The Storm

empty- handed." “Won’t do you much goo d if you never get out of here though, will it?” Henry chided.

I readied my gear and started to snap pictures as we steadily motored closer. And the closer we came the bigger the building got. “This thing is huge, Henry!” I remarked, and I could tell that Henry, who had previously thought it no big deal, looked with rapt attention and curiosity. I could now clearly see that it was three stories tall with the lower floor submerged. There was a long, board walkway suspended above the water by ropes, and sections of it were partially submerged from the floodwater. The lower story of the building was partially jutting out of the water and a long balcony went almost all around the whole second floor, with only one apparent entrance that I could tell from my vantage point. The walkway had posts sticking up out of the water. The posts secured the boardwalk and held suspension ropes. The walkway was obviously made to tie up boats, like a marina dock. The board walkway ended at an outbuilding that looked more like a storage shed than anything else. This was partially submerged with only the upper part of the door frame and roof sticking up out of the water. It was now eerily silent. The cranes and waterfowl flew away when we came in, and there was no sight or sound of humans, which, according to Henry, was a good thing. It was a little unnerving to me. There was only the sound of the low idle of the boat motor as we drifted closer to the suspended boardwalk just ahead of us. Henry spoke up, “Zach, tie us up to one of those posts at the walkway. I’ll kill the motor and test the depth."

76