Lit eZine Vol 4 | p-19 | FICTION | Slow Drip of Water

SHORT STORY

SLOW DRIP OF WATER
by Issy Jinarmo

Janice sat beside the window looking out at the slow drips of water running down in streams of light as they came together to form a miniature river before puddling on the sill and merging into a mini pond.

                It had been raining steadily all morning, adding to her boredom as she was stuck at home with the constant Covid lockdowns. She’d cleaned the flat from top to bottom, sorted her clothes into useful and ‘throw in the bin’ sections, and worked on her novel but with no outside stimulation, even that promising artwork had stalled.

                A tiny spider caught her eye. He’d been trapped by the sudden heavy downpour, the rainwater sweeping him up and propelling him down the windowpane at breakneck speed. He was fighting to regain his footing and she watched in admiration as he shot a sudden strand of web and secured himself to a crack in the sill just in time to prevent being swept off into the storm.

                “How amazing life is, we all cling to it even though we don’t understand it,” she mused. Then with a deafening roar, she felt the building shake around her. She grabbed the arm of her chair and irrationally checked to see if the little spider was still safe in his crack. He was, but plumes of smoke were rising from a large hole in the park on the other side of the street. Some people were running towards it as others ran in the opposite direction. “The gas pipe must have exploded,” she thought in a panic. “What do I do?”

                Her mind was racing, trying to make sense of what was unfolding. She was on the third floor of the apartment block. Should she stay where she was or join the growing crowd on the street? The second explosion knocked her to the floor with its force and she saw a large crack suddenly appear in the wall.

                She lay there stunned, looking at the shattered window and the tiny spider swinging on a newly created strand of webbing now against her inside wall. The slow drips of water joined him in his race to reach the floor.

             Janice knew she should try to stand up and look to see what was happening in the street, she could hear shouting but she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stand. She felt strange, rather detached. ‘Am I badly injured?’ she wondered trying to keep panic at bay. A loud knocking at the door shook her into focus               

“Are you okay Janice?”  She recognised the urgent voice as her neighbour Lloyd.

                “We need to evacuate the building Janice, are you okay?” the banging on the door became more persistent. Janice tried to pull herself up from the floor, grabbing at the armchair but her legs gave way under her.

                “Lloyd, Lloyd, I need help, can you get in? The door isn’t locked.” There was no answer but thuds at the door told her that he was trying to get in.

                Janice’s dog, Muffy was whining and shaking under the lounge that had slid sideways from its original position. She called to her. Muffy raced to her jumping into her arms and trembling. A moment later, Lloyd opened the door, bursting in, flinging the door back against the wall.

                “Can you move Janice? Are you okay?” His care was obvious and genuine. He had long had a crush on Janice and concern showed on his face. Lloyd was a few years her junior but they had supported each other during similar experiences with broken relationships and other ups and downs of life. He gently lifted Muffy to the floor and put his arm around her to lift her.

                “It’s my legs Lloyd; I can’t seem to get them to work. Do you think they are broken?”  Tears welled in her eyes, delayed shock causing her to tremble uncontrollably. For a moment, everything went blurry and she fell backwards into Lloyd’s waiting arms.

                “You are okay Sweetie; you are probably in shock. We must get out of here, the building isn’t safe. Can you hear me, Janice?” She nodded her head but couldn’t get herself up. Lloyd bent down and picked her up in his arms, making his way out of the door and down the stairs. Her head was hanging over his arms, she tried to focus while calling out to Muffy.

                “Muffy is okay Janice, she is following me down the stairs. She is okay,” he reassured her. As they slowly descended, residents came rushing out of their units joining the flood of more and more people trying to escape the building. One of their neighbours picked up Muffy, hugged her close and followed Lloyd, joining the growing throng of residents.

Confusion reigned when they entered the street. People were running in all different directions. The Police and Ambulance were only just arriving and trying to restore order to the chaos. Screams and sirens pierced the air. The footpath was cracked in many places and splintered glass from broken windows and fallen debris formed a pile that people had to step around.

Lloyd had his car parked out the front of the building and was able to lift Janice into it, grabbing Muffy from the kindly neighbour, who then quickly disappeared into the crowd.  Janice put her head back, trying to remain conscious, amongst all the horror around her. Lloyd wasn’t a terribly athletic man but seemed to find the adrenalin he needed.

“Hold on girls,” he said to the terrified lady in the back clutching the little white dog.

“I’ll get you away from here.”

Janice thanked him, pondering for a moment, the fate of the tiny spider.

Lloyd swung the steering wheel of his car around in an attempt to drive through mega-litres of water gushing beneath his car.  

“Where are we going?’

“Not sure,” replied Lloyd as a police officer barred his escape route.

“Where do you think you are off to?”

“This lady and I aren’t hanging around here, what with the rain, footpaths cracking, bricks tumbling, cracks appearing in our building and water gushing everywhere.”

“Sir, no one is allowed to leave. All residents are required to give statements to our officers.”

“I won’t let Muffy stay here, young man!” Janice shouted.

“Please stay exactly where you are, Dear,” replied the police officer. He was wet and cold and his patience was decreasing by the minute.

