Uncontainable
Uncontainable
(Music playing)
“I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
and I’ve been waiting for this moment, for all of my life, oh lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord.”
I’ve listened to this song maybe a thousand times, well at least five hundred. I don’t think I ever really heard the words before. Maybe it’s because this is my first time drowning. This isn’t your typical kind of drowning. It seems the water has decided to take a vacation from gravity.
(Music playing)
“Well if you told me you were drowning
I would not lend a hand
I’ve seen your face before my friend
But I don’t know if you know who I am”
Well Phil if I didn’t know you before, I’m starting to think, you might be some kind of cruel bastard. Ya there’s some strange magic happening and I can tell you I don’t much like it. I gotta admit though, it looks beautiful, like Crystal Spheres floating in the air.
No one seems to know what’s happening. The water doesn’t evaporate any more and we haven’t seen rain in nearly three weeks. The lakes were the first to disappear. I watched Lake Okanagan from my back deck, It kind of looked like a giant club soda as all the bubbles flew up into the air from the water’s surface. That’s when we learned about the first drownings. They were just people out for the day enjoying their boats or swimming off the dock. They just got swallowed up by the bigger bubbles. Some people survived by swimming through the bubbles. Others were caught mid breath and for them it was their last breath.
Now people tried to stay in their homes, but they couldn’t stay there forever. We still needed food and drinks. Containers held liquids but you had to be careful how you drank them. We also had to shut off the water because toilets were creating water bubbles inside our homes. It became impossible to take showers or baths. People started buying diving masks and snorkels so they could walk outside. It was becoming the only way to navigate the increasing number of water bubbles floating in the air. Ironically I don’t think I seen a single anti mask demonstration. Everyone was just trying their best to survive.
Watching the oceans was an odd experience, instead of waves it looked like translucent bubbles bouncing off the sand and rocks. There was no splashing or ocean mist, just giant orbs floating up into the air. Scientists have calculated it will take another three weeks for the oceans to completely disappear. Now almost half of the world’s population has succumbed to this phenomenon. We are running out of food and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find pockets of air. Perhaps the only good thing that has come out of this world event, is that we finally have world peace. My guess is that this is a different kind of flood event.
They say your life flashes before you when you are drowning. I guess that might be true in a lot of cases. For me it seems to be just be the words to this damn song.
(Music playing)
“And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all of my life, oh lord.
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord.”
Here I am lying in a puddle of water, sputtering coughing, flailing about like a fish on a dock. Somehow, I don’t know how, but I’m alive. Gravity, sweet gravity has taken hold of the water again. No explanation, just like magic. People are jumping up and down, screaming to the sky, yelling “Oh Lord! Oh Lord!” I have never seen people so happy in my life. In a moment our world has been returned to us. As we watch the news we see this happened all at once everywhere. We have lakes again, there is moisture in the soil. The whole world is rejoicing.
I have no idea why my life was spared? I’ll never forget, that feeling of drowning. I kinda wonder if Phil knows something that we don’t. I heard that he also survived. Maybe he can modify his lyrics a bit. “I can feel the magic in the air tonight, oh lord.”
I think I’m going to go out tonight and enjoy a long walk. I’ve never been happier to witness a clear sky and a moon lit night. I’ll walk along Lake Okanagan, but if it’s okay with you, I think I’ll stay out of the water for the time being.
The End
I used the words from Phil Collins song “In The Air Tonight” as the backdrop for my story.
Question: What do I Feel?
Copyright ©
Richard Lamoureux
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