scenes around the city, everyday:
a foot puts out a cigarette butt on the asphalt sidewalk after it lights up another one. The young professional puts his lighted vice between his lips and takes out a menthol candy from his pocket. The wrapper is thrown also on the street, not far from the wasted butt.
A crumpled ball of tissue finds its way down the sewer after being thrown away from a car by a motorist. The tissues were actually used to wipe away a spill from a soda accident.
A mother takes out her daily trash on the street because today is garbage collection day. she dumps it on the sidewalk in front of their house, reeking plastic of fish innards and all. In a little while, a dog picks up the fetid scent and begins to rummage through the garbage, leaving a trail of disaster in the gutter.
The traffic along a major thoroughfare bores the hell out of a young teenager and decides to munch on a bag of chips. She finishes the snack, while the jeepney she is riding on manages to advance a few feet. She casually lets the empty bag slip out of her hand out the window and resumes wondering when the traffic is going to move again.
Later in the day, a month, a year, or a decade after.
the skies were an angry hue; the steady downpour of rain has escalated to a raging storm. Flood waters can now be seen rising to their full potential: to drown and destroy. Everywhere on the streets, people were stranded on whatever higher ground they can reach, while some vehicles braved the mini-rivers that have become the roads.
Inigo was nervous. His beat up 4-wheel drive pick-up was in no condition to become a half-submarine. The rain continued pounding on the windshield, which his wiper was trying hard to push away.
Please, Lord let me through this one. I’m almost home.
Up ahead was a valley of water that few dared to cross. A deserted bus was already on one side, obviously not having enough power to restart. Inigo pumps the accelerator and inches forward.
There’s no turning back now, there’s no turning back. don’t let me down now. Come on, baby.
The flood waters gurgle and rush beneath the truck, seeming to find a way in. the tense driver steps on the pedal a little harder, coaxing the old machine to keep going. In a few feet he was beginning to be satisfied with his progress until the van in front sputters to a stop.
Heck no. move it!
Inigo has no choice but to gun his accelerator and maneuver around the stalled van. Luckily, the street was wide enough to be passed on both sides. Inigo’s hands sweat a little. The pick-up heaves and gains speed in spite of going against the heavy flow of water. in a few seconds, he was finally rising out of the pool.
—
do you know how it feels like to be stranded in the middle of a rainstorm, floods all around you, vehicles stalled, and there’s nowhere else to go? And that feeling of uncertainty rises to fear because you might actually spend the night either inside a vehicle or in the waiting shed.
Im sure the majority of us (except those few lucky bastards who own a helicopter or a submarine) have flood stories to share. The rainy seasons are not always a welcome break from the stretch of summer heat because for some, it means having to leave their homes to the mercy of foul smelling flood waters. It also means, for a lot of commuters, risking treading pools of dirty water on the way home. We curse and dish out hate speech because we hate being found so uncomfortable in the rain, when it’s meant to be enjoyed curled up in bed or with a cup of hot coffee.
The chilling truth is, for every exerted force there is an equal reaction. We cannot expect that the trash we nonchalantly toss out the window onto the street just vanishes as it also disappears from our sight. Where do they go? Go figure.
Try watching the nature documentary specials on the National Geographic or Discovery channels and you’ll soon come to a remarkable revelation. The earth has healing powers. Our sewer system can only hold so much junk, and as our high school biology teacher tells us, ours is a finite earth.
As for me, I will not complain when I get stranded in the rains because of the floods. At some point some of my irresponsibility have caused this problem. it’s just sad that a lot of people don’t realize theirs and do something about it.
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©2007. Read my other shorts here. Please credit the author and site if you want to share this post.
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