A Flood For Christmas

It was just before Christmas and the tree was standing, decorated, looking like a perfect little tree. The presents were wrapped in their brightly colored Christmas wear. They were patiently waiting for Christmas morning.

Tommy and Adam shared a bedroom. Tommy was older and that is why he got the top bed of the wooden framed bunk bed, their dad had built. Adam got the lower one. On rainy days it doubled as a fort. And lately, it always seemed to be raining.

Every morning Tommy would get up and look out the window of their bedroom to see what the weather was like. He had to climb up on a stool and then onto the top of his dresser which he also shared with Adam.

Tommy knew that he was not supposed to do that. He knew that Mom would get mad at him and that when Dad got home he would have to go out to the shed for a whipping.

But he did it anyway. Tommy could not wait. He had to know if it was still raining or if he would get to go outside with his brother and play. Tommy wanted to go outside very badly.

Tommy moved the stool over to the dresser where he could climb up on it. He looked out. It was cloudy and still raining. He had just stood up fully on the top of the dresser when Mom walked into their bedroom. Tommy was in big trouble.

“How many times have you been told not to climb on the furniture?” Mom asked. Then she added without hesitation, “Get down now!” She shook her head at Tommy. He knew what that meant. Mom was going to tell his dad what he had done.

Tommy also knew that it was not polite to argue back with Mom, so he jumped down from the dresser top and stood there with his hand behind his back and his head down as if he were looking at the toes of his boot. Sassing Mom would only make matters worse.

Adam did not pay any attention to what had happened. He was busy looking for his other boot that was lost somewhere underneath their bed. Dad had always told Tommy that he must behave and set a good example for his younger brother. Tommy was not doing a very good job of that.

After breakfast, Adam and Tommy set about doing their chores. One chore was feeding King. He was their big German shepherd dog. He liked to wag his tail and lick Adam and Tommy’s face. King would also play fetch with anyone who picked up a stick and tossed it. But the best thing King did was protect his family from everything that came out of the forest at night.

With the sky still cloudy and rain still coming down, Tommy and Adam started building a fort. They tucked in an old Army blanket that Mom had given them and let it hang over the side of the bunk bed. With one side protected by the bedroom wall, it was the perfect fort. The top bunk was the lookout.

All day long Adam and Tommy played in their fort. They fought off one Indian attack after another. They also caught bank robbers and rode their stick ponies around their room.

Their ponies were old mops with the handles sawed short. The string of the mop head made the pony’s mane and an old flour sack stuffed with chicken feathers made the head. They were perfect ponies. Dad had added leather reins to the ponies by cutting an old belt in half and tacking it to the handle.

With all the fun they were having, they did not notice that King was barking wildly. He had been barking for quite some time.

Suddenly Mom burst into their fort. She had her coat and rain hat on and she had Adam and Tommy’s coats and hats with her. She grabbed Adam by the hand and said, “Come on, we have to get out of the house. Let’s go!”

Once they were outside Tommy was surprised to see the river’s water flowing right by the front porch. All of the rain had caused the river to overflow its banks and flow to the township of Klamath.

The river was coming up fast and it was still raining. Mom reached down and unhooked King’s chain from the side of the house. He took off at a full run for the backside of the home.

Tommy was running as fast as he could, while Mom carried Adam in her arms. She followed King. He seemed to know exactly what to do. They were rushing towards Simpson’s Timber Mill, where Dad was working.

Tommy stopped and turned around. He was only yards from their house. He could see his bedroom window. He could also see that the river was quickly surrounding their house until the muddy, brown water was all around it.

Suddenly Mom called out, “Tommy! Come here!” Her voice sounded strangely different. He had never heard her sound like that before and it scared him. So he turned and ran to where his mom was. She took him by the hand and started half-walking and half-running up the mud-slick hillside.

Tommy looked over his shoulder just in time to see his home turn sideways and slip into the chocolate-colored water of the river. And as he blinked, the house was gone. Just the top of the house could be seen floating away through the water-swollen streets of the little town.

Tommy was crying. He was scared. He wanted to stop and rest but Mom had him by the hand and she was still running up the hillside. When Mom finally stopped running, she turned to see what was happening. All of Klamath was underwater. Just the tops of chimneys could be seen marking the places where homes had once stood. Everywhere there was debris floating rapidly toward Terwer. Only Vern’s Tackle Shop was left standing as water flowed freely through its shattered storefront.

King could be heard barking off in the distance. Mom turned back and started walking again towards his voice. King had saved them. He was a good dog.

