Man Who Drank The Creek

Little Kathy had a daily routine. Every morning, she would wake up at the first sun light. Her Grand Ma would purchase fish food from the critters shop. Every day, Little Kathy tried to open the top shelf of the Grand Ma 's cupboard. However, the cupboard was little high for her. So, she would drag the step ladder. She would count one, two, and three, as she would climb the ladder. Conveniently, she would open the shelf. The Tupperware had been already filled with large grains. Little Kathy would grab all she could gather in her tiny fist. She would run to the backyard. The fish food would drop out on the way from her tiny fist. A band of ants would salvage it. Meanwhile, Little Kathy would open her fist on top of creek's water and spread the remaining fish food on the water. As a group of fish would jump on the food, Little Kathy would sit on the pavement watching fish feed.

The same creek passed behind my house. I had been noticing significantly low water in the creek. The month of June had been dry for most of the Chicagoland. I observed that fishes were diving into the creek's bed. They were hiding from its human predators. When the water was high, for a human it was necessary to lure a bait to catch the fish. But, now they could just reach out their arms in the water and grab them. This weekend, Little Kathy woke up. She performed her quotidian routine. When she ran to the creek, there was no water!

She shouted for her Grand Mother. Her Grand Ma ran to her. Her Mom ran to her. Her elder sister ran to her. So, did her father, and Grand Pa. All scared if Little Kathy was hurt. They were relieved to find her unharmed. But, Little Kathy was crying. The stream that once flew as the creek was now flowing from her eyes.

“Creek is gone! Creek is gone!” she kept repeating as she consoled into her Grand Ma arms.

I too heard her voice. I came out. Her Dad described me the incident. Both of us inspected the creek. Indeed, the water had disappeared with the fish! So, we strolled down up the water channel. All along the creek bed was dry. We drove all the way to the Randall Road, below the bridge. We noticed that water was there on the West side of the bridge. Then what happened to the water on the East side? We tread carefully along the bank of the creek. We noticed that, at one corner, the creek water disappeared.

There was a large house behind the woods. It was a common sense not to tress pass on a property. We discussed the possibility of seeking police's help. However, Little Kathy's dad recalled that few months back he had read a case.

“One of the residents in town of Gilbert had filed a complaint against his neighbor. As per the police, his neighbor was drawing water from the creek to irrigate the lawn,” said Little Kathy's Dad.

I was surprised to hear about this unique way of watering the lawn.

“It was not illegal, Jay, as per the police. Since, the creek was a natural resource, and there were no bylaws in the community that stated if resident could or could not use the water from the creek. Therefore, the police forbid to take any action. Jay, it is similar to as if a river is flowing through a farmer's land. If the farmer uses the water from the river, it is not illegal. But, Jay I was upset. This is a tiny creek. We all know it's resource is limited. None of us want to see our creek vanish. Right?”

I nodded positively. Although, I agreed with police's judgment that it was a natural resource. Anyone is free to use it's water. However, for the regards to civic sense, one should decide when to use the water and when not to, specially if creek were drying.

Little Kathy's Dad decided to make a friendly conversation with the house owner where the creek evaporated. We walked to the house. The owner was washing his car lavishly. We introduced ourselves, and requested if we could see his installation for the water.

“Friends, I am not drawing water from the creek. It is actually my cousin. Let me show you to him,” he answered.

We followed the house owner, curiously. Behind the house, there was a narrow path that led to a shed house near the woods. I was astonished to realize the acreage of the land. From the front of the house, it did not appear large. Near the shed house, we witnessed that there was a small dam built on the creek. The water that was collected from the dam was being dropped into a small turbine. The electricity generated from turbine was being used to power a pump. This pump fetched water uphill near the shed to a large water tank. The house owner's cousin was sitting next to a water outlet from the tank. He was filling the water in his mouth. He carried the water to a distant pond. He spitted the water from his mouth to fill the pond. We observed that the pond was full of fish. It appeared all the fish that once were part of the creek's habitat, were now living in the pond. I found them in happy condition.

“My cousin has been blessed to save the fish. Since, he fills the pond from the water in his mouth, no other human attempts to catch the fish. This way he has saved all the fishes from the creek,” replied the home owner.

“But, what happened to the fishes down the creek?” asked Little Kathy's Dad.

“My cousin has been blessed with enormous suction power. He drank all the water down the creek, to fill the pond,” replied the house owner.

We narrated the tale of Little Kathy to the cousin. We requested him to release some water so that Little Kathy could feed the fishes. The cousin did not talk. He communicated in sign language to the house owner. The house owner replied that he would inform us about the decision by next day.

When I woke up, I found dead silence in my backyard. I checked. The creek was still dry. I saw Little Kathy's Dad. He explained that the cousin of the house owner came in the morning. He has granted a special permission to Little Kathy. She has been appointed as the President of Little Kathy's Save the Fish Club. Every morning Little Kathy could go to the pond and feed the fishes. As for me, I looked to the sky for some rain to quench the thirst of the dry creek...