Baltimore Story

Remember the time we flooded Baltimore? We walked up Charles like we owned it. And our palms got real sweaty after we grabbed hands and started running. I wanted to collapse on the raw earth, but you said it was an elephant graveyard. Remember? Adam and Cassie stood there laughing at us. We sat on the wall for a bit, kicking up our feet. It was impossible to sit still while staring up at the Washington monument. It was our beacon. We made a pilgrimage there every week. We danced around the glowing marble. And then we began the task at hand. The homeless asleep on the benches were awoken by our laughter. Our happiness was contagious. Don’t you remember? We shoveled the leaves out the fountain with our bare hands. Leaves were flying everywhere. We had to remove them all. Adam was methodical. He made neat piles of leaves on the perimeter of the fountain. Cassie piled her leaves haphazardly. I was so excited. I threw my leaves up into the air. They landed everywhere. Adam yelled at me and you just laughed. You were the ringleader. We followed you. Did whatever you wanted. After all, we were your idea. But the name was mine. We cleared out all of the leaves. And then Cassie, Adam and I grabbed onto the hose as you twisted the spigot. The water dribbled out, and then it came out at full throttle. You joined us on the hose and we danced it around the interior of the fountain. But we couldn’t stay here forever. We knew at some point we had to leave. That it would all be over. But we were naïve. We danced around and sang at the top of our lungs. People were staring. But it didn’t bother any of us, except for you. You wanted us to leave. Just 5 minutes longer, pretty please? At your insistence, we left the hose running. And then we left. We left behind our happiness. And we left behind our sanctuary. Don’t you remember? It was all because of you.

We returned the next morning after sleeping in separate beds; separate rooms; separate spaces. It wasn’t the same. We walked in silence up Charles. We didn’t own it anymore. We got to the fountain. To you, there was hardly an inch of water. To the rest of us, we had flooded the city. Remember? We did it all for you.