They were heading towards Simpson’s. But before they reached the lumberyard they would end up going past the Catholic Church. Everything looked so different to Tommy even though he had been to the little church just last Sunday. Adam was crying and Mom was trying to comfort him with her soft singing, but he would have none of it. Tommy was quiet because he was nearly out of breath. He was running as fast as his short legs would carry him. He was trying to focus on Kings barking, off in the distance.

King’s barking was growing closer and closer. They must be near him, but Tommy didn’t care. He wanted to stop and sit down. He wanted to rest, but Mom would not let him. And every time Tommy looked back the river seemed to have edged ever closer. Tommy felt scared.

When they finally reached the top of the hill they were met by King. He was wet and muddy and shivering from the rain. Yet he was wagging his tail and he licked Tommy in the face.

Mom put Adam down and for the first time since they had to run away from their home. Adam did not cry. Mom held his hand as King licked him all over his face, too. Adam loved King and King loved Adam.

It was about that time that Tommy realized where he was. It was a great big place with a high steeple and a big bell. There were lots of other people there too. They had all run up the hillside to get away from the river as it rushed through Klamath. There were people there that Tommy did not know. Everyone looked confused and scared. Some people were crying.

The one person that Tommy did recognize was Father Heinz. He was a very tall man. He was taller than Dad and Tommy knew Dad was a giant. Father Heinz was very skinny too. He wore a black suit with a large white collar.

Tommy wanted to ask Father Heinz why he wore a white collar that looked like a dog’s collar. But Tommy knew that he must not. Father Heinz was a very important man and should not be disturbed by such a foolish question. That would be wrong.

Mom said, “We’re flooded out, the house is gone.” Father Heinz replied, “I know. It happened so quickly. I’ve called for help.” Mom started to cry and Father Heinz put his long, lanky arm across her shoulders and walked her and the two children up to the large staircase of the church.

Father Heinz opened the church door and Adam and Tommy ran inside and into the large room that echoed every time someone talked. Tommy liked that and Adam did too. They completely forgot their manners and about being soaking wet.

Mom appeared in the large echoing room and said, “Come on boys, let’s get dried off.” Her voice echoed throughout the room. Adam raced off toward her but Tommy was naughty and waited a few seconds longer as he called out “Who-who” like an owl. Mom changed the tone of her voice and sounded more demanding, “Now, Tommy!” This time Tommy did not hesitate. He ran to his mom with delight as he heard the echoing of his boots on the wooden floor.

After they were out of their wet clothing and dried off, Adam was laid down for a nap. Tommy was too, but he did not want to sleep. He lay there in the big wooden pew and listened to the rain as it fell. He thought about seeing his home wash away with the river and about how much fun it was to shout ”who-who” and have it echo all around the church room. Next thing Tommy knew Mom and Dad were getting him and Adam up.

Their clothes were all dry and smelled clean. And the church smelled like bread baking. Tommy loved to play Big Helper in the kitchen when Mom was baking bread. He always got a hot, fresh piece with butter melting on it before anyone else did. Sometimes the bread would be so hot that Mom would tell Tommy to wait and let it cool off. But Tommy couldn’t wait that long and he’d burn his lips and tongue. Then Mom would scold him, “I told you to wait, silly boy.”

Tommy was in Dad’s arms and he felt safe. “Tom, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to,” Father Heinz said. “Thanks just the same, Father, but were heading over to Ma and Pa’s,” came Dad’s reply.

Dad carried Tommy and Adam out to the old pickup truck they called ‘Buella.’ Buella was a green Studebaker with a rounded nose and roof. She made Tommy think of a hippo when he looked at her.

Sometimes Dad would let Tommy ride in the back of Buella. They would not go very far and Tommy had to stay close to the cab, but it was still great fun. The feeling of the wind rushing through his blonde hair made Tommy wonder if that was what a bird felt when he was flying. To ride in the back of Buella was exciting.

But no one would be riding in the back today, except King. The rain was still falling and it beat hard on the roof and it ricocheted off making a horrible racket. Mom climbed in on the passenger side. Dad closed the door for her. He ordered King into the bed of the truck and chained him to the railing. Then he climbed into Buella.

A few miles north on U.S. Highway 101 was Sanders Court. That is where Ma and Pa Sanders lived. They were from Oklahoma just like Dad. They were going to stay with them. Ma and Pa had a few cabins nestled back in the woods. Pa once said, “This is God’s country.” And Tommy felt lucky to be going to live where God lived too. “One day,” Tommy thought, “I want to visit his ranch.

Along the way, Tommy was surprised to see so many people camping out. There were tents everywhere. Tommy grew excited. He saw the tents and thought he might get to go camping as well. But Dad kept driving up the road.

