Flood Warning
J
ACQUELINE
P
EARCE
Flood Warning
I
LLUSTRATIONS
B
Y
Leanne Franson
ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS
Text copyright © 2012 Jaqueline Pearce
Illustrations copyright © 2012 Leanne Franson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Pearce, Jacqueline, 1962-
Flood warning [electronic resource] / Jacqueline Pearce ;
illustrations by Leanne Franson.
(Orca echoes)
Electronic monograph in
PDF
format.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN
978-1-4598-0069-4
1. Floods--British Columbia--Fraser River Valley--Juvenile fiction. 2. Fraser River Valley (B.C.)--History--Juvenile fiction. I. Franson, Leanne II. Title. III. Series: Orca echoes (Online)
PS
8581.
E
26
F
56 2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
JC
813'.6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
C
2011-907779-5
First published in the United States, 2012
Library of Congress Control Number
: 2011943722
Summary
: The Fraser River is about to flood, so Tom must get his family's dairy cows to safety before it's too late. A historical story set in 1948, near the farming community of Agassiz.
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Orca Book Publishers is dedicated to preserving the environment and has printed this book
on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
®
.
Cover artwork and interior illustrations by Leanne Franson
Author photo by Danielle Naherniak
| ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS PO B OX 5626, Stn. B Victoria, BC Canada V 8 R 6 S 4 | ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS PO B OX 468 Custer, WA USA 98240-0468 |
www.orcabook.com
Printed and bound in Canada.
15 14 13 12 ⢠4 3 2 1
Thanks go to my dad, Jack Pearce, and my father-in-law,
Bill Naherniak (also known as
Farmer Bill
),
who helped with the details of the farm and time period.
I would also like to thank the Agassiz-Harrison Museum
and the Chilliwack Museum and Archives.
âJP
To all those brave Canadians across this country who
courageously deal with floods and their aftermath.
âLF
Contents
Chapter Five
:
Be Careful What You Wish For
Chapter Eight
:
Evacuation Plans
Chapter Fourteen
:
Graveyard Island
“Hi-ho, Silver! Away!” shouted Tom.
He was pretending to be the Lone Ranger, his favorite radio hero. Amos, Tom's scruffy black and brown dog, pricked up his ears. Amos seemed to know he was playing the part of Silver, the Lone Ranger's horse. Boy and dog took off running across the field.
Dunt-da-dalunt-da-daluntuntun, dunt-da-dalunt-
da-daluntuntun
â¦The show's opening music played in Tom's mind. Every Sunday evening, Tom and his parents gathered around the big radio in the living room. They listened to the adventures of the Lone Ranger, his fiery horse, Silver, and his faithful companion, Tonto. Every week, the heroic masked rider and his daring friend fought for law and order in the Old West.
“Wait up!” called Tom's friend, Peggy. She ran after Tom and Amos. Her two brown braids flew out behind her.
Ah, my faithful friend, Tonto, Tom thought as Peggy caught up to him. But he didn't say it out loud. Peggy always wanted to be the Lone Ranger, not the sidekick.
Amos barked loudly. Several brown and white cows trotted out of their way. Tom lifted his face to the warm sun. It was perfect weather for the May long weekend. He wished tomorrow was a holiday too.
They reached the wooden fence at the end of the field. Tom and Peggy stopped to catch their breath. Tom lifted a loose board at the bottom of the fence, so Amos could pass under. Then he and Peggy climbed over. They faced a tangle of low bushes and weedy alder trees.
“Come on!” said Tom. He waved a hand for Peggy to follow him. “We're almost at the river.”
“Okay,” Peggy said. “But this time I'll lead the way.”
She pushed past Tom and ran down a trail through the underbrush. They could hear the sound of the river ahead. Peggy emerged from the trees and stopped in surprise. Tom and Amos almost bumped into her.
Usually, there was a wide gravel bank between the trees and the river. But now, the water had crept up over the rocks. It was lapping at a row of sandbags piled at the edge of the trees.
“Do you think it's going to flood?” Peggy asked.
“Nah,” Tom said. “If the water gets any higher, the sandbags will stop it.”
Each spring, when the snow melted in the mountains, the waters of the Fraser River rose. Two years ago, soldiers back from the Second World War had piled sandbags along the river. The sandbags acted like a dyke, or a low wall, to help keep the water from flooding the farmland.
“I don't know,” Peggy said. She pointed to a spot where a section of sandbags had fallen over and left a gap. “Those sandbags don't look like they could stop much.”
She glanced up at the sun, which was getting lower in the sky.
“I've got to get home to help with milking,” she said.
“Me too,” said Tom. There was never a holiday from milking.
Reluctantly, Tom turned away from the widening brown river. If there were a flood, what would the Lone Ranger do?
