Mud, wet, and tears

I believe in angels.

Just when I felt that I would fail to save my family from Ondoy's wrath, God sent his angels. And they came in the form of garbage men.

When flood waters reached waist-high in Marikina on that fateful Saturday morning, I swept Heaven into my arms and forced Aires and our two helpers out of Aires' maternal bungalow house.

About an hour earlier when we thought that it was just a typical rainy and flooded day in Marikina, Aires and I drove our two cars (our brand new City and Daddy's old Toyota) out of the village and unto higher grounds. We should have taken Heaven with us. But in our haste, we left him with the helpers who in our short absence frantically lifted stuff like albums and Heaven's things to higher and drier spaces in the house. Aires said that we could not just leave the house without turning off the main switch. Unfortunately, we could not seem to figure out how to cut power because we already tried all switches of the main circuit to no avail.

Aires and I were able to go back thankfully. I pulled out a fuse and everything went dark. There was no more threat of electric shock just as flood water reached our bedroom. That was when I said Enough! Out we go.

I carried Heaven. Aires was with the helpers. We only had with us a bag of Heaven's clothes. The water was getting higher, and the current stronger. About two streets away, a giant dump truck passed by. We hollered and asked if they were rescuing people. The driver bluntly said no. They were just passing by, he said. Aires pleaded for them to take us to where we parked our cars earlier. Thankfully, the driver relented.

Quickly, he and his mates scooped up two other families unto the truck's hauler. They took Heaven to the driver's cabin. Along the way, we saved another family who nearly got swept away by the raging waters. While traversing the short route, we saw how the waters made vehicles look like tiny toys, and faces of people on their second floors--- all surprised at what was happening.

When we got off the truck, I saw Heaven smiling. He must have enjoyed the short trip --- his first aboard a dump truck. One of the garbage men shouted to get Heaven off the truck. Surprised, Heaven started to cry but we managed to pacify him when we got him into our car.

Everything happened in just 30 minutes. But it was 30 minutes of wrong decisions and right timing. Aires and I learnt many lessons. Think fast. Act quick. Never leave Heaven ever again. And there are angels. Hail to ours.