The River

Every other weekend was their time to be together. Sam hated the custody agreement. Four days a month wasn't enough time for him to be with his teenage son, Justin.

But that day, the two of them were spending the day fishing with friends.

Some guys at school had told Justin about a hot spot along the river just outside of town. Sam & Justin usually fished in ponds, and the river wasn't a place they were familiar with. But they were excited to try something new.

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The guys didn't waste any time once they got to 'the spot.' Hooks were baited. Lines were cast. Life was good. It nice for them to just hang out.

Everyone was standing barefoot in the shallow water.

It had rained the day before, and the river's current was strong.

They were only a few feet into the water, and Sam was standing right beside Justin.

Then Justin walked a little further into the water & stepped off of a sudden drop-off. In less than a split second, Justin was down in the water.

Sam felt Justin grab for his legs, but the current was too strong.

Justin was gone.

Water gives life. It also takes it away. Write a short piece - fiction or non-fiction - inspired by one or both of these statements.

*Unfortunately, this story was loosely inspired by a true story that happened last year here in town.

I prefer the other kind of blizzard

This week's Red Writing Hood prompt is: You are trapped (alone or with others) in a single location during the fury and/or aftermath of a blizzard of historic proportions. Keep the post under 1,000 words.

Lucas was a worrier my nature, and I knew he was scared. He kept his eyes on the white line, never blinking I'm sure.

When the south bound interstate traffic came to a 2 lane stand still, I realized I had made a mistake.

We shouldn't have tried to make it home. We were in the middle of nowhere. 10 miles away from the nearest exit in either direction.

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I called Alex to let him know we were stopped. While I was on the phone I heard the sound of sirens, but Lucas & I couldn't see the source of the sound through the blizzard.

The ambulance finally passed us, but it quickly went out of sight again. I could only see as far as the SUV in front of us.

As time passed, Lucas really had to go. Bad. But we had nothing for him to go in. So as he opened the door of the truck, I reminded him to put his back to the fierce wind.

He slipped. But somehow didn't fall.

It was simply too cold and too difficult to 'go' and he got back in the truck.

Poor kid.

A few minutes later, a police officer came around to all the vehicles & told us to turn around because the interstate was closed in our direction.

I immediately called home & told Alex to get on-line to find some hotels in the nearest town. As I drove back in the direction I just came from, I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me.

Lucas was absolutely quite. He was staring at the fog line again, making sure I didn't go into the ditch.

We finally made it to the exit. Along with the 200+ other people from I-57.

Alex called & said the 3 hotels in the small town were all booked.

Great.

The only option was to get a room in the next town which was 13 miles north. So Alex booked a room for us while Lucas & I finally got something to eat (and go pee).

Ever so slowly, we followed a caravan of vehicles and actually made it to the hotel. Enter choir of angels singing!

We enjoyed the comfort of a warm comfortable room, relieved to be safe.

The next day, we traversed the still icy & snow blown interstate and made it home at last.

The whole reason for our travel (an amazing 4th grade basketball tournament) was completely overshadowed by the blizzard.

* So my "single location" was a truck. Is that cheating?

** This is actually a true story. Except it was Alex with Lucas instead of me. It's an experience I hope we don't have to repeat. Ever.

*** Word count = 491. Really? That's it? Hm.