load. In a moment, it seemed everything was moving at twice the speed it had been.
“I hadn’t even thought about the damp getting into things.” She wiped her hands on her apron, suddenly aware of how disheveled she must look. “There’s more stock upstairs that we didn’t even have on display. If we have to move all that, as well—”
“We’ll do the downstairs first, ja?” Nate said. “Then, if we have time, we can bring things down from upstairs.” He touched her arm lightly. “Don’t worry.”
She seemed to feel stronger for his touch, which was ferhoodled. “It will be as God wills,” she said. But surely it wasn’t wrong to hope the shop would be spared.
“All we can do is our best,” he said. Stacking up two boxes, he lifted them. “There’s enough space in my storeroom for all of it, and everything will be safe there.”
Before she could find the words to thank him, Nate was already out the door.
“My brother’s bossy,” Donna said. “But he means well.”
“I know.” Susanna flushed. “I mean, I know he means well . . .”
Donna laughed. “And he’s bossy. You’re too polite to say so, but I’m his sister, so I can.”
The door swung open again, this time to admit Chloe and Seth Miller. Chloe’s beautiful hair was bedraggled, and it looked as if her jeans were wet to the knees.
“Chloe, what happened? Are you all right?” Susanna hurried to clasp her sister’s hand, realizing it was the first time she’d done so.
“I’d be floating down the river by now if Seth hadn’t come along.” Chloe looked cheerful for someone who’d had such a near miss. “The creek took the deck right off the back of the cottage.”
There were murmured exclamations from the others.
“Thank the gut Lord you’re safe. Maybe you should see a doctor—”
“I’m perfectly all right. We’ve come to help. Just tell us what to do.”
“I see Nate brought a truck,” Seth said. “We have both cars out front, too, so we can load things in them.”
Susanna would protest, but she was too thankful. Besides, of course Chloe wanted to help. They were kin, after all.
One of the boys, either Thomas or Matthew, she wasn’t sure which, came to pick up another box. “I heard the creek bridge up at Summerdale is gone.” His eyes were wide, and Susanna realized there was fear mixed with his excitement. “Someone said the new flood walls upstream will send all the water down to us and swallow up the town.”
“Well, we’ll send you out on a raft, then.” Nate put a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder. “If there’s anything that moves faster than the water, it’s gossip. Go on, now.” He gave him a gentle shove toward the door.
“He’s afraid,” Susanna said softly. “Do you think that’s true? About the flood walls making it worse for us?”
“Probably.” Nate looked grim for a moment. “Everything has consequences, ja?”
Yes, everything did. She wasn’t sure how her little shop, precious as it was to her, weighed in the balance of all that might be lost.
“Susanna, if you have a broom or something else with a long handle, I could use it to get the baskets off the hooks.” Chloe nodded toward the array of egg baskets that hung from hooks in the ceiling.
“Ja, I’ll get it for you.” She was only a few steps from the basement door. She pulled it open and reached for the broom that was usually propped on the landing. It wasn’t there. And then she saw it, floating in the water that was already up to the top step.
She slammed the door shut, as if that would keep it out, and swung around. Nate, seeing her face, was there in a moment.
“What is it?”
“The cellar’s filled with water right to the top step. We should get people out—” She stopped, her voice choking at the thought of all that remained to do.
Nate took a quick look and then slammed the door shut, just as she had. His expression was grim.
“Take your last load out now. We have to go.”
“A little longer—” Chloe began, but her words were cut off by the sound of a siren out in the street.
The driver poked his head in the door. “Police are ordering us out. Telling everyone to get to higher ground now. The creek’s rising faster than anyone thought it could.”
There was a murmur of dismay, but no one argued. Grabbing what they could carry, people headed out the door.
Susanna looked at what was left—what would surely be lost—and felt as if her heart was breaking. “I’ll just get a few more—”
“No, Susanna.” Nate’s voice was kind, but his grasp on her arm was firm. “We must go. All of us.”
She pulled back against his grip for an instant, her vision blurring so that she couldn’t see his face clearly. Chloe came, putting her arm around Susanna’s waist.
“It’ll be all right,” Chloe murmured. “Come on.”
Susanna nodded. They were right. It was just so hard.
