Around 11:30 that night (for some
reason I was still wide awake) the sheets of water pounded
deafeningly on the tin roof. It would be my turn the next morning to
serve breakfast. I knew if the rain continued I'd not want to get up
so I made a simple breakfast of banana bread, jello and setting out
corn flakes and oatmeal. It was a semi-restless night as visions of
Noah's ark dance in my head. Tuesday morning came and the rain still
flooded in. When I finally got up around 8:00 that morning there were
moments of calm when we thought the rain was lifting. It was never
the case though. The clouds were just taking another deep breath
before letting it all out again with the force of fire hoses. “Rain
Rain go away come again another day,” became the unstated hope.
It seems though we'd jinxed ourselves
even just thinking about it. The saying - “Water, water everywhere
and not a drop to drink” was soon to become our motto. The water
quit coming out of the taps around breakfast time. We found out the
neighbors had no water either. It turned out the pipe which brings
water across the river was knocked down when the river rose too high.
Meanwhile, I told my fellow winter
school teachers that if it was still raining by 9:15 we'd call of the
day's activities. Of course, 9:00 rolls around and the sun comes out
over the bay and over The Farm. “Alright... I guess we'll have
classes,” I thought to myself. About an hour into classes Mother
Nature decided she wasn't finished. I am now sitting under the tin
roof of our outdoor classroom shouting just to be heard by my four
7-9 year olds. Recess rolled in along with the next deep breath of
rain.
One by one with the help of my
“student teacher” Daniel huddled together they'd scurry from the
1st grade classroom splashing through the encroaching lake
to the library for indoor recess. The decision was made that if there
was any break in the rain we'd have the kids drop what they're doing
an make a break for their houses. That break cam just before noon
until a little after lunch.
The rest of Tuesday would pass with
massive down pours of rain followed by periods of tranquility. All
the while no water whatsoever was coming out of the tap. We
began to fill large buckets with rain water coming off the roof. This
was enough to keep us sustained with water to filter for drinking,
washing dishes and one or two people could bucket shower. This luck
didn't last!
Wednesday morning
the sun came out, but the water still was not flowing. We got word
that the pipe that had been knocked down was now being fixed. The
question still remained just how long that would take. By midday the
only sign of re-hydration was the slow trickle of muddy water from
our front spicket. At least it'd be enough to run through the filter
for drinking a few hours later. The pile of dirty dishes was now
growing. Everyone was starting to look like they'd just woken up from
a night of camping in the wild... granted that look is a bit more “in
style” here anyways during the winter. That night it was decided if
water still had not come back by Thursday morning there would be a
run to the river to bath.
Again the sun came
up... no sign of any rain to bring us much needed water. The spicket
had now stopped flowing consistently as well. At this point I began
recalling that horrible children's rhyme I'd previously hoped for.
This time I could only think... alright God this is definitely that
other day; please bring back the rain!
Making the most of it a handful of people took to the river. There was plenty of talking themselves into it knowing full well how cold it would be. The run there would help.
I on the other hand figured I'd wait it out another
day. This served me well since the water finally came back full blast
and clear that afternoon. After going most of the week without a
shower I decided it'd be worth it to wait a little longer as I heated
up a few buckets of hot water.
Props to my
comrades who braved the chilly waters. I on the other hand am just
grateful that over the past year God has taught me that sometimes
patience pays off.
