The Calm Waters

"Just two weeks and we are done saving money for our brand new house", said Eva as she stacked each note carefully between the pages of her favourite collection of novels. Everyone who knew about the weird way she stored her money wondered why anyone would do this. But that never bothered Eva. For Eva and her mother, that money was the only solace to their dream mansion. Eva wanted her own big home where life would be undemanding and painless. They lived in an old dilapidated two-storey building. Any attempts to make repairs in that house was far-gone. The walls were chipped, ceilings were leaky and most of the pipes to the main drainage were fractured. This led to a lingering foul smell all around and inside the house. Every day in that house was dreadful.

The property they dwelled in was an inheritance they received from Eva's grandfather, Joseph when his son died of a degenerative disease he procured in his early thirties shortly after he was married to Eva's mom. They were a lovely couple. Anyone who saw them would envy the bond they shared. Eva loved her father a lot. With him around, the family never went through any sort of crisis. It was an unbearable loss for his family when he died of stomach cancer, the one kind of disease which just pops out of nowhere and takes you along with it. His last days were filled with pain and difficulties yet he never expressed what he went through ever to his daughter or wife. The last time Eva saw him when she was twenty, he had vomited blood next to his bed and died. 

Eva's father James had three brothers elder to him. None of them loved Joseph as much as James used to. After James passed away, Joseph had to fight with his other sons to provide this little old property to his beloved son's wife and daughter. It was sheer luck that they had managed to get at least this. They really needed a place of their own for the moment as they had nothing left even to get through each day. After that incident, all his sons were all mad at Joseph for his act. They left their father behind with the property they got and settled in faraway places. Joseph came to stay with Eva and her mother and they took good care of him, except for the fact that this house was going to fall on their heads any minute.

It had been unusually raining cats and dogs that month. The leak in the ceiling upstairs hadn't been fixed since last month. Eva blithely thought to leave that maintenance work aside as they were planning to shift anyways. Although now she realises that it was a really foolish decision. They had to keep emptying the buckets which would brim with water every two hours.

Eva kept her exquisite personal collection of all the novels she ever read in a tall wooden bookshelf beside her bed upstairs. She loved to read as they took her to a world away from reality. A world where there weren't any hardships, just like the one she had when her father was with her. She began to collect those novels right from her tender age of ten. Every birthday her father would bring her to the largest bookshop 'Magrudys' two hours away from where they lived. She was allowed to take a handful of books for that whole year. And when they reached home, Eva would read and read and read and would finish them exactly two months before her next birthday. No matter how many books she bought extra, she would always finish it at the same time - two months before her next birthday. Her father owned a newspaper firm, just five kilometres away from their home. He loved his job and consequently was always happy. He had earned just enough for the family. The apartment they lived in charged an extravagant rent as it was situated in the heart of the city. After the deteriorating disease made its entry into her father's life, a hefty part of his earnings had to be spent for hospital expenses. By the time of his death, the family didn't have much left to afford the rent for that apartment. Eventually, Eva took up the job at her father's firm.

Eva admired her collection of novels. She and her mother had decided to take out all the money they had been storing within the pages of those novels since her father's death by the end of this month. They could count all they had collected and it would be just enough to buy a new house. They were all equally excited. Joseph had grown frail and feeble by now. He had lost much of his physical strength but still actively partook in every up and down of his granddaughter's life. 

The next morning, which was a Saturday, Eva's neighbour who lived a few houses away had called up to ask how they were doing. She told her there would be a possibility for the higher officials to let the dams out open as the rains were heavy and the dams couldn't hold beyond a certain extent. It didn't occur much to Eva that there would be a potential for any kind of disaster because she had been here for 20 years and could hardly recall one. The only floods she ever heard about was from Joseph when he was a little boy. Rivers nearby had overflooded and water had surrounded all the houses in that area. It had come to knee level but she reminisced him telling about all the fun they had that day. She went upstairs to empty the bucket that would have filled up by now. 

Work at the firm wasn't so fun. She felt she did it with a sense of responsibility towards her mother and grandfather. She preferred writing stories she made up herself to reporting everyday realities around her. She never achieved a feeling of self-satisfaction no matter how much effort she put into writing an article for the newspaper. But she found time to relieve herself during the weekends. This Saturday, she made up her mind to work on the novel she had completed writing halfway. She could feel time fly whenever she started to work on her manuscript. By afternoon, she had finished five pages.

