As summer wound down, it was time for the new school year to begin. This school year will be my last year in elementary school.
After we moved into our new home, I got sick and developed pneumonia. That put me out of commission for a bit of the summer. But the good news was that I recovered just before my birthday. And this year I really wanted to have a special birthday party since I didn’t have one last year.
So, the festivities of a long absent celebration of my aging came to fruition with a little help from a few new neighborhood friends. Even the girl with the shiny red hair showed up to my surprise. Her presence made me so happy and filled my body with a level of excitement that I hadn’t felt for some time. And we all had a very lively time celebrating my new age.
I met my new friends by riding my bike in the neighborhood. They saw me out riding and they joined me on their bikes. We would ride our bikes together on our street and on the narrow dirt trails in the desert next to our community. Before school started we would get together and explore our route to school. We wanted to know what trails took us to the back of the school where all the bike racks were located.
Our route to school also took us across this creek that always had clear running water. The creek had very tall trees on each side and was easily seen from the desert and the school. The school was surrounded by desert. I also remember that down from the road, and pretty much hidden from the road, was a bubbling spring where the water just continuously filled this small area next to the creek before joining the running creek water. It was like a little pond with a beach next to the creek.
On hot summer days we would go to this hidden spot and play in the water which wasn’t very deep. Sometimes we sit on this tree log that was stuck between two large rocks. It was the perfect hideaway, always in shade, and it was our safe place for shelter on those very hot days.
On the first day of school, my friends and I agreed to meet at our street corner so we could then ride to school together. As we rode out of our community, the sun was already beginning to heat the day. It was September and the daytime temperatures can still break one hundred. Our group turned onto the main road which was a slightly downhill ride. On the one side of the road were newly built houses and on the other side there was a wide desert. From this road you could see the trees in the distance that were lining the creek.
The next road we turned on was the road that took us across the creek and over to the trails cutting through the desert on the other side of the creek that would take us to our school. Near the school was this elevated mound that we would gather at before the final stretch to the bike racks. Once we were all gathered on top of the mound, we would then race each other down this step trail to the bike racks.
One day there was a big crash and several of my friends got hurt as we were racing to the bike racks. There were some big bruises along with many scrapes and cuts that were my friend’s badge of honor for that day. I was fortunate to escape without crashing on this day. This was how we boys showed off to the girls who would always gather to watch to see if there was going to be any mayhem with the race. Even if we got hurt, we always came back to the race. It was an honor thing.
One morning in the middle of September as we were heading to school, we were blocked from crossing the creek. The creek water was rushing over the road, and it was very brown in color, almost like liquid mud. It had rained hard the night before. My friends and I had never seen the creek water this high or this dirty. We were still in the desert monsoon season which ends later in September, and the monsoon season is the time of year when flash floods are a common occurrence. Dry creeks and riverbeds can become filled with rushing muddy water very quickly. This was my first encounter with a flash flood.
One of my friends said that he thought it wasn’t that deep. He decided to go through the rushing muddy water to show us that it was ok. We asked him not to. The muddy water was really moving quickly, and we noticed that there were tree branches floating in the muddy water.
He began his journey. We watched him slowly move further away from the dry edge of the road. He was moving cautiously. Our collective anticipation of his success was growing the farther he went. Maybe he was right.
As he approached the middle part of the rushing muddy water, he was knocked over by a large tree branch and fell into the water. His bike, without him on it, was quickly swept away into the deeper part of the creek and vanished into the muddy water. We saw that he was holding onto a tree branch that was bent into the water that he was able to grab.
We all started screaming to hold on. I think we were suddenly thrust into panic mode. We began looking for anyone to help him. One of my friends hopped on his bike and started riding back to the community to get help. Back then we didn’t have cell phones to call for help.
While our friend was gone a car pulled up on the other side of the creek and a man got out. He was dressed like a casino dealer, wearing a white dress shirt and black pants. We were now all screaming “help him, help him” and pointing to his location. Without hesitation he waded into the rushing muddy water and grabbed my friend. He quickly took him to his car, reassuring him that he was now okay.
I could see that my friend was shaking and crying. I know that shaking feeling and my past memory of my arm made me relive that shaking. I felt an emotional upwelling in my body, and I think that I started to cry too. I was so worried about him when he was in the water.
Within minutes of my friend being pulled from the rushing muddy water, a new wave of muddy water began to rush over the road. We watched the muddy water rise higher above the road. I was awestruck at how much faster the muddy water was now going. I think my friends were too.
At that moment I looked at my arm and knew just what my friend was feeling with that shaking he was experiencing. I thought just how lucky he was that that man showed up just when he did. He was my friend, and I felt that now he was a survivor like me. In a different way though. He didn’t need to go to the hospital. But he did need to go home. And so did we. Knowing that my friend was safe, we turned our bikes around and headed home too. I was too upset to go to school that day.
After dinner my mom told me about how dangerous it was to think we could cross that creek with fast rushing muddy water. She then told me what I needed to know about flash floods and that two young boys in another part of Las Vegas had been washed away in fast moving muddy water. One of the boys was rescued. And the other boy was not as fortunate to have anyone rescue him.
So, on this day me and my friends learned that our peaceful creek could become very dangerous, and we need to always remember that. My mom would reinforce this message whenever it rained the night before, especially during monsoon season. She told me that if me and my friends ever come across fast rushing water running over the road, we need to turn back, and she will take me and my friends to school or to wherever we were planning to go.
And I think my friend will never challenge the muddy water of a flash flood. I know my other friends won’t either after witnessing our friend struggling in that rushing muddy water as his bike disappeared into that rampaging creek. To lose a bike is one thing. To lose a friend is completely different. And sadly, we would lose a friend in junior high school which I would start in the next school year.
This memory of that day, and the madness of the fast-rushing muddy water running across a road that has been traveled by so many of us boys during the summer on our bikes will never be forgotten by any of us. And I will never attempt what my friend did on that day.
Nope…
“Follow my story for new vignettes”