It was dark by the time Dad pulled Buella into Ma and Pa’s long, muddy driveway. Adam was asleep. The radio was on, but it was a lot of talking and no country western music came from it.

The sun poked his face through the clouds for the first time in weeks and it smiled on everything. Tommy could smell the good smell of bacon as it cooked and hear the voices of Mom and Ma in the kitchen. Adam was next to him and still sleeping, when Tommy slipped out from under the patchwork quilt.

The hard wooden floor felt cold on his bare feet, but the air was warm. Tommy looked for his socks and pulled them on. Then he grabbed at his blue jeans, which lay across the foot of the big feather bed, and yanked them over his legs.

The soft clatter of china met him as he opened the bedroom door. Tommy was hungry and his stomach growled over and over. He walked through the living room and into the kitchen where Mom and Ma were working. Ma smiled at him and said, “Good morning’ sleepy-head.” Tommy blinked away a sleeper and said, “Good morning, Ma.” Then he went over and got a hug from Mom. She kissed him on the forehead.

“Go get Adam up, please.” Mom requested. Tommy darted off and back around the corner and back into the darkness of the bedroom. Adam was already sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes. He smiled a sleepy smile at Tommy and Tommy said, “Get up and get dressed. It’s almost breakfast time.”

Adam scrambled out of the covers. He still had his socks on, so all he needed to do was pull on his jeans that also lay across the end of the bed. Together they rushed out into the living room and then into the kitchen. MA was just spooning up some fried potatoes onto two small plates set off on the counter of what was called the nook.

Mom picked Adam up and seated him on one of the big chairs as Tommy climbed up into the one by its side. They were just finishing up their prayers when Ma stepped out the back door and started ringing the bell.

The bell wasn’t a bell. It was a metal triangle bar that hung on a chain. Ma made it ring by hitting it with another metal bar. She could go fast and strike all three sides and make a sound that went ding-ding-ding over and over again.

Pa and Dad came in the back door, their boots making clump-clump-clump sounds as they stomped the porch trying to shake off the mud that clung to them. Then Tommy heard the scratching noise of the boot brush as they ran their boots through it.

The boot brush was three coarse straw brushes, nailed to a wooden cradle. One brush was on the bottom with the brush side up. The other two brushes were nailed into the sides of the cradle with the brush sides out. A person stood in front of it and dragged their boot through it one at a time.

“Take them off fellas!” Ma scolded. “You’re not tracking mud through my kitchen.” Dad and Pa obeyed by sitting down at the front door and unlacing their boots.

Things seemed perfect in the early morning with the sunshine starting to shine. Tommy felt safe warm and dry. And it looked as if most of the flooding was over.

Pa said, “Tom and me rode on over to the town site.” He paused to take another bite of scrambled egg. “Nearly everything is gone. Margie, it’s a good thing you grabbed them youngsters when you did.” There was a long pause at the breakfast table. The thought of what could have happened did not need to be talked about.

“Too bad it’s so close to Christmas,” Ma said. Then she stopped, but it was too late. Tommy stopped eating. He had not thought about that.

Tommy knew that it was naught to speak at the breakfast table unless he was spoken to first, but he could not help himself. “How is Santa going to know where to find us, Mom?” he blurted out.

Pa answered him, “When I was a youngster, not much older than you, we moved all the time it seemed, but Santa always found me.” He smiled at Tommy. Pa must be right and Tommy knew it, so he went back to eating his breakfast. Tommy did not get in trouble for being naughty and acting impolite. It was an important question and it needed to be answered.

Besides Ma and Pa had a Christmas tree and wherever there was a Christmas tree, Santa Claus would have to visit there. So Adam and Tommy did not have to worry, because Santa would find them.

For the next few days, Pa and Dad were gone for long hours. Tommy enjoyed it when Dad came home. He always had stories to tell of what he had seen from the flood and what he had done that day. When Dad came home at night and after they had all sat down and ate supper, Tommy and Adam would climb up on his knee and ask him to tell them a story.

Dad told about how their home had washed down the river and had gotten stuck under the Douglas Bridge. Several other homes were smashed up against the bridge as well. Finally, the bridge washed out. It cracked in several places across where the cars and trucks used to drive. Then it fell over. Everything that had piled up against it or had gotten stuck under the bridge had floated out to sea.

Then Dad went on to tell the boys about how some of the roofs of some of the houses were still floating around in the Pacific Ocean. Adam interrupted, “Did you see our roof, Daddy?” Dad shook his head and answered, “Nope, I sure didn’t.”

