Skipped by the Altar, Taken by His Uncle novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Fifty-Four Feet
By Tuesday the river was at forty-six and the color of chocolate milk.
By Wednesday the whole town was on Front Street.
The high school football team shoveled.
I filled sandbags in front of my father's store with Connie holding them open.
Shovel, tie, throw. Shovel, tie, throw.
My father used to stand right here with a stack of bags from his own shelves.
In 2019 he handed them out until the water was at his knees, from a store he'd already lost.
My hands blistered by noon. Connie taped them with gaffer tape.
At three Reuben came down to the foot of Front Street in a city rain jacket, where the floodwall opens.
I followed him.
The floodgate is a steel wall on a hinge, twenty feet wide, painted city green.
It closes when the river passes fifty.
Right now it couldn't close at all.
The three Eckert barges sat nose to tail across the opening, moored to the bank, with the brown river shoving at them.
Blaine was there in a white hard hat with ECKERT on it.
So did half of Front Street, holding shovels.
"Move them," Reuben said.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Skipped by the Altar, Taken by His Uncle are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend