FLOOD 

By Tessa Harvey

    That evening she watched a nature documentary while her husband, Jeremy dozed in his chair. He had been unable to attend court with her, but she knew he had prayed.

    Hazel had prayed also but knew the consequences of the court would reverberate like dominoes falling one by one by one. All fallen.

    Their son had cursed and shouted and finally disappeared. She had no idea he had married another woman, even though his first wife had fled from his abuse to her own family. She was alive and almost well again.

    Hazel's husband had taken ill with a severe illness and passed away after some months. Alone, Hazel had felt like one of those little beetles scrambling up, flitting, shifting sand dunes in the early morning.

    Cresting the dunes, the little insects had uptilted their backs to catch moisture droplets from the dawn fog rolling in from the sea. Life giving water trickled down to the beetles' mouth parts.....