This was not the first time the city's water had run out. In fact it’s the third time this year. The morning Sasha woke up and heard the breaking news about the water line, she grabbed two empty suitcases and took the #12 bus to two towns over to Coral Gables. Whenever the city ran out of anything she could always count on the grocery store at Coral Gables to be well stocked with everything she lacked at home. Sasha returned to her apartment in the late afternoon with two suitcases bulging with jugs of spring water. Sasha could tell the sun was about to set, so she grabbed one suitcase and a flashlight and headed toward rainbow river.
At the river Sasha could see the slightly metallic hue of the river and the floating trash from last month when the garbage truck broke town. At the river she saw Baker Shefield from upstairs looking rather bitter as he washed his clothes. She shifted her gaze and saw a little boy with his mom pouring water from the river into a plastic jug. Sasha unzipped her suitcase, walked over to the little boy and handed him a jug of spring water. Sasha’s suitcase of water soon drew a crowd. If you just happened upon the scene you might have though Sasha was giving away money for free by the way people were pushing their way through the crowd.
When the crowd began to die down Sasha looked down the river and saw someone with a microphone and a camera interviewing the little boy and his mother. Sasha walked closer and she immediately recognized the reporter as Rick Flame. How could Sasha forget Rick. They were best friends in high school after all. Even though Rick lives in her building, Sasha doesn’t really see him much since he always seems to avoid the lobby at all costs. Sasha paced up and down the river until she saw Rick wrap up his interview.
Sasha approached him with a rather cautious smile; “Hey Rick! Do you remember me at all?”.
A grin spread across Rick's face as he replied, “Sasha? Is that you? Of course I remember you.”
Sasha held out a jug of water towards Rick; “Do you need any water? I have plenty where this came from. You can have as much as you want.”
As Rick stared at the water, his smile began to disappear. “Sasha, I can deal with this on my own I don’t need any handouts.”
Sasha looked at the ground and said “Please just take it. I know your stubborn but I’m just trying to help you out for once.”
Rick looked at Sasha, then at the bottle of water. “Fine,” Rick said. “But I just want you to know I am only taking this because you offered.” Rick grabbed the bottle and began to walk away.
Sasha yelled after him; “Rick! We need to catch up sometime. We haven’t talked at all since high school.”
Rick paused, and as he turned around he said, “Okay. If you ever want to talk just come find me. I live in apartment #403.”
Sasha watched Rick as he gathered all his equipment and walked towards the Victorian. When Rick turned the corner, Sasha went back to her suitcase and finished passing out the remainder of her water to the bathers in rainbow river.
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