The Great Flood

PUBLIC BETA

Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.

You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.

Click here

The sounds of disbelief washed over the crowd. "I do offer one ray of hope and that is for those affected by future flooding can enter into a Class Action against the Council and, my legal advice is, they will succeed. But this could be a long and drawn out process and one that will be costly, the only people to gain any benefit from such an action will be the lawyers and I don't know about you, but I'd resent that. The other problem there is that any cost to Council is a cost to you, that is unless you are able to sue individual Councillors. The problem there is that all voting on this subject in the past has been 'in camera', that is that there is no way of knowing which of the Councillors voted for the ban and who voted against it. What I can tell you is that the votes went against the advice of the Shire Engineers who have consistently put forward proposals for a dam."

Edward was looking less and less confident, and for good reason, there was more to come. "I have done a great deal of research into this town and its floods and I have discovered something very interesting. Who has benefited most from the floods? Was it the Burroughs who opened up their storerooms to provide, at their expense, emergency rations for those affected by floods? Was it the Burroughs who also provided interest free credit to those who could not afford to buy food after the floods? They benefitted in a small way from the goodwill generated by their generosity, but not to any great financial extent. That honour goes to the Woods Hardware and Building Supplies. When a flood was imminent they brought in large quantities of sand, but did they say to the residents, 'come, and help yourselves to the sand for your sand-bags? All that we ask is that you bring it back after the flood'. No, they charged full price for that sand, and when the flood was over they generously allowed you to dump that sand back at their supply yard. Did they say to you, 'come and help yourselves to the plywood sheeting so that you can protect your property from the rushing floodwaters? No, if you wanted sheeting you were charged top dollar for it, and you weren't getting construction grade plywood that could withstand the waters and be re-used, you were getting factory second grade ply that was rendered useless because of the water damage. But, you still had to pay for construction grade because you were desperate. This is the reason why Edward Woods, as Shire President, made sure that council never approved the dam project."

Edward was now angry. "Why are you doing this, are you that desperate to see this project go ahead?"

"That is one reason, yes. But I have another reason, you stated at the beginning of your speech that I was new to this town, your words were that I'd been here five minutes. Let me tell you that, this is my town, I was born here and, in what could only be described as the ultimate irony, you are my father." After the initial shocked gasps from the crowd you could have heard a pin drop. "My mother was Barbara Lloyd, the daughter of the Methodist Minister in this town. She was still a teenager when she fell pregnant to the only boy that she had allowed to make love to her, you, Edward Woods. She would not reveal the name of the boy who got her pregnant, but you knew that it was you and what did you do? Did you offer to stand by her and admit that you were the father? No, you spread rumours around town that she was promiscuous and had been having sex with a number of boys. She was a strong girl and thought that she could have the child and raise him in this town, but no, that was never going to happen because pressure was brought to bear on her father, who was told that if he supported her he would lose his job. He turned his back on her, his own daughter. She had no alternative but to take me and leave this town, this town where she had been popular, but was now branded a slut. I was lucky, she went to live with her mother's sister and their family and I was raised in a loving environment. I am proud of my mother and the sacrifice that she made for me." I turned to Edward. "In case you decide to challenge my claim to be your son, your oldest son, DNA profiling will back up my claim. She had another reason not to name you, if she had, she thought that you would be pressured into marrying her, but she could not see a future in a marriage to you because of your philandering ways, and history has vindicated that decision."

The crowd was very obviously turning against Edward, it was now time for the coup de gras. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think that it is now time that we should put this matter to a vote. I call for a show of hands; who wants this meeting to request the Shire Council reverse its decision to block the construction of the Flood Mitigation Dam?" I looked over the crowd. "I don't think a head count will be necessary, it looks pretty unanimous from up here."

A voice at the back of the hall began to chant; "We want the dam, we want the dam." And this was taken up by the crowd.

Tanya came up onto the stage. She stood there until the crowd lapsed into a curious silence. "Ladies and gentlemen, I came here this evening to support James Parsons who I believed to be a good man, no, a great man, the man I even had hopes of marrying." This was greeted with loud applause from the crowd but I was curious at her use of the past tense 'had'. "But now I find that he has kept one tit-bit of information from me, he is one of them, he is a fucking Woods, and I don't know whether I want to marry him now. So what I need from you is some advice as to whether I should forget him and walk away from the man I love, or should I forget who his father is and marry him anyway. What should I do?"

"MARRY HIM, MARRY HIM." A new chant rose and flooded over the crowd. This flood of emotion was the great flood of Woods Ford, and went on for several minutes until three people walked through the crowd and mounted the stage. My Mother took the microphone and waited until the chant ceased.

"Too many years ago I left this town and declared that I would never come back, I was hurt badly by people I thought to be my friends. That was until Tom and Brenda here," she indicated Tanya's parents, "rang me and told me what was going to happen here tonight and how proud they were of James and Tanya for their decision to stand up to the might of the Woods clan. I just had to be here to support them, I had no doubt that James would prevail, and when I heard that he had the support of the Burroughs family, in particular Tanya, I just had to be here. I am glad to be here, I am glad to be home!" she raised her hand with the microphone in a triumphant salute to the cheering crowd. Tanya moved to her side and hugged her and she and Mother kissed.

"Come, Mother," Tanya said to her in a whisper, "Let's go home."

Please rate this story
The author would appreciate your feedback.
  • COMMENTS
Anonymous
Our Comments Policy is available in the Lit FAQ
Post as:
Anonymous
8 Comments
Diecast1Diecast1almost 2 years ago

Great story, love it. AAAAAA++++++

Diecast1Diecast1almost 2 years ago

Great story, love it. AAAAAA++++++

auhunter04auhunter04about 8 years ago
about school-boy--stilted-

I notice you did not sign your name,

we cannot see what submissions -if any- you have made

I suggest you go investigate the number of highly ranked this author has written for us to read - Free!

your comment is petty and totally with any redeemable merit.

I dare say that might also be a personal self description

If you are a troll go find another bridge, I hear Russia and China have some openings

AnonymousAnonymousalmost 9 years ago
Awful

Stilted schoolboy writing.

AnonymousAnonymousabout 11 years ago
Loved it!

Thanks for a wonderful story. Please keep up the good work. You are one of the authors that I follow! Love you bunches. alaskadude

Show More
Share this Story

Similar Stories

Goin' Fishin' A little romance about rediscovering love.in Romance
The Promise Promises are meant to be kept.in Romance
A Hard Man Young man finds love after being forced to make his own way .in Romance
Irish Eyes His love was betrayed, what next.in Romance
Rising From The Ashes Two broken families rebuild their lives.in Romance
More Stories