Joseph must have probably been taking his afternoon nap. She heard her mother summoning her to come downstairs. She went to see what she was called for. The house had been surrounded with water by noon. She was excited. It was the first time she had witnessed a flood. She walked around in the water and even waked Joseph up to show him the water. He was delighted as he went down the memory lane back to those old schoolboy days of his. By three o'clock there was a downpour and water had slowly been rising. It had almost reached knee-high level by now. Water had slowly started to creep into the house, which was least expected. All three of them still carried a vague hope that it wouldn't rise more. But they had to be a little careful by now. Eva was instructed to take all the important stuff they would need upstairs by her mother. Much to their surprise, they didn't have time at all. Water rose by five inches every five minutes. Eva took some food, gas cylinder, stove, cooking essentials, a torch and some important documents upstairs. They all had to stay upstairs by seven o'clock. The water had come up to their shoulder level and it would be difficult to walk further. Fear had started to play it's role in Eva's mind by now. She looked at her mother who seemed all firm and determined to face any situation. She wondered where all her courage had vanished. Darkness had invaded. Joseph lit the candles and they made food for the night. Calls had started to flood in from all their relatives. Even Joseph's sons were worried about them. A calamity had taken away all the grudge they held against their father and brother's wife and daughter. They prayed together. Every night, Eva wanted prayer time to finish soon so that they could begin eating. But, today was different. She didn't want to have food. She felt the only comfort she could get was when her grandfather prayed. His words were like a thunderbolt as though God had been hearing him intently. Eva wanted Joesph to go on. She didn't want him to stop. She felt his prayers might suck up all the water that had crept into their house. Later they ate together. Eva was afraid if this would be the last night they would be together. What if this were the last meal they had together? What about her unfinished novel? Does God want me to leave it half done? Strange thoughts danced around in her mind. It was still raining heavily outside. The buckets didn't have to be carried outside now as they could just pour it into the first storey. That night they couldn't sleep well. Eva hugged her mom tight and lay there buried in her thoughts.

They woke up early the next morning. Eva rushed to the window to get a peek of the water level below. It was still the same. Their first storey had completely submerged in water. She thought of all the things they had left downstairs which could have been floating around somewhere by now. She was curious how their battered old building had managed to survive this flood till now. She looked down and saw a snake sticking its head out of the water. It seemed as though it had been trying hard to gasp for air. Eva called her mother and Joseph to see this. "What else could be dancing around in that water now?", she mumbled to herself. 

A phone call from the neighbour who informed her about the opening of dams stole her from her thoughts. " How are you all doing, Eva? We managed to move out of our building yesterday itself when the water started to creep into the house. The situation is frantic. They say they will be opening more dams by evening if the rain continues like this. Rescue operations are not able to reach the houses close to the river because of the heavy water currents. However, I'm doing my best Eva. We will bring you all out safe and sound." Her conversation ended abruptly. Eva checked her phone. The battery had drained out. "What were we even thinking of yesterday when the water started to creep into our house?", Eva questioned her grandfather as though he was supposed to know all this would happen. "Being old and white-haired does not make me a prophet little girl", he chuckled. 'Little girl' was what he would call her just like her father used to. Eva pondered over how all this would have been if her father were here with them. He might have brought five to six boats here by now with all the influence he had in that area.

For anyone to reach their building would be a marvel. Their building was situated very close to the river. Any strong water current could bring the whole thing crashing down and into the river. But right now they couldn't tell the difference between the river and their verandah. It was like 'water water everywhere'. That night they prayed to God for the rains to stop. The next morning, it was sunny. There was no drizzling. They had their tea. Joseph started to pour out all the stories of his childhood that he could recollect. Eva was worried and in no mood for stories now but this would definitely help her to cut time. By noon, they could hear men shouting and talking loudly. Eva rushed to the window and waved her hands out and howled back to them. There seemed to be three fishermen boats. Five or six men inside each. They were advancing towards Eva's house. Eva knew they had to leave. She informed her mother and Joseph and they hurriedly gathered the things they needed. They went to the terrace of the building all set for the grand escape. Rescuers tied ropes to anchor the boat to the building and threw lifebuoys to Eva. They carefully made their way into the boat and rowed out to safety. The journey was scary just as their neighbour had told them. The water currents were harsh. Any minute they could pull you away from the direction you were going and you could end up dead on some island.

All of them breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached a place where the land was dry. As they stood there she realised how much of effort the rescuers had been putting into saving the lives of people they didn't even know. How profound was the risk they had been putting their lives into. They were, in fact, brave-heartened soldiers to do such a selfless service for the people there. Eva and her family were safely taken to a camp where they had to reside for two weeks. All the tenants there seemed so relieved to be able to go back to that normal life once again. They had food, clothes, bed, everything except their homes. As Eva watched each family sharing their own share of the story when it suddenly struck her. The money in the books! She had forgotten about it. She wanted to go back and see whether it was still there. All that hard earned money. What if it had all soaked up in that water leaking from the ceiling? If the money had been destroyed, her dream would remain a dream forever.

With the help of her neighbour, she went back to the building. The land had dried but there was mud everywhere. Stuck to the walls and floor. Dead snakes lay on the ground. The whole of that locale smelt bad. She walked to the room upstairs and opened her shelf. The books inside had become damp, maybe because of the moisture in the air. But her money was safe inside the books. She took out every book from the shelf and placed it in the large carry bag she had brought along with her.

She went back to the relief camp where she counted all the money they had collected and to their surprise, they had enough to buy a mansion. However, the floods taught her that nothing in life was as important as a place to live, food to eat and dress to wear. She realised how lucky she was to at least have had a place to stay in before the floods. So she suggested that the three could go back to the apartment where they lived when her father was alive and give the rest of the money to those who couldn't afford to bring their house back to how it was before. Eva held strong faith in God after that incident and believed that he sent problems our way only to make us stronger and perfect.

Our struggles and failures help us to appreciate the good times we had. All we have to do is calm our waters and believe that it all happens for our good.