“Noah’s Ark Stragglers” by RestLessD

When the storm broke above our heads, I saw my husband’s face furl into a frown for the first time since the beginning of the flood. It had been smooth sailing for days now, and when a dove alighted on my son’s shoulder, with a leaf-bristling twig held in its beak, I knew the end of the ordeal was near. It was difficult for us to see the world–it had been washed to almost complete unrecognition due to the rain and our tears–in truth, we were near blinded, and for months later we’d see everything tinted as blue-gray. But the storm was unmistakable–the clash of the thunder overrode the mad screeching of the furious monkeys (their little wooden cages rather displeased them), the roaring of the lions (seething that they could not leap the wooden walls of their cells to disembowl the antelope), the undulating cries of the antelope (who had realized the lions’ thoughts and had severe doubts about the solidity of the barriers), and even the yowling of the hyenas (venting as usual).

The lightening blinded us for good, for a while. The next thing i knew, the first waves of the tsumai had collided into the stern, and the arc was nearly flipped sideways into the world of sea. A few more treacherous seconds, and then we were all in, floundering, screaming, praying. I gasped as the dark fizzing waves heaved me high like a rag doll–and from that vantage point, I could see my whole family–every man and every beast–flailing against their deaths. A long red tail whipped out of the water meters away from my face–so fast that I could barely register the triangular tip–and then vanished into the next swell of waves. I knew then God’s plans were not perfect, and we’d be plummeting to the bottom like the worst of those old-age angels. And then a force heaved me high from the surface, and I held my breath again, thinking I was riding yet another wave–yet I did not fall. I clung to the finger of the palm that lifted me, and I wept blue tears that merged with the pounding waves below me.

“Angreek87″