Short Story: Disasterville
Sometimes I can sit down and bang out a story in under ten minutes. It helps if it’s only 225 words, though.
Disasterville
Ontino and Havan stepped out of the house to watch the water creeping up the driveway and over the grass. The sky was dark and gray, but it wasn’t raining there. Yet.
The basement was empty. They had been warned not to keep anything of value there and they took that advice to heart and stored their valuables in the attic. No one mentioned the tornados, though. Now, they had no valuables. A new roof, but no valuables.
Havan tossed the black hose into the rising water and turned on the pump. In minutes, the aqua-dam began to fill, creating a “waterproof” dyke around the perimeter of the house. There was always some leakage caused by the tremors, which cracked the soil, dry from the three-week drought.
There was an upside to the rain. The wildfires were now under control. Only half the town was burned this time.
“They’re back,” Ontino said as she pointed to the wheat fields on the upper terrace of the valley. A black murmuration descended down, and they could hear the hum of a million beating cicada wings.
“You have to admit, it’s better than the hornets,” Havan said.
“Why d o we live here?” she asked.
“Low taxes,” he answered. “And look how close to the school we are,” he added as he pointed to the elementary school which had got hung up on the berm across the street.
Sometimes the world is beginning to feel like this, doesn’t it?
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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Originally published at http://linesbyleon.com on August 11, 2023.
