02.21.07
Take me to the River
Sinktown folks sometimes drove up to Laton to swim in the River. There was a beach right where Fowler Street crossed the main River channel.
One Spring day, Mehrzad waded along the bank into the shadows under the bridge. He soon noticed that the river level was rising. Mehrzad climbed up the bank, and soon found himself trapped under the bridge. The River continued to rise, compelling the boy into a culvert under the road. The river water soon began to follow him up the concrete pipe. The culvert was longer than he expected. As the water pursued him, the pipe grew progressively narrower, and imperceptibly transformed into a translucent rubber—like medical tubing, filled with ambient daylight. He was pressed ever forward by the water rising up to his head. As the water slipped over his face, he pressed his face upward into the latex tube, until he could press no further.
His body lurched and he gasped. He awoke to find himself in his bed on the enclosed back porch.
© 2007, 2008 Dan J. Jensen