Dad continued with his stories. He told how some fishermen had managed to rescue a young bull that had become trapped on an old barn roof, floating in the middle of the ocean. The bull’s name was Captain Courageous. “Minutes after they pulled him from the roof, it sank outta sight,” Dad said as he finished his story.

Tommy and Adam were absorbed in Dad’s tales. They enjoyed them so much that they were fussy when Mom said it was time for them to get ready for bed. “There’ll be plenty of time for more stories later,” she said.

Christmas morning was on them before either Adam or Tommy knew it. Adam was still too young to understand what Christmas meant and Tommy was just old enough to know it was a day that he would get presents from Santa Claus.

Tommy was very excited when he woke up. It was still dark outside so Tommy lay in the bed listening to the noises that the cows were making outside. Clank-clank-clank went the cows’ bell. She was leading them to the barn for milking. Afterward, the morning was quiet except for an occasional “moo.”

Soon the screen door squeaked and then it banged shut. Tommy could hear the heavy boots of Dad and Pa as they came into the house through the back door. It was time to get up.

After quickly getting himself dressed, Tommy quietly opened the door to his bedroom and peeked out into the living room, where the Christmas tree stood shining.

Over the fireplace were two socks. They were bulging full of goodies and that made Tommy grow even more excited. Santa Claus had found Tommy and his brother after all. Pa was right

Soon everyone was up, Mom and Ma and Adam too. There was excitement everywhere. Under the tree, Santa had left one great big present for Tommy and Adam, plus a smaller one for each of them.

They ripped off the wrappings and pulled from each box a bow and arrow set. The bow was painted white with red, yellow, and blue stripes at either end. The arrows all had rubber tips. Also in the box was a colorful headdress just like the one in Pa’s picture book.

Tommy put his headdress on jumped up and gave out a loud “whoop.” He was going to go hunting just like the Indian boy named Little Two Feathers. Dad had told Tommy and Adam that story many times as they fell off to sleep.

Dad would start, “Little Two Feathers lived deep in the forest. He lived with his family in a village near a lake. One day his father, who was a great chief, gave Little Two Feathers a bow and a quiver of arrows.

“Little Two Feathers learned to shoot his arrows straight. He was so good at shooting his arrows that he could hit whatever he was shooting at.

“One day Little Two Feathers saw a man like none other he had ever seen before. The man walked so loudly that he scared off the animals of the forest. Little Two Feathers told his father about the strange, noisy man. His father told Little Two Feathers that the man he had seen was a white man. He told Little Two Feathers that he and many others like him were soon going to be everywhere.

“Little Two Feathers thought long and hard about what his father had said. It was then that Little Two Feathers decided that he must move far away so that he could always hunt and not have to worry about the white man scaring off all of the animals of the forest.

“So Little Two Feathers walked and walked and walked so long into the night that he had to light a torch to find his way. Then he walked so far that he walked right up into the sky.

“And he can still be seen in the night time sky. All one has to do is look for the brightest star in the sky and that Tommy be Little Two Feathers.”

Adam put on his headdress he stood up and let out a “whoop” too. Then together they tore off the paper of the big box that had both of their names on it. Inside the box was a bunch of sticks and a white piece of canvas with moons, stars, horses, and birds on it. It was a teepee.

Both Adam and Tommy were so excited that they had forgotten about the socks hanging along the mantle. They wanted to go outside on the front porch and set up the teepee and play.

Ma and Mom went to the kitchen and started making breakfast. Pa and Dad went outside with the teepee and started setting it up for Adam and Tommy. But before they could get it all set up it was time for breakfast.

It was very hard for Tommy to eat slowly. He wanted to be bad and eat like King sometimes did. But he knew that was rude so he forced himself to go slowly. And just to make sure he had taken plenty of time he even waited to ask to be excused. When he did, he ran outside onto the front porch and put his headdress on.

Soon Mom and Dad and Ma and Pa and Adam were out on the front porch. Tommy climbed up on the railing. He was pretending that it was a cliff. When he looked down he squealed with surprise.

In the yard in front of the house were two sleigh marks and several hoof prints. Santa Claus had been right outside Adam and Tommy’s room. He had landed in the yard instead of the roof. Tommy screamed with delight. Adam was excited too and he ran down the steps and around the side of the house to see if Santa Claus was still there.

It was just after dinner when Adam remembered the stockings. They were full of candy canes and hard candy. Tommy licked at his candy cane slowly and until it was pointed. Adam bit into him with a loud crunch.

The day was one of the best that Tommy could ever remember. He had gotten a bow and arrow set and had seen Santa Claus sleight marks. Tommy knew he was going to be a great tracker. He had proved that by reading the reindeer hoof marks in the yard near his bedroom window.