Before the Waters

During a sudden flood, is there protocol for who should be rescued first?

Headlights disrupted the raining, nighttime darkness, casting long, crawling images about on the surroundings. The vehicle slowly made it's way along the muddy path as it neared its destination. At an apparent close-enough juncture, the motorist was able to slow and stop the machine and remain still, leaving only the sound of falling rain to be heard. The doors opened and four whispering occupants stepped out into the wetness. They closed the doors, again followed by whispers and laughter. They carried clubs and bats with the intent to menace.
The figures approached a nearby small dwelling with one light illuminating the front room. Nearby were two parked vehicles. A couple of the silhouetted figures approached the vehicles and knelt beside the tires, with the sound of hissing to be heard, accompanied by more stifled laughter.

Now the individuals walked up to the domicile and stood still and quiet on the porch. One of them seemed to be counting. The rain had increased.
The lead fellow burst the door open and the persons charged in, yelling as they did so. Tussles and scrambles were then followed by seeming protests and yelling. Thunder rumbled amid a flash of lightning. Two or three fellows stepped out the front door and appeared to be fighting in the dark. One figure ran to an automobile, only to find the vandalism prevented his departure. There proceeded another clap of lightning. The rain grew even heavier, but the sounds of scuffling and arguing still came from the little cabin.
The cries strained even louder as the torrent of water gradually made its way down the hillside, following the road directly toward the current series of events.

The cascading water was detected by another set of headlights, but these beams were on an opposite path, slightly higher and unaffected by the rushing waves.

"Well, we can't take that road now," the man in the vehicle said, slowly continuing on his way down the road they were presently on. "We'll have to take the long way."

"Good Heavens," the woman proclaimed. "Hurry up and get us home, Clemondrique. I don't want to be out in this weather."

"I'll do what I can, but we got to stay on a high road."

The wipers squeaked loudly to dissipate the water from view, but it did little good. Vision was still difficult to maintain. With the vehicle's angle, she was now on the side facing the flooded lower road.

"Oh, Clemondrique, hurry up and get away from all this!" she proclaimed.

"Allright. Allright. Should have dismissed church earlier if they knew bad weather was coming our way."

In the darkness, the downpour and headlights brought odd and unusual shapes to behold, until finally the lights fell across the roof of a small cabin homestead, submerged in muddy water. A partially visible vehicle was nearby, turned on its side.

Clemondrique slowed the SUV, keeping the headlights trained on the roof.

"Clemondrique!" she said, startled, with hearing voices calling from the opposite direction.

"Drucine, there are people out there," Clemondrique said, shutting off the motor. "You stay here. Call for aid."

Clemondrique got out of the vehicle and splashed in the mud toward the water's edge. "What can I do to help?" he yelled. "We're calling for assistance now."

"Call the police!" one voice chimed out of the darkness.

"We already called for the authorities. They said it would be a while before they could get here, and this place may not have that long to stand."

"Call the cops! They need to be arrested."

"We need help!"

"They can stay here and drown!"

"Allright," Clemondrique said to the occupants on the roof. "I don't have a rope, but let me see what I might have that could help." He hadn't a clue what to do.

Clemondrique ran to the passenger door as Drucine rolled the window down.

"Clemondrique, the rescue squad said it'll take them about twenty minutes to get here with the flooding and the roads out. They got other casualties out there."

"I don't think those guys got that long."

Clemondrique slid back the door on the side of his vehicle and looked about. Boxes, couple of shirts, books.

Then he saw it; a large extension cord. It was all he had, but based on the distance to the roof, it should reach and even double back. The guys just needed some stability to hold on to crossing that water. He grabbed up the brightly colored cord and ran to the bank.

"I got an extension cord. If I toss it to you, can you tie it down securely?"

"Yea, that might work. It's our only chance."

"You don't have a chance," Clemondrique thought he heard one of the other fellows say to the previous guy who spoke, but he couldn't imagine what that might mean.

Clemondrique made a lasso of sorts and just gave it a good swing and let it fly over the small river. The loop landed on the other side and two fellows grabbed it, then two more got hold of it. One of them almost fell off the roof in the process. They seemed to be fighting over it.

"What are they doing?" Drucine asked from the vehicle.

"I don't know. Hey!" Clemondrique replied.

