Time for another installment of Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle. 100 words or so based on the image below. Click on the froggy link (after this piece) and come join us!
We need some rain here in California. The world needs its people to conserve this precious resource – water. So here goes this:
Last Night I Dreamed
It hadn’t rained in months and I was convinced it would never rain again. We were using bath water, already shared, on our balcony plants.
And then I dreamed I was back on the bayou hosing down Grandma’s carport. It was raining cats and dogs but shell roads dry fast, and Grandma wanted that carport hosed down so people didn’t track dust inside all day. A thin sheet of tin covered the carport. The sound of rain, hitting the tin, was magical.
I woke up crying and thankful for the wet taste of salt on my lips.
Ellespeth
PHOTO PROMPT – © Madison Woods
Views From A Poet 
What a happy dream, something many dreams are not. Very well depicted.
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Hi Perry, As you can see, comments slip by me 😦 Thanks for reading this piece and for commenting on my work. I certainly appreciate it. I’m just about to begin reading the silo offerings for this week.
Ellespeth
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I can imagine how wonderful that sound of the rain on the tin was. I am from California too, so I understand. Funny how we are on the same track this week. Well done!
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I like to vacation in cabins with porches covered by a tin roof. Sit there and snooze in a rain shower. I hope it can happen again soon.
Yes, we were on the same track…I haven’t left my comment on your piece yet. I’m so behind in reading this week .
Ellespeth
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We’re feeling quite parched in Northern Nevada too. No snow, no rain. I think we’ll be drinking dust this summer. Rain Dance?
Tracey
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I’ll rain dance with you! Hopefully we’re learning something from this.
Ellespeth
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Good story, Ellespeth. I was sorry to hear California was having water problems again. I just hope we get a good monsoon in Pune, India, this year. I didn’t know what a water shortage was until we moved out of Ohio. Water is everywhere there. Well done as always. — Suzanne
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It’s amazing,isn’t it Suzanne, what we don’t realize or think about until it’s upon us. Being from New Orleans, it’s unbelievable how dry it’s become here in California. I hope society is learning something – so many droughts going on all over the world. hoping for rain for all of us.
Ellespeth
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Interesting that we overindulge when times are good, not thinking about what will come. Your piece points this out. Well done.
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Being from New Orleans, I’m stunned at the lack of rain we are getting in California. This has totally changed the way I think about water and taught me new ways I can conserve it.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Ellespeth
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My mother used bath water for watering her garden, because we were poor, and we had no well. This is a great story, with a very dreamy feel to it (which is just fitting for a dream)–and the waking up feels very real, too.
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One day, so I’ve been reading, waste water will somehow be divided as it drains or something like that. Real waste water and gray water. Lots of gray water goes to waste – something I never thought about before.
Thanks for reading this piece and for commenting.
Ellespeth
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I live in Germany, and this is possible here. You can get a waste-water tank for your house where water can be divided; rain water, water from other sources will be used for watering plants, can also be used for the toilets, and drinking water is for drinking, cooking, and hygiene. We didn’t add that to our house, but if we built a new one, we’d certainly consider it.
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Yes! I’ve been reading about that. If it’s possible, new developers, at least in drought prone areas, should have to use these conservation measures. Especially those building these huge apartment complexes. That’s another issue though 😦
Ellespeth
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Water is a precious commodity that is repeatedly taken advantage of. Good story!
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It really is, Francesca. When I think about how wasteful I’ve been in the past, I kick myself.
Ellespeth
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what a story to remind us of how precious water is.. and alas for many this is still real..
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So true, Bjorn. I don’t think I’ll ever stop watering my plants with the bath water or leave the faucet on when I brush my teeth or flush the toilet as often – even when the drought passes.
If it’s yellow, let it mellow. Brown is the new green. These are mantras here these days.
Ellespeth
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An end to the drought, great, thanks Mother Nature. But if the other choice is a Camille or a Katrina…I’d rather keep the drought, please.
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A nice reminder not to take water for granted, just because it (usually) comes out of the taps on demand. I hope it rains soon!
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This drought is bound to end soon; at least this one. But, it’s a recurring issue here. This is apparently the worst in many decades 😦
Hope all is well,
Ellespeth
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Dear Ellespeth,
In 2012 when this picture was posted we were going through a drought here. In August the trees and grass just turned brown. I hope you get some rain soon. Good story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. The drought can’t keep up much longer here, either, before grasses and trees turn brown. Municipalities want the lawns to turn brown and planted with grasses needing less water. That’s slowly happening –
Did everything grow back nice and green?I hope so.
Ellespeth
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Extreme weather either way, flooding or drought is so difficult to cope with.
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Really nicely written memory. Was it real? It seemed it.
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We are in a drought here in California and, yes, the dream is a real memory of summers spent with my grandparents, in Louisiana, before their road was paved.
Thanks for passing by., Claire.
Ellespeth
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I live in England: I don’t know what a drought looks like!
Good piece Ellespeth.
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Thanks, mick. Send some of that rain over and around, will ya?
Ellespeth
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I’ll raise a glass to the end of drought for sure. Having lived most of my life in this or that well-watered river valley, I have no desire to spend much if any time in a dry or desert area.
All my best,
Marie Gail
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Cheers to that! Past couple of years have been pretty dry. Such a change from New Orleans, that’s for sure.
Ellespeth
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We’ve had a bit of a dry spell in Kansas City recently, and I fear it may be turning into a flood season suddenly with little warning. Wish we could send you some of this rain.
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Oh phtttt…sometimes Mother Nature is hit or miss 😛 I wish there was a way to bring excess rain water to dryer areas. I’m thinking we are going to lose some redwoods here. I can’t see how that won’t happen. Sometimes I bring some buckets over to the trees round here. We’re in Silicon Valley so…not many trees round here.
Ellespeth
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Your story is excellent and shines the light on how precious of a resource water is.
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Oh thank you, PJ. Horrible times here and, having lived in New Orleans almost all my life, difficult to comprehend no rain. We’re doing what we can – some days more.
I’m headed over to http://new.inlinkz.com/view.php?id=523008 – Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers – to see this week’s offerings. It’s so wonderful for you to host that.
Thanks for reading and commenting on my work, PJ.
Ellespeth
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We have been getting quite a bit of rain the past few days here in the Four Corners. I know that even Phoenix has been getting rain this spring. I sure hope it rains where you are soon!
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I doubt it will rain here again until after summer 😦 Blow some of that rain this way! I’m glad the gray water approach is not hurting my plants. I’d never heard of such a thing until recently.
Ellespeth
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That’s wonderful you can use the gray water for your plants. Can you also use the water from the washing machine?
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That’s a wonderful idea, PJ. We live in a condo here but that is definitely worth bringing up at a board meeting.
Ellespeth
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