Learn English From Short Stories (Flood)
Learn English From Short
Stories (Flood)
“Help!” out of a darkness perhaps ten
feet away came the cry. A second later it sounded again, farther downstream,
but I could do nothing.
A mad rush of icy water was flowing
over me. I was clinging to the branches of a tree, my body straight
out in the fast-moving current.
Then suddenly a form appeared. I
recognized it as my son. He grapped one of the branches and gradually
pulled himself to the tree. Inch by inch we fought against the powerful current
and finally climbed to the top of the little apple tree.
Twenty minutes before, we had been in
our motorboat, looking for people who were stranded by the flood. The
water was almost to the roofs of the houses and still rising. The street lights
were out; the houses were dark except for a kerosene lamp left
burning in a window here and there.
The fire department whistle was warning
everyone within hearing distance that the dam 20 miles upriver had
broken. The state police were helping who had been left homeless.
“It’ll be terrible here before
morning!” came a voice from the darkness. “the water’s already rising a foot an
hour.”
“Who lives beyond here?” we asked.
“McGrath’s the nearest,” someone
replied. “You might reach him. There more live farther on. But you won’t be
able to get to their houses.”
We looked at each other. Leave people
out there when a wall of water from a broken dam is due to strike in two or
three houses?
“Let’s try to help them,” my son said.
Failure
Across West Street our boat hit the
current-a mass of swift water that tried to push us against the
telephone ples.
McGrath’s house came in sight, a single
lamp shining from a window. Between it and our boat there was an empty lot 200
feet wide; over this lot the big river was pouring thousands of gallons of
water each second.
Could we get there? The motor of the
boat, racing against the stream, sounded above the roar of the water. Slowly we
gained; at last we nosed against McGrath’s porch.
McGrath climbed into the boat. Again we
went into the current, heading upstream but making no progress. Slowly the
water pushed us back, and our boat struck the branches of an apple tree.
For an instant we remained there, the
motor running full speed; then the boat turned over as quickly and easily as
one turns the page of a book. A second later it disappeared in the
blackness. My son and I managed to catch hold of an apple tree farther down the
stream, but McGrath was carried away by the current –never to return.
A Lone Night
It was midnight now. How much more
would the water rise? Would it go higher than our tree? A light shone in
farmhouse half mile away across a field, now deep under water. Twenty-
five feet to the east we saw the dark form of a garage and, beyond
that, a house. We were close to safety, yet unable to reach it!
I dropped one foot into the water; the
current pulled so hard it almost carried away! Fifty feet upstream a row
of telephone poles marked the highway. Only two days ago I had driven my
car along that road and now it was the path of a mighty flood.
Ice water dripped from our
clothes. We put our coats around us in an effort to warm ourselves a little.
Great waves of trembling shook us from head to foot. My son spoke: “This
doesn’t look very good, does it?”
“No,” I said, “but we’re still here and
if the tree goes maybe we can take hold of something else.”
A prayer
Then we shouted for help. We didn’t
really expect to be rescued, for we knew that no small boat could reach us. Our
boat had been the largest in use that night. But the shouting made us feel
better. Gradually the heat of our bodies warmed our clothing and we stopped
trembling.
Hours passed. Debris shot
past with ever-increasing speed as the water rose. Once a log hit our tree and
stuck in the lower branches. The steady roar of the water hurt our ears and
seemed to beat against our brains. We would have given anything for one moment
of silence!
At about two o’clock we headed the
sound of wood breaking upstream: McGrath’s barn was going. It broke
away from the house and moved part way across the road. Rain fell in sheets.
The cold settled in our bones.
We noticed in front of us that a garage
divided the current; the water poured around both sides of the small building,
with some slack in between. If we had to jump, perhaps it would give
us an advantage. We studied the situation; it was something to talk about.
At about four o’clock in the morning a
floating object hit our tree. Again the sound of breaking wood fell on our
ears. “Time to go,” I said, and leaned to one side in order to jump away from
the tree.
At that moment the garage started to
move downstream past our tree and into the night without a sound. In its place
came a stream of rushing water.
The river was rising rapidly now. Our
feet touched the water. Suddenly our tree fell, hurling us into the
current. Each of us managed to hold on the log that had stuck in the lower
branches of the tree just before it began to rush downstream.
In the current
We kicked our feet in the hope of
pushing the log to the shore. What a relief to be donning something after hours
of inactivity! There was no sense of motion now. We were in a mad current, but everything
was drifting with us. Our legs slowly went through the motion of
swimming. I knew we couldn’t last much longer.
Then out of the darkness there appeared
a black object on the water. It was the side of a house. We got on it and tried
to stand up, but our legs wouldn’t support us.
By the time it was daylight, and we
could see land a quarter of a mile away. We yelled for help with new
hope. Then we sighted a large rowboat.
There is little more to tell. When the
boat landed us, I inquired about my younger son. I soon found him- a tired boy,
just about to go home to tell his mother that his father and older brother had
gone downstream and would never return.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Clinging, holding fast
Grabbed, seized suddenly; took hold of
in a quick and strong way
Stranded, made helpless; left in a
state of difficulty
Kerosene, a thin oil burned in lamps
Dam, a wall or bank to hold back the
water of a stream or river
Swift, fast-moving
Gallon, a unit of measurement for liquids.
A liquid is a substance that can be poured freely. Water is liquid.
Garage, a building where cars are kept
Highway, a main road
Dripped, fell in drops
Refugees, persons seeking shelter or
protection from danger
Rescued, saved from danger
Debris, scattered, broken pieces of
things
Barn, a building for cows, horses and
other farm animals
Slack, water that is almost still or
barely moving
Hurling, throwing with great force
Drifting, being carried along by water
Yelled, made loud, sharp cries; shouted
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