One of the men had the cord and was tying it to a partition on the roof, but one of the other persons seemed to be trying to interfere with him. There was still fussing going on. Clemondrique looked at the water and noticed it was still rising, but not as fast, but the cabin roof was slowly inching into the liquid.

"Will you guys stop?" Clemondrique yelled back.

"They tried to kill us!" a voice came back, seemingly from a fellow in a yellow top with matching yellow hair.

Clemondrique stared at the assortment across the water a bit to take in who they might be. He knew the place's reputation, as did most in the nearby community. Something obviously occurred this night.
Arguing persisted, seemingly on the verge of fighting. One man tripped across the roof and almost tumbled into the water. One person, seemingly a young black youth in a white outfit, was trying to get to the extension cord, but the disarray was blocking him from doing so. More yelling followed.
Then Clemondrique and Drucine watched as one man took a leap off the roof, aiming for the cord stretched across the water. He splashed upon the surface and secured the wire in his hands. Even in the dark, everyone could now see how strong was the current, pushing him away from his intention.
Gradually he made his way, hand over hand, along the extension cord. He seemed to take longer than it appeared he should have, but finally he reached the roadside with Clemondrique present.

Clemondrique neared to help the man upon the land, when one of the figures called out, "kick him in the water! Let him drown!"

Clemondrique brought him to standing before him. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yea, I'm allright."

"What's going on over there?"

"Oh, . . . they're just mad."

"Well, I'm not going to stay out here all night doing this. And that roof doesn't seem very sturdy either," Clemondrique said to the young man.

Once again, looking to the remaining figures on the roof, Clemondrique could make out they were in another heated discussion. No one was trying to approach the extension cord.

"Will you guys hurry up?" he yelled. He turned and looked to the other fellow, trembling in the wetness. "What's wrong with them?"

"We were just havin' fun with them, and now they're mad."

Clemondrique looked at the young man shaking from cold. He looked to Drucine, still sitting with the window open, who looked back to him, unblinking. He momentarily hesitated, then said, "get in the back of the car so you can dry out a bit." He was disappointed in himself that he gave it a second-thought like that.

The young man opened the back door and climbed in. Drucine didn't look back at him, but continued looked at Clemondrique.

By the time Clemondrique looked back to the sinking roof, a second individual was starting out across the cord, a very thin young man in a red top. Now the others seemed to be scuffling a bit more about who would go next.

"Hang on," Clemondrique said to the young man. "You're almost here."

Clemondrique helped him up as well. The young fellow was wearing pale shorts, now somewhat muddied by the water. He too was now shaking from the cold.

"Get in the vehicle and warm up," he said to the young man.

"Not with that other fellow in there," the youth stated with chatting teeth.

"Get in the car before you get pneumonia," Clemondrique said louder to the fellow, but he just continued to stand there.

"Come on, get out of the cold," Drucine called to him. He moved closer to the vehicle but still gave no attempt to open the door and enter.

Once more, Clemondrique turned to the commotion. The next person was sitting on the roof to slide off into the water while he held on to the cord, but one of the other persons still on the roof kicked at him. The man with his legs in the water in turn swung his hand at him, still holding the cord with his other hand.

"I'm going to leave all of you if you don't cut this out!" Clemondrique couldn't believe people were fighting like this when their lives were in jeopardy.

"You don't have a boat we could use? An inflatable raft? Or a canoe?" the yellow-haired man asked. His query was greeted with laughter and ridicule from some of the others.

"Call the police" was spoken again, rather muffled, as the next fellow began sliding across the extension cord. Clemondrique watched him as he hurried along. Before Clemondrique could reach down to assist him, he was scrambling up on the surface, clutching at grass and twigs, but Clemondrique still had to steady him.
"Hang on," he said quietly.

This new arrival and the previous fellow still shivering in the wet now looked at one another with animosity. Clemondrique turned to see Drucine sitting in the vehicle. "You want him in there?" he asked quietly toward her. She pressed her lips and gave a blink.

"Go on ahead and get in the car to rest up," Clemondrique said to the third fellow and amazingly, he too seemed to be reluctant to do so.

"Your friend is already in there," Clemondrique told him, yet still he made no move to the vehicle.

It was then Clemondrique heard a noise and turned back to the remaining set on the roof. Something had crumbled, given way and the cabin seemed to sink more.

