If the Creek Don't Rise

by Leah Weiss

I was a fool hanging hope on a weak man I thought would stand tall if we got married.

Daddy’s spirit voice pulls me back from silly memories. He says, “Don’t let your guard down, girl. Roy sold his soul to the devil long ago. Make sure the devil lays claim to it soon.”

Sleep is gonna come. It always does, but so do rememberings. Sometimes they take me places I don’t wanna go. Sometimes they take me places I don’t wanna leave. I never know where I’m going when I climb in this featherbed.

I felt little in this storm that beat and battered my world gone strange. I whispered, “Are we gonna die?” “From a storm? No, child. We’re safe here. We’ll head to Baines Creek soon.” Daddy added, “If the good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise.”

If you don’t believe in God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, before you read National Geographic, you will after.

“I’m not a Christian. I don’t believe or disbelieve in your god or your devil. I simply have little use for church dogma and man-made rituals that stifle people through fear and superstition. I’ve never seen any proof to support the teachings of your Bible.” She looks me in the eye. “Nature makes a pretty strong case for its own evolution.”

an ostentation of peacocks, a parliament of owls, a knot of frogs, and a skulk of foxes. My favorite is the crows.

Deuteronomy 32:2: “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.”

“I understand the relief your faith provides. You think it is the foundation for hope and comfort. The cause and effect you believe in are sin and reformation. Fear plays a big part in encouraging people to take the high road. I don’t believe faith or fear lifts people to a better life. The cause and effect I believe in are education and opportunity. Those actions and goals elicit positive change. A god monitoring my days seems naive at best and dangerous at worst.”

Even being four, I wondered who defended us girls. I was too shy back then to ask. Now I know—it’s nobody.