rising water

all over the globe the ice was melting. the sea levels around the world were destroying property and taking lives so there was really no help from any governing authority. everyone was on their own. there were children with me, but i don't know who they belonged to. i kept calm and tried to comfort them, but in the end i knew we were about to become wet refugees just like everyone else. before we left the sinking house, a stray dog came in and was whining and searching frantically. clearly she'd just had pups, but everything had shifted so dramatically, she could no longer find them. i watched her pace in distress in front of a particular area that was now just a jumble of debris. i began to move the fallen pieces of wall and timber and miraculously found the writhing newborn pups all dry and alive. i took the nest and placed it in a rubbermaid bin on top of some dry towels and the mom jumped gratefully in and settled around them. 'at least it floats...' i thought and begrudgingly accepted that i was now the accidental shepherd of the children and the dogs. i worked to put together a raft/shelter that would keep everyone alive and reasonably dry until we ended up who knows where... i gathered what essentials i could and added them to the raft. i then came upon a nest of baby birds. they were so frail and new i thought there was just not going to be any way to change their fate. at that moment their mother flew happily to the newly uncovered nest and just sat right down on them as i held it in my hands. even though i was in the middle of a disaster i was amused at the thought that i was now an atheist (and reluctant...) noah.

as i rounded up the children and settled them into the part of the raft with the shelter (along with the dogs and birds...), i looked down and saw a split image photo of a small boy in a blue shirt and next to it a picture of the boy as a man in the same shirt. i wondered what had happened to him.