Mama Nature

“I think it’s going to rise a lot farther than what they’re saying,” Stephanie intoned, her voice a distant buzzing noise.



The sound of the rushing water filled the silence.  The sun was warm on the first day of spring, but the town of Sideway Springs was not enjoying the newly appointed season.



“Frank can’t find Bitsy,” Lena said in a shaken whisper.



Stephanie didn’t know why, but in the face of Mama Nature’s wrath she felt nothing but calm and capable—feelings she wasn’t used to, but felt no need to question.



The roar of the water blasted through her veins like power.



“What are we gonna do, Steph?” Lena’s pitiful desperation didn’t break through the cold roar.



“Go home, Lena.”



“What?”



Stephanie smiled, mustering up some false warmth for her finicky neighbor.  “Go home.”  Stephanie laid a hand on Lena’s shoulder.  “Get what you need for a few days, then head to Halton.”



Lena blinked once. “Okay…  Okay…”  The petite brunette turned uncertainly, glancing back at Stephanie once more before scurrying back to her rusting mobile home.



Stephanie looked down at the water, her hear beating and roaring faster in her ears.  She slipped a foot out of the once white flip-flop and dipped the chipped-pink painted toe into the rushing water.  It was cold.  It was thrilling.



Her other flip-flop came off and the water rushed across her ankles.  The air was warm against Stephanie’s face, but the water and the slippery mud beneath her feet was ice.



Stepping further into the water, it splashed at her calves and knees.  The light denim she wore skin-tight darkened with each step further into the moving water.



“Steph!”



Lena’s screech was a mere whisper in the still bare tree branches.  Stephanie stepped further and slipped down into water that moved up to her waist.



“Steph!  Get out!  What are you doing?”



The shrieking was nothing more than a birdcall in the sky that Steph lifted her face to.  Under the warmth of the sky, Stephanie gave her body to the frigid, rushing waters.



Without a thought, without a word, Stephanie let go and was swept away—away from the doldrums of gas prices, hospital bills, over zealous customers, and polluted, contaminated living.



She gave herself up to the water, knowing it would wash away the dirt and leave only brightness and power.  Mama Nature would take care.