Rain and Flood

My Grandpa and Grandma lived on the Quachita River. My Mom always checked on her Mama and Papa. One year we had an incredible amount of rain and Mama was concerned.
She had a right to worry, she had lived in that big house on the River when I was a baby. On one occasion the river flooded up to the house. You have to realize the house was at least 6 feet off the ground and the house was situated on a hill above the river. So if it flooded, the river was raging. Mama said Daddy kept saying they had to get out of the river bottom. She refused, My mom was afraid of the water, she could not swim, the river was very swift, she had babies to think of, So mama held out as long as Daddy would let her, finally a man came with a boat, Daddy took me, the baby, and one older kid to the boat, My mom was not going to let him take her babies out without her, she got in the boat and was scared until she was on dry gound.
So the river rose again, I am sure it must have done that at least once a year, there was no flood control then and I am not sure there is flood control now. We drove to Sparkman, my birthplace, to check on Grandma and Grandpa. When we got a few miles from their house, the road was under water, my Mama was so afraid her parents were not safe.
My Daddy got out of the car, Mama let us get out as long as we stayed close to the car. Daddy would stand with his hands cupped around his mouth and call and call PAPAAAAAAAAAAAA, PAPAAAAAAAAAA, JAMESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, ANYONEEEEEE. If you have ever been on a river in back country, You know The sounds carry forever. They prayed someone would hear them and bring a boat to let them know Grandma And Grandpa were OK. I can still see him, in his coveralls, his hat on, Daddy always wore a hat, not a cap, a hat, with his shirt sleeves rolled up. He and Mama finally decided we had to leave, they had waited for hours to hear word, but no one came.
Of course my grandparents were fine, they had left the river bottoms before the water got too high. I need to add whenever they had to leave because of rising water, Grandpa always took the clock, A proud reminder he left me, of his love for me and my love for him.
A few years ago, I acquired the pie safe Grandpa had made Grandma for a wedding gift. It is made of a wood that is extrememly heavy. When I was cleaning it up, I had to remove a board from the back base, that was broken, A cup of sand poured out. After it was swept up, I remembered why that sand would have been there. That old safe had more than once been through a flood. Now it is 2000 miles from its home and it still stands, I cleaned up the old hinges, polished them and put them back on, The only additon I made was 2 glass knobs to pull the doors with. When I was a kid, The originals had broken years before so Grandpa put Wooden Thread spools on the doors as knobs. I left the latch intact, The latch is a piece of wood tht you simply twist to hold both doors closed. Simple but it still works after all these years.