Tag Archives: water
The Culvert
Sometimes the rains would overflow the embankments of moderation in the Sink, and though a boy could easily forget the memory of last year’s flood, sometimes there were stores of memories that themselves would spill out in the night. One spring day, Sam waded along the bank into the shadows under the bridge. He soon [...]
White Divide
Sam looked out that first morning of the water-year, collected his lunch sack, and walked down the back steps, inhaling the strange mix of dust and chemicals and humidity; it was foreign. It was invigorating to breathe again. Broad and shallow puddles appeared everywhere, and all the roads were covered with a sheen of wet [...]
The Autumn-Spring
By midsummer, most of the mountain snowpack has thawed, and the streams dwindle to little more than a trickle. It used to be that the great lake at the bottom of the Sink would now begin to stagnate, and the hot Summer air would be filled with malarial mosquitoes and the reek of rotting fish. [...]
The Ferryman
Soundtrack: Tom Waits, Blow Wind Blow Boy and dog lay in the shadow of an orchard, looking out at the moon over a levee when Mehrzad pricked his ears. Mehran heard a rhythmic swishing. He crept up the bank, and looked out over the dirt road. He saw nothing but the moon and the grass [...]
The Aqueduct
When the word got round that the California aqueduct had been completed and would soon be carrying water from the Sacramento Delta to Los Angeles, the Adroushans drove out to see this great feat of engineering. They took a picnic basket along, and ate lunch from the tailgate of their family wagon. Armen and Cindy [...]