“Don’t you call me ‘Dear’. I’m no one’s Dear right now. I want to get away from here.”

Sirens heralded the arrival of two fire engines. Firies leapt from their cabins and, despite the rain, went straight into action unrolling hoses, while others ran over to the park to join the council engineers who were examining the area. There had been no more explosions but the water was spouting high into the air from beneath the damaged pavement and the cracks in the building were increasing with the pressure.

Lloyd looked around at the devastation, his shoulders slumped in resignation. He tried to pacify his agitated neighbour and her dog.

“I think we had better do as the police officer says. Things aren’t looking too good. We’ll give our statements and go from there.”

Janice nodded as she and Muffy joined Lloyd on the pavement. They were moved along the road to a safe roped-off area where a marquee had been erected and seats were provided almost instantly by local Red Cross volunteers. Amazingly within minutes, urns were set up and cups of hot steaming tea were being handed out to the shocked residents.

As a team of police officers began taking statements, a man with a loud hailer asked everyone to ‘listen up’ and introduced the council’s Chief Engineer.

“We cannot apologise enough for this inconvenience,” Tom South, the engineer said. “As is obvious, our digger struck a problem.”

The residents all booed and jeered!

“Our street plans, unfortunately, did not show what exactly was under the bitumen in this street and the park. We apologise….”

“So you bloody well should,” shouted Lloyd. “When can we go home?”

“Sir, if you let me continue, I will bring you up-to-date,” replied Tom South.

Lloyd was shouted down by his neighbours. Janice patted him on the arm. “Let him finish, love.”

“A sinkhole has developed. Subsidence can suddenly happen and, sadly, that is exactly what we have here now. Of course, it is very frightening for everyone.”

“You’ve caused all this, I can’t return to my unit,” shouted Janice.

“Madam, I fully understand your position, but there was no indication this would happen when we carried out our tests. There was no evidence of water erosion, and we thought all the structures in this street were based on rock, but…”

“I don’t care what anything is based on, I want to go home,” Janice persisted.

A television crew, who had arrived on the scene, were now recording the confrontation between Janice, and the engineer. Traffic at the end of the street was at a standstill, trucks and cars honking their horns!

“I demand you put us up in a hotel until you fix our building and street,” Janice said as she sank down in her chair pondering the events of the morning. She was sick of the rain, and now she had no home. I bet that spider I saw earlier is enjoying his day more than me, she thought.

Led by Lloyd, her neighbours began chanting, “Re-house us. Fix our street!”

The chanting stopped suddenly as confusion and then shock washed over the protestors. In a few seconds, anger turned to fear. A strange rumbling was heard and then the earth slipped away beneath them. Lloyd grabbed her hand as they slid down a muddy wall, the sinkhole widening and deepening around them with lightning speed.

Janice thought of Alice falling down the rabbit hole and wondered what adventures awaited her. She only had time to realise she was probably going to die instead when the ground settled beneath her to a mild shaking motion and the rumbling grew more distant. She lay there for a moment, aware that Lloyd still had a firm grasp on her hand. She was aware of other folk around them, some groaning, some trying to stand, but all looking stunned and bewildered. Muffy was barking, trying to put on a brave face too.

The sky with the stars was a long way above, “like being in a well,” she murmured to Lloyd as he too looked up. “What are we going to do?” she whispered.

He struggled to his feet and looked around. Some were rubbing sore heads or limbs, but none of them seemed to be seriously injured. Then, on the far side of the sinkhole’s perimeter, he saw a tunnel through solid rock. Lloyd clamoured over the mud and dirt and looked inside. It was pitch black but a glimmer of light could be seen in the far distance.

“I think there’s a way out. There’s light. Come on! They’ll be hours trying to get equipment to us down the sinkhole, scared it might collapse further. Which it probably will,” he whispered more to himself.

Lloyd helped Janice to her feet. She was relieved to find she could walk, albeit with a limp. ‘He’s so confident and manly, in control,’ she thought as her heart fluttered slightly at the touch of his hand.

Lloyd and Janice led the group down the tunnel towards the light. It seemed to be a natural tunnel formed by the rock. As they drew closer to the light, they realised it was opening into a large cave that had a stream running through it. On the far side was a natural formation that looked almost like steps reaching towards the light trickling through the shrubbery at the top. It must be hidden within the bushland on the reserve they realised. A stack of half-open, crumbling wooden boxes under the stairs brought gasps and yells of delight from the bedraggled group. Inside the boxes and sacks were treasures, old coins and banknotes, jewellery, silver wares, and gold ingots.

“Bushrangers … we’ve found a hoard left by the bushrangers,” Janice gasped. “We’ve been living on top of a treasure trove, whoever would have thought?”

“Not us Love,” called a man she knew lived in her apartment block, “but it’s our lucky day. Hey … we’re all rich … really rich,” he said, broken homes forgotten as he let the coins trickle through his fingers. “Maybe we should buy the Council workers that caused this a beer instead of suing them!”

Muffy barked and Lloyd surprised Janice by planting an excited kiss on her smiling lips. She closed her eyes and saw a white rabbit consulting his watch and hurrying away leaving behind his golden key. The warmth of Lloyd’s hand was as real and comforting as a dream.