Last prompt of the week. Let’s see where it takes us. Timers set and off we go.
A bit muddled and I will have to clean it up as I didn’t figure out where I was going until close to the end of time, but there is something to work with. Maybe. Need to think more.
Friday, April 4th: Water flowed down the wall in a sheet.
Water flowed down the wall in a sheet. It made the stone work look as though it was moving. For a second he stared at the solid granite, imagining it light enough to move. As amusing as it might be, the situation was nothing to smile at. The rains had been falling for over a week now and showed no signs of stopping. On occasion they got a brief respite where the rain went from a heavy fall to a lighter one, but it never really stopped.
Sometimes it was a quiet shush of rainfall and sometimes thunder rumbled overhead. It felt less like a single storm and more like a series of them, the lighter rain showing where one storm tapered off and another began.
Stephen shook his head. With this much water coming in, it could weaken the foundation. While he didn’t want to live in a wet building, he didn’t want the stone building to fall down on him because the foundation was washed out from both sides of the wall.
As he knew little of buildings and architecture, he wasn’t entirely certain if that was a possibility. The rain could just stay in the basement level flooding the lower level instead of washing out the foundations. He grew up in a thatched hut in the mountains. The air was dry for much of the year but the sprin grains had been known to wash the cottages down into the valleys.
‘I suppose stone buildings are built differently,’ he missed. ‘But I don’t want to find out if the stone starts to slide.’
He studied the wall. There was one spot where the water was coming in. Admittedly it was a spot wiser than his outstretched arms. He wondered if the roof had a large hole or if it had just come apart. He shrugged. He had no idea how to repair roof slates and no extra slates nor tools to do so even if he did. What he did have was oiled sail cloth. It was water proof and for now it would have to do. Stephen looked up and thought he spotted the area. He mostly marked how far the area was from the chimney.
He made his measurements and took the sailcloth and rope upstairs with him. He used the rope to tie the sailcloth to his back and picked up the ladder. It sounded as though the rain was beginning to slacken slightly, the wind to howl a little less. He waited until he heard the rain shift to a soft tattoo against the roof instead of driving hard against the slate and took it as his best chance. Through the door he went, settling the ladder in place. He climbed fast, ignoring any thoughts of heights or falling.
On the roof, Stephen unslung the sail cloth and began tying it over the roof. He made certain to cover the area he thought was where the hole was as well as much of the rest of the roof. It was harder to see the damaged slates when sitting on the rain slicked tiles.
‘At least the sail cloth is large enough to cover the whole roof,’ he thought. ‘That might be best anyway.’ He certainly didn’t want to come back out to adjust this should another section of tiles fail. Stephen tied down the sail cloth making it a secure as possible and then shimmied back down the ladder. He was soaked but as he went back inside, he saw the water was no longer sheeting down the inside of the wall. Outside the wind began to howl and the rain returned in force. Still the rain did not come in.
Ten til Midnight 