She stepped out onto the porch, automatically locking the door. How futile a gesture was locking up if she was going to lose everything?
The others were squeezing into the two cars and the truck. Susanna glanced down toward the lower end of the street and her breath caught. The street was submerged a
lready, the current washing across it fast and powerful.
Nate touched her arm. “Look.” He was pointing toward the river, usually only a glint of water through the trees. Now it advanced across the fields, turning them into a rippling mirror. A shudder went through her. Surely this was what the world must have looked like to Noah just before it vanished under the waters.
A loud crack had all of them turning to look upstream at the creek. The red covered bridge, the subject of so many photos and paintings, cracked again as something they couldn’t see struck it from upstream. Almost in slow motion it lifted from its foundation and broke away. For a few minutes it seemed to hold together, floating downstream like an ark. Then it hit the tree line and began to crumple apart, just like Susanna’s life.
* * *
Chloe
put another box on the stack in the storage area at Nate’s store and straightened, rubbing her back. She’d have said she was in good shape, but a few hours of lifting and carrying had her muscles protesting.
She probably wasn’t the only one. The large rectangular room was filling up as people, some in Plain dress, some Englisch, stacked things wherever they could. Not just the contents of the shop, she realized as a couple of men passed her carrying a table between them. Nate must have offered storage room to others who had to evacuate. People were working quickly, racing the clock to beat the rising water.
Susanna paused in sorting the contents of a box to give her a wan smile. Chloe’s heart lurched. Her sister’s face was bleak, and she looked exhausted. Still, Chloe knew better than to try to get her to take a break. She’d already tried, as had Donna, but Susanna was quietly stubborn. She listened to what anyone had to say and then went her own way without fuss.
Movement near the door caught Chloe’s eye. Nate and Seth stood there, deep in conversation it seemed, and it struck her that there was something very similar in the way they stood and in their gestures, as if being Plain had set its mark upon them no matter how far away they strayed.
That was what she feared, she knew—that Seth was being drawn inevitably back to the life he’d once known. Caring for him could only lead to heartbreak.
The conversation seemed to come to an end. Seth nodded, grabbing a slicker from a stack of them that Nate had unearthed from someplace, and headed out the door. Without stopping to think, Chloe hurried across the room.
Nate had disappeared by the time she reached the door, so she couldn’t ask him where Seth was going. She snatched up a slicker and stepped out into the night.
The pelting rain forced her to pause long enough to yank on the slicker. Luck was with her—Seth had stopped to fasten his at the intersection of the store parking lot and the street.
“Seth!” She ran after him, half afraid he’d vanish into the storm before she could reach him.
But he heard her, because he turned, stopped, and waited for her to catch up with him.
“Where are you going?” She pulled the hood up as she spoke, despite the fact that her hair was soaked already.
“They’re calling for volunteers to help with the evacuation.” Seth’s face was grim. “It’s bad, Chloe. Worse than anyone expected. Nate’s heading down to the south end of town. They’re going door to door, trying to get people to leave. I thought I’d go back to the creek and see what help they need there.”
“I’ll go with you.” She snapped the slicker up around her neck.
She could see the reluctance in his face. “Don’t you think you’d better stay here with your sister?”
“There’s nothing else I can do for her.” She managed a smile. “I’m an able-bodied volunteer, right?”
His face relaxed into the smile that always charmed her. “Right. Let’s go.”
He started walking, and she fell into step beside him. The noise of the rain on the slicker set up an echo that was somehow disorienting, as if she’d wandered into an alien world. Maybe she had. They were all facing something completely out of their normal realm.
“You said they were evacuating the south end of town?” She made it a question as she tried to orient herself to directions. Susanna’s shop was at the east end, she knew, where Main Street sloped down a fairly steep incline to run parallel to the creek.
“Right. The south side is down toward the river, where the park is.”
She remembered from her first visit to Oyersburg, when she’d met Seth at the park and admired its charming setting along the river. “I thought the idea was that using the flood plain as a park set up a buffer for the town.”
“It normally would. Not this time. If the river crests as high as they’re predicting . . .” He hesitated. “I hate to say it, but by the time this is over, we could end up with nearly half the town underwater.”
Chloe found she was creating a mental map of the town and seeing it in a whole new way. The normally placid river ran along the southern edge of town, while the creek slanted across the east end to join the river just past the end of town. So many people and buildings were in danger—for a moment the task of saving them seemed impossible.
