As The Storm Clouds Gather: A Personal Story Part 8 The Final Entry

Rockfield, Indiana

Carroll County

May 16,1968

The Final Entry

“The noise got louder and was drowning out what the man was yelling at us.  I thought I heard him say not to cross the street. “Mom he is telling us not to cross the street!” Yes, that is what he is saying, but why? The answer came.”  

“A wall of water about 5 feet in height rolled down the street in front of us. It was a flash flood.  Totally disgusted, I slammed my fist into my other hand.”

I don’t know what the others were feeling. As I stood watching the madness of what was occurring unfold before us, I thought to myself, “I cannot go on.”  The lantern of what appeared to be our only safe haven was swaying just on the other side and now impossible to reach.

There was no other place to go.  We were out in the open and it was still so dark you could barely see if anyone was standing beside you. The whole town seemed to have disappeared. It was almost as if we were in a fog that had turned black.

We were wet, exhausted and on the verge of shock. And then I thought about what might happen to us if Mom went into shock. No, I decided I did not want to think about that. I knew the storm clouds were gathering again and we had to do something
.
I looked at the water and realized that if we had been any closer we would have been carried away or if we had made it across we would have been as well. The one blessing of the night I realized is that we were standing on higher ground and when a flash of lightning occurred, it looked like a small lake between us and the swaying lantern.

Mom quietly said, “We have to cross” No one said a word.  She knew our silence meant she was facing an argument ahead. None of us could swim ...

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