"Hurry up!" he yelled to those remaining in peril. Once more, there was raised voices, yelling and now insults. Clemondrique turned to Drucine. "I am tired of this."

A fourth person sat and moved out onto the cord, and the ones remaining on the roof grew even more disruptive.

The fellow came up on opposite side out of the water, accepting Clemondrique's assistance.

"Mac didn't want to stay over there with them," the fellow laughed, then looked at Clemondrique and stopped laughing. He barely looked at the second young man, still standing there and trembling.

"Where's Hugh?" the new fellow asked, seemingly referring to the previous fellow who was rescued, yet didn't enter the vehicle.

Did he get in the car? Drucine?"

"No, he walked back that way," she replied, pointing back toward the road, the way they had come. The small shivering fellow in the red top still just stood there with his arms crossed. The fourth fellow briefly looked at Clemondrique, then likewise departed in the darkness after his missing acquaintance.

Clemondrique watched them and looked once more to Drucine. Well, one of them, the first one, still sat in the vehicle, but now these others seemed to prefer freezing instead of drying out and resting. Clemondrique all but dreaded looking back to those remaining in need of assistance.

The rain had eased up so Clemondrique could now see four people. Three stood one way, the fourth facing them. The lone fellow was telling them to go next and the blonde one was hurling profanities in response. The lone figure moved to proceed next, when one little fellow who Clemondrique could clearly make out as African-American, stepped ahead and took to the cord and into the water.

The young man scaled the cord rather quickly, holding on as tighly as possible, but almost slipped. He reached the other side and Clemondrique helped him up.

"Get in the back of the car to warm up a bit and dry out," Clemondrique said to him. The young man moved to the vehicle, and the second man still standing outside spoke to him.

"One of those others is back there," he said to the black youth. The kid stopped in his tracks.

Clemondrique walked up to the side of his car and slid the large door open for the young man to get in and take a seat.

"Where's Hugh and Will?" the first vehicle occupant asked.

"They took off walking. You want to join them, go right ahead," Clemondrique said.

The fellow looked about as if searching for an answer, then remained seated.

"Get inside if you want," Clemondrique said to the African-American lad.

The young man actually stepped forward and entered the vehicle.

"Come on, Vyam," he said to the fellow still standing in the cold. Having stood out here the longest, the fellow finally climbed in to the car and sat next to the newest occupant.

Clemondrique turned once more to see how things across the water were progressing. A sixth fellow was coming across and making his way onto land. He was shivering as well, so Clemondrique opened the door for him to enter. The fellow moved in to sit with the other two fellows, Vyam and the black kid. The first fellow now looked around somewhat uneasily.

The last two men on the roof talked calmly, but almost in a taunting manner. Finally, the yellow-haired man stepped down into the water and held the cord. He descended into the water and profanties flew, as well as accusations at the remaining man on the roof. The man crossed on over through the water and reached the other side, then proceeded to attempt to untie the extension cord.

"Hey!" Clemondrique yelled. "Stop that!" but the man continued to pull on the cord. Clemondrique ran toward him and began tussling with him.

"Let him drown!" the peroxide blonde said with a snarl.

"Will you quit it?" Clemondrique ordered more than asked as they continued to fight.

"Clemondrique!" Drucine called from the car, more out of concern for the confrontation, but then she heard the door behind her slide open. The very first man leapt out of the back of the car as if he would turn the tide of battle, but then one of the other fellows came out, too. The last man, the black youth, remained seated.

The first man seemed to be on Clemondrique's side. The second man hesitated and stood there, then did nothing.

"He needs to die! He's a bigot!" the blonde man said.

The word stung Clemondrique with intensity, driving into his temples, but this series of events had drained him to near exhaustion. Never had he been so tested to help others. Clemondrique held on to the extension cord, but so did the other man, the first rescue, who had leapt from the car.

As it was, the final man was making his way across the water and clutching the plastic cord.

The blonde fellow picked up a stick to hit the man with it as he came ashore.

"Put that down!" Clemondrique yelled.

The blonde swung the stick to strike his target, but the man was out of the water and able to fend for himself. He moved forward with his fists clenched.

"I told you over there," he began.

"Come on," the blonde said, waving the stick.

"Enough!" Clemondrique said, stepping between the two men.

"He's a racist and a bigot!" the blonde yelled.

