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“Not if Momma doesn’t hear it, right?”
They stared back and forth at each other, and held their breath while the sky dropped down outside. “Les. Let’s go. It’s not letting up. It’s just getting worse. ”
“Can’t get much worse. ”
Lu took Leslie’s wrist and tugged her back towards the window. Leslie’s token resistance was feeble. “We can’t ride in this weather. Maybe if we wait it’ll let up,” she protested, but the water was climbing up her ankles, and the fight was leaving her.
The older girl reached the makeshift exit first and scaled the now-soaked tarp with a couple of well-placed footholds. She used her arm to shield her eyes from the blowing rain that gushed through the broken window.
Leslie prattled on below. “We’re going to have to run for it. We’ll have to walk the bikes and we’re going to get wet in the rain. ”
“Jesus, Les,” Lu said. “We’re going to have to swim for it. ”
“What? Don’t say that. It’s just rain. ”
“No, it’s not just rain. ”
“It is rain—I’m standing in it right now!”
“No, Les. It’s the river!”
More water squeezed through the cracks beneath the doors, and the tide crawled up past nervous ankles, past the hems of jeans, up along skinny shins. “Lu? Lu, I don’t like this. Lu?”
“I don’t like it either. Get out of that water. Get up here, now. Come on. You’ll catch cold. ” She sent down one hand and Leslie grabbed it, pulling herself up.
“Let me see out the window. ”
“No. It’s just water, but it’s coming up fast and I bet we don’t have bikes anymore anyway. They probably washed away by now. ”
“You’re just trying to scare me,” Leslie accused, but she didn’t push past Lu to look outside. She reached down to her feet and squished her shoes to let out some of the water. She twisted the bottom of her jeans and wrung out more. “It’s getting cold in here. And the water—where’s it all coming from, Lu?”
“What? Be quiet, I’m trying to think. ”
“Lu, look at the floor. Lu, look at the floor!”
“I’m looking! I see it, okay? I see how the water’s coming up. ”
A loud creak popped through the hideous white noise of the hammering rain.
Leslie jumped and scrambled higher, to stand just below her sister. “What was that?”
“How should I know? Stop it, you’re panicking. Don’t panic. It’s just water. It’s just water. ”
“It’s a lot of water. ”
“But we’re on top of all this stuff. We’re real high up. It won’t reach us. When it stops raining, it’ll all run back down to the river, that’s what it’ll do. It can’t rain forever. Maybe we’ll even find our bikes. Maybe Momma won’t kill us. ”
“You’re going to be grounded until you’re dead. ”
“Get on up here. ”
Leslie squeaked with alarm, and pointed back at the ground.
“It’s still getting higher!”
“Well it’s not going to get as high as the roof or anything. There’s—there’s an attic, Shelly said. She went up there with a boy once, but don’t tell her I told you about it. ”
“Which boy?”
