30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 8 Prompt 1 - The Flood

The rain fell. A steady, silver curtain that blocked the view of the buildings across the street and showed no signs of lessening. Rachel stood at the window of her hotel room, a faint frown creasing her forehead as she studied the constant waterfall before her.

“Any let up?” Andrew asked as he handed her a mug of coffee.

Rachel wrapped her hands around the mug and inhaled the welcoming aroma. “No, it’s raining just as hard as it was earlier. I can’t even see the café across the road.”

“It’s just like being back home,” he joked as he turned away to study the open laptop. “Got an email from Terry.” A couple of clicks followed by the tinkling of the rain falling outside as the message was read.

“What does he say?” she asked, watching as he read the screen.

“Rain’s falling up at the camp. He says the road is passable but he doesn’t know for how long. The villagers are trying to secure the riverbank to prevent further flooding.” Adam raised his head and looked at her. “It’s not looking good, Rachel.”

Rachel bit her lip and turned back to the window, staring through her reflection to the grey flowing screen outside. She could not believe that months of planning was now at risk of being washed away by the rainstorm. “What does the weather forecast say?”

More clicks and key tapping as he loaded up the weather forecast for the local area. “Rain to last all night, possibly stopping tomorrow but they’re not certain at the moment.”

“Tell Terry to do what he can for the moment. We’ll try and make our way to him tomorrow if the roads are passable.” She placed the empty mug onto the table and waited whilst Adam finished typing. “There’s nothing else to do tonight so I’m going to turn in. I have a feeling we’re going to be very busy tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you in the morning.”

Inside her bedroom, she sank onto the firm mattress, despair weighing heavily on her shoulders. For six months she had planned to come out here, to the small Arabian kingdom she had read about one morning in the library. An exotic location struggling to make its way into the 21st century and throw off the shackles of the past. It’s elderly, tyrannical king had died the previous year and a new ruler had taken his place and begun the uphill battle to free his subjects.

The article had featured the village of Arigi, a small farming community inhabited by a few hundred people who struggled to have the most basic items of modern life. She had seen the pictures of the small huts they lived in, the poor community buildings that housed the school, the doctor’s surgery and even a small hospital, the children sitting on dirty floors eating food off shabby looking tableware. Something had tugged at her heartstrings and she had made it her mission to find out everything she could about Arigi and what it needed. Her research had led her to the aid organisation Adam and Terry worked for and now she was waiting in the city of Barakh for the chance to go to Arigi. If it stopped raining.

She looked across at the window and the falling curtain of water. Who would have thought that an Arabian kingdom could have so much rain? She had learnt everything she could about Arigi but had not studied the weather patterns and now she was in the rainy month in their weather system. It was just like being at home, she thought to herself as she got ready for bed. Rain, rain and more rain.

Morning saw the faintest flicker of sunlight peering through the curtains. Stretching her arms to the heavens, Rachel climbed out of bed and padded over to the window. Not wanting to hope, she slowly pulled the curtains apart and looked out across the city. Watery sunlight shone down over a city that twinkled with pockets of trapped water.

As she felt her hopes starting to rise that today might be the day for her trip to Arigi, a harsh pounding upon the interconnecting door interrupted her thoughts.

“Rachel? Rachel are you awake?” Adam’s muffled voice came through the wooden door. “Kai says that he’s willing to take us up to Arigi if you want?”

Did she want? What a stupid question to ask, she thought, racing across to the door. “What time does he want us?” she asked a startled Adam.

“Not more than an hour from now. He’s not certain of the road conditions up the trail so doesn’t want to get stranded between here and there.”

Rachel nodded and smiled her thanks to Adam before closing the door and rushing around the room to have a shower and get ready. Within thirty minutes she was opening the door to re-join Adam, her backpack in her hand.

“Ready,” she stated as he looked up from the laptop he was working on.

“That was quick. Neryssa made up some sandwiches and a couple of flasks of tea for the journey. Kai says that it should take about an hour to get there, as long as the roads are clear.”

“Have you heard from Terry?”

They were making their way down from the hotel suite to the small car park that serviced the hotel. Rachel carried her backpack and the small hamper bag whilst Adam had his own backpack and his computer bag. Inside the car park, a large black Land Rover awaited them with a young driver from Barakh.

Adam greeted the driver and passed their bags to him before climbing into the car. “I spoke to him this morning and he said the roads to the village are passable but some of the roads inside the village are flooded.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get through,” she commented, settling herself in one of the seats. She could not believe that she was on her way to Arigi after waiting for so long. Once she was there she would be helping in the setting up of a new library and creating a programme of education for the women who had been banned from being educated under the previous ruler.

The drive to Arigi was an adventure Rachel didn’t want to end. Her enraptured eyes saw the water soaked roads snaking their way through lush green fields that led to mountains cloaked in a blanket of green with a white cap upon their head. There was so much to see that she did not want to miss any single aspect of it.

Their arrival in the water soaked village of Arigi was met with little interest. The villages were engrossed in ensuring that the flowing waters of the river did not further breach the bank and flood the homes with even more devastation. Rachel saw the sandbags lining the riverbank to prevent the fast flowing river from finding a route along the streets. She saw the weary faces of the villagers as they emptied out their homes that had been flooded. The few possessions a pitiful reminder of just how poor the village was.

The car pulled into a part waterlogged car park and came to a halt. Further along she could see that the road was flooded, leaving vehicles abandoned in the flood’s wake. The few buildings lying alongside the road appeared to be food stores and Rachel could see that these too had flooded. If the food inside had spoiled then the village was in for a tough time.

Terry walked over to them, a welcoming smile on his exhausted face. After greeting Kai, he shook Adam’s hand and gave Rachel a quick hug. “I’m so glad you’ve managed to make it here. We were not sure how the roads were up to here.”

“It was touch and go for a time but we managed to get here.” Adam looked around the village. “Looks like you got hit hard.”

“It could have been worse. As soon as it started raining we had people working on shoring up the riverbank. Course, would have been much better if we’d had some of the tax money that was supposed to be coming to us.”

“No funds yet?” Adam asked.

“Not yet, but we’re working on it. Rose has a meeting with the Sheikh tomorrow so we’ll see what comes of that.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Rachel asked her heart heavy at the sight of so much devastation around her.

“Well, you can help Tareq and Mia rescue the watermelons. We had a delivery yesterday of watermelons, just before the rain started. The warehouse flooded and now the melons are floating around. We’re retrieving what we can and transporting them to a drier location.”

“Won’t the melons be spoilt?”

“As long as their skin isn’t damaged they’ll be alright. We’ve got a special organic rinse to wash them in before we store them in the new warehouse.”

“Okay, let’s get started. Ready, Rachel?” Adam queried, watching as the young woman looked around her.

“I’m ready,” she stated and set off up the street towards the warehouse area with Terry and his two assistants.

So, here she was. Standing in a car park knee deep in water with dozens of ripe green watermelons floating around her. Tareq and Mia were gathering up the fruits and placing them in the back of a yellow transit van. Adam and Terry were checking out the sandbags lining the riverbank making sure they were as watertight as they could be.

The air was hot and sticky, insects buzzed around her, the sun blazed down upon her head and her feet in their expensive training shoes were wet through as she waded through the water. She had never been happier, though. Here she was needed. Here people wanted her assistance and would value her knowledge and opinions rather than dismissing her as so many had done before.

She was home.