The House Across The Road

On November 5, 2007 I wrote a piece about the house across the road from where we were living at the time. I drove down that road today and the house is no longer there. This and a number of other homes are being demolished by the city after a neighborhood buy-out as a result of the flood of 2008. All that is left on the property is a pile of dirt. I was quite sad when I saw that the house was gone. My memory immediately turned to the lady who had lived there with her black lab. They went for walks every day. She was one of the few nicer people in the neighborhood - always had a smile and a wave.

I remembered when we had the warning of the flood a year ago last June. There were sandbags piled high around her house and others' homes in the hope that the river wouldn't rise over the top bag. Then there was the fear that the dyke would be breached - that perhaps even one hole in the man-made wall would cause the water to seep through and ravage the vulnerable neighborhood. After days of sandbagging, the police came through the neighborhood and said that everyone had to leave. I can only imagine what the homeowners were thinking: "If I could only stay and put up one more row," or, "I need to check for weak spots." But, all that was left was the hope that they had done their jobs well and that the river wouldn't rise any more than predicted.

I cannot begin to imagine how these people felt when they returned to the neighborhood and saw their homes filled with floodwaters and mud. There must have been the words uttered, "It's not fair," but I never heard them. Those who could, got to work on their homes. They tore off drywall, cleaned and dried out the skeletons of their homes and rebuilt. Those whose homes were in irreparable shape or who did not have financial means for the astronomically expensive repairs had to make the decision to sell their homes for a small percentage over assessed value. They took a loss for their loss. I guess that's what happened to the woman and her dog. I didn't see her again after the sandbagging event.

I loved living by the river. I would do it again. Each month that goes by takes the damages of the flood further away from my mind. But I will never forget those beautiful fall days when I would look across the road to the waning leaves and wildflowers; when I would listen so closely to the crickets and locusts singing - hoping they would never stop because their silence would mean winter was close by. And I will never forget the woman and her dog who lived across the road.