"Enough!" Clemondrique said again. "Now, I am tired. I am wet, and if there is no one else out there, let's get back to town."

"I'm not riding with him!" the blonde said.

"Where's Will and Hugh?"

"Is there anybody left out on that roof?" Clemondrique asked louder than the others.

"No," the last guy said.

"Your friends took off walking back that way," Clemondrique said. "They didn't want to be with us. You're welcome to catch up with them if you like."

Clemondrique turned back to the blonde man.

"Can we go now? I'm leaving with whoever wants to get in the car."

Clemondrique walked around to the driver side and climbed in. He turned the key, still in the ignition to keep the headlights operating, and cranked the motor.

The side door was still ajar. The blonde guy and his two acquaintances all climbed in, joining the black youngster. The last two guys stood outside.

"You guys coming?" Clemondrique asked.

"No," the last one to be rescued said calmly. "I think we'll take off walking like the others did."

"I hope you drown!" the blonde guy yelled.

"I don't want to hear any more of that!" Clemondrique shouted.

"They're nothing but bigots and racists," the blonde hollered back. "They attacked us because we're gay! They're homophobes! They should die!"

"And if we hadn't gotten you guys up and moving," one of the fellows outside the vehicle stated, "you would have been huddled inside when the waters rose. We ended up saving you. Wish we had left you alone so you'd be the ones drowning!"

"Can we leave? Do you want me to drive?" Drucine asked.

"No, I'll drive. I've heard enough, from all of you. Now you guys don't want a ride, then close the door."

The two men outside slowly turned and walked off into the darkness.

"Somebody close the door," Clemondrique said calmly to one of the fellows in the back. One of them did so.

The vehicle took off from the way it had come. The rain was long gone and slowly the dawn was breaking.

Rescue operations and the like were all about, as well as other flood survivors and victims of the water, seeking shelter and first aid.

Clemondrique slowly drove through the assembly, then rolled his window down.

"I got four guys here who were stuck in the flood," he said to one uniformed person.

"Take them over to the school where they can get tended to," she answered.

Clemondrique drove off and headed in the direction of the school. They pulled up out front and stopped.

"Okay, guys, we're here! Guys?"

Clemondrique looked back and the quartet was give out from exhaustion. He got out of the vehicle, walked around and opened the door.

"Come on, fellas. Final destination."

Slowly, they stirred, waking up, but said little, if anything. Not even the rambunctious blonde fellow spoke.

As the black youth stepped out, Clemondrique looked at him; his appearance, his attire, his compulsion on how to handle his life.

"Take care of yourself," he said to the kid. The young man just turned away.

Clemondrique closed the door with a slam and detected in the sudden silence the nearby voice talking very loudly.

"So where are you? Where are you? Where's the truck?"

Clemondrique looked to Drucine, knowing she heard the woman's voice as well.

"You lost the truck? You had no business being out there. I can't come and get you. The rain has flooded areas all around here."

Clemondrique continued standing next to the door as tho he were tending to something and looking at Drucine. She looked back at him as well.

"You shouldn't have been out there! Who is with you? Figures! You're with Mac! I told you to stay away from him! You have no way of getting out of there, do you?"

The couple remained silent, seemingly knowing each other's thoughts as to if they should speak up or not.

"Why didn't you come back with the man who rescued you? At least you wouldn't be standing cold and wet in the mud, would you? What is wrong with you? Well, you're just going to have to wait, you and your buddy Mac and Will and Hugh. I hope this has all been worth it. You lost the truck. I can't believe this. People got enough they have to deal with and you go and do this."

Walking back around to the driver side and entering, Clemondrique sat there and placed his hands on the steering wheel.

"They didn't ask our names or anything if they want to try to press charges against those guys," he said.

"They had gone there to harass them?" Drucine asked, half-knowing it to be true.

Clemondrique inhaled and said, 'I guess that's what happened. Seemed like it was what happened. And then they became stuck with each other when the flood hit." He cranked the motor.

"I guess those other four guys will get where they are going," Drucine said quietly.

"I guess so. I'd ask if you want us to go look for them," Clemondrique began.

"Honey," she said, placing her hand on his thigh, "we must always do what we can do."

Clemondrique drove the vehicle over toward the woman still on the phone, pacing up and down as she spoke, as Drucine called out to her to get her attention.