THE FLOOD…PART 1:
AUTUMN ANEMONES
By Jo
Maximus sat on the wooden bench just inside his front
door, pulling on his tall boots. After a day and a half of straight, steady rain
he was worried about their pond. His land lay in what was almost a series of
large terraces coming down from the foothills of the mountains to the west.
Several small streams flowed into the main, big pond, nestled in a wide dip in
the center of the second to bottom terrace. The bottom terrace contained his
main pasture with a rise at its far end leading up to his stables and barn. The
house and the Greenery lay on higher land beyond that. He'd been out on Legion
earlier in the day and was concerned about how close to the top of the earthen
edge of the pond the water was rising. Cort was already out in the stables,
getting his horse saddled while East resaddled Legion for the General.
Joimus watched as he strode down to the stables, glad for the scattered rays of
sunlight that had broken through the thick grey clouds. It had rained lightly
for two days even before the heavier downpours had come, keeping her from
completing a project she had in mind. At the far end of the top terrace near
where the Meridius land joined Travis' station, she had discovered a band of
autumn anemones growing in a narrow swath along the bank of a stream so small it
was more of a trickle than an actual stream. When Travis' cattle had gotten lose
on Meridius property, they had trampled about half of the plants and she had had
the plan ever since of transplanting some of the remaining ones down to the
greenhouse. She'd even devised a special carrier that hung much like saddlebags
over Buttermilk for use in containing their dirt and roots as horseback was the
only way to get up to that rather remote location.
Standing in the doorway still as Maximus and Cort rode out, her eye settled on
the carrier propped against the garden wall. Once again she noted the sunbeams,
which seemed now to her to be brighter and more numerous, and so she made the
decision. Usually East would have Buttermilk saddled for her, but today he was
tending a mare who was foaling breech. He was aware she was taking Buttermilk
out, presumed she would be following
the General, and didn’t watch as she rode off, didn’t see the plant containers
she put across her horse.
She enjoyed riding Buttermilk but the Greenery had kept her so busy she had had
far too few chances of late. The air was still heavy with the week's moisture,
but a wind blew her hair back. She'd forgotten to put it up in the long pony
tail she usually wore when riding.
Maximus' wheat grew in the highest terrace and she rode through its narrow path,
smiling because it was just so perfect that he was able to grow wheat once
again. Reaching the fence line, she followed along it, then up a steep, rocky
ridge, riding through a sparse copse of trees and coming out where the little
rivulet ran. Still mounted, she studied it. "Not a rivulet today, Buttermilk,"
she said aloud. The tiny stream was running red with soil, running fast, and
much wider and deeper than she'd ever seen it. The streambed lay 15 feet down in
the bottom of a rather steep ravine. The anemones grew, scattered through the
wild grasses and several large outcroppings of rock on the Meridius side.
Dismounting, she left Buttermilk to graze, took her plant carrier, and walked
into the anemones. More of them had been damaged than she'd thought at first and
she decided to gather as many of them as she could. She had one pouch filled and
about half the other when the sky darkened again. The clouds were rolling down
out of the mountains, heavy with rain, blown quickly by a stiff wind. She
sighed. "Well," I'll just hurry up and fill the last pouch and be on my way."
Maximus and Cort strode back and forth along the edge of the big pond. "It will
not hold more," the General said, looking up at the rapidly darkening sky, "not
if it rains again." As if on cue, the first large raindrop hit his cheek.
"Better go back and tell Paul to bring out the small bulldozer. We are going to
be needing to move some rocks and earth as fast as we can."
Cort nodded and rode off toward the stable. "Tell Mac to come, too," Maximus
called after him. Cort waved his hat in acknowledgement and kept going.
Maximus mounted Legion and rode slowly along the far edge of the terrace,
looking for the easiest mounds of rocks for the dozer to move over to the end of
the pond.
…continued
