Rough Cuts

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Copyright 2001 Bruce Ling

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Diamonds in the Rough

     We had a pretty bad flood here in '97, the highest since '84, (which put 2 feet of water into my house,) and a hard snap-freeze to top it off.  It lasted about 3 weeks.  That year, a pregnant woman across the River went into labor and was hydro-foiled out by the National Guard.  Some yayhoos who were sight seeing had to get rescued, by the same Guardsmen, from off the top of their big wheel pickup truck, which they drove into the wetlands. 

     About 4 days later it froze real hard. Back came the Guard with a small boat set up to break ice.  It had a wedge on the front and all the proper ice breaking gadgets. They opened up the road and the Firemen followed in a big Zodiac Army raft.  They stopped in the road in front of each house and one of them with a megaphone hollered, "is any one inside, do you want to be evacuated?"  When they got to our house I hollered back, "I got a full wood-box, milk and water, a guitar and fiddle, and me and my gal are getting along just fine, thank you." 

     That was the flood when our friend, old John Counts, died.  He was 87, and the water was at its highest crest when he let go his earthly bonds, and let his Spirit soar.  I thanked him for what he gave me by writing a song for his passing on to the other side.  It all started 2 weeks after the water went down and we went for a walk, passed his house, and saw a dumpster with all his stuff.                          

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by Bruce Ling 1-2002