Common sense asserted itself. Nobody could do everything. She and Seth just had to do what they could. Others were working as well.
They turned a corner and started down the hill. Chloe’s breath caught. “The whole east end is dark.”
“Power’s off,” Seth said. “The rest of the town will probably go off before long, as well. And then, well, who knows how long it will take to get power restored. Days, maybe weeks.”
Ahead of them Chloe spotted what seemed to be a staging area at an intersection, where emergency lights were blinking. It took a moment to realize what she was seeing, and when she did she reached, half-consciously, for Seth’s hand. Beyond the intersection the street had turned into a river. The dire predictions had been right. The whole lower end of town was underwater, including the cottage she was renting and Susanna’s shop.
They approached the hub of activity. A couple of canopies had been set up, and EMTs were loading someone onto a stretcher and into an ambulance.
Seth nudged her. “Looks like the guy in charge is over there. Let’s see what we can do.”
The person in charge proved to be a man who must have been in his sixties and had a brisk, decided manner. At their offer of help, he looked them over appraisingly.
“Either of you know how to run a motorboat?”
“I do.” The words were out of Chloe’s mouth before she considered what she might be letting herself in for.
“Okay.” He pointed. “There she is. If you don’t think you can handle her, say so now.”
Chloe took a quick look at the boat pulled up where the water lapped against the street, forming an improbable landing place. “No problem. My grandfather used to have something similar. I can manage. What do we do?”
The lines in the man’s face seemed to deepen. “Bring out anyone you can. Just mind the current. It’s stronger than you think. Don’t overload your boat. And watch out for any floating debris.” He handed Seth a battery-powered floodlight. “Good luck.”
Seth stared at her for a moment, and she suspected he was considering whether or not to try to talk her out of doing it.
“I’m in it now,” she said. “I won’t back out.”
“Get in,” Seth said. “I’ll push off.”
It made sense, so she didn’t argue. She took a moment to be sure she was familiar with the boat, and then started it up. It took three tries before the motor caught, and she was aware of Seth’s gaze on her.
“I really do know how to run a boat,” she said once he’d pushed them into deeper water and scrambled in. “You might check the locker for any life vests, just in case.”
Seth yanked the locker open, emerging with a pair of orange vests. “Here you go.” He tossed one toward her. “If we get hit by a log, we’d better be sure we’ll float.”
She nodded, swinging the vest around her. Impossible to fasten it and steer at the same time, so Seth reached over and pulled the straps tight for her before putting his own on.
He settled on the seat, switching on the torch. “So how did you learn so much about boats?”
Chloe strained to see, making her way slowly. Again she felt that sense of disorientation. She shouldn’t be taking a boat down Main Street.
“It was Granddad’s favorite activity,” she said. “He’d rather be out on the river in a boat than doing the social rounds my grandmother thought was so important.”
“You liked to go with him.” Seth spoke above the sound of the motor.
“Those were the best times.” She smiled despite the situation. Maybe it was better to be remembering lazy afternoons on the water than worrying about what lay ahead. “We were supposed to be fishing, but mostly we just drifted and talked.”
Those conversations, her sense that someone understood her without judging or correcting, had helped her grow into the person she was. When Granddad died, a big piece of her heart seemed to be taken away.
As they moved out of range of the flashing lights, Seth played the torch across the water. She’d already been adjusting automatically to the current, but the beam of light showed it up plainly. It was moving fast—faster than she would have believed possible. Fortunately much of the debris was getting hung up on houses and trees, giving them a relatively safe way ahead.
“You okay?” Seth called.
“So far so good.” She focused, straining to stay in the middle of what had been the street.
Another boat loomed out of the dark, dangerously low in the water. As it neared she saw what seemed to be an entire family huddled into the small space. The driver gave her a thumbs-up sign as they passed, which cheered her insensibly. He was getting his load to safety; so would they.
Seth’s light moved slowly and then stopped, focusing on the front of Susanna’s shop. Chloe winced. The water was well above porch level already.
Seth didn’t comment, and neither did she. What was the point? A lot of people were going to lose things that were important to them tonight. She just prayed it wouldn’t be someone’s life.