And I'll Tell You What You Are

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman With a Sluice Gate Scorned

There’s nothing else to say, and they both know it, so Phileas finally opens the door and takes his leave, leaving Winnifred standing there. 

A roar of thunder is heard as the workers keep up their pace. 

“Root ball?” Charles asks Will as he brings a wheelbarrow full of flowers. 

“Dry. Perhaps too dry?” Will replies as he pulls one plant out. 

“Overnight soak should fix that.” Charles informs him. 

“Might not be necessary.” Mariah adds as he looks up at the sky. 

“Let’s work on getting them secured.” Will replaces the plant in the wheelbarrow wagon. “And cover the bed.” 

With a nod, Charles and Mariah set to ordering the other workers to do as Will instructs.  

An hour or so later, Mariah comes back over to Will and says, 

“Need more rope. And food. And a chance to warm up.” 

Will replies, “Go on, then. I’ll catch up.”, as he stuffs a letter into his satchel. 

As Will locks up his little shed, he steps back to check it’s secure, when an unfamiliar voice behind him calls out. 

“Captain William Charity." 

Will turns to find a finely dressed woman approaching him, introducing herself, “My name is Fogg. Winnifred Fogg.” 

Will bows nervously, “Madame.” 

Winnifred asks, “Have you ever looked at someone you never met, and yet still knew in some way, shape or form, that the two of you are supposed to be a part of each other’s lives?” 

Will says nothing to that, so she adds, “You came here after a tragic accident, I believe. Must be so hard, not being able to tell anyone.” 

Now Will can confidently say he wishes he’d have enough courage to just up and leave, but he knows he can’t. 

“I’ve known there was something making Phileas happy that wasn’t me for some time now. But let me assure you that Phileas’ ambitions in life will never correlate with yours as they do mine.” 

Will can’t even look her in the eye as she just keeps talking. 

“You are by far not the first to capture his attention, and unless I’m mistaken, not the only one." 

Now Will feels brave enough to look at her, but still says nothing. 

“You’ll serve your purpose, and then you’ll leave. Make no mistake of that, Captain. This is our arrangement.” 

Now Winnifred moves closer, slowly pulling off one of her gloves, then touching the slight scruff on his face. 

Will knows he should move his face away, but he feels almost rooted to the spot. 

“So handsome. What a pity.” 

Then she leaves, allowing her words to hang behind. 

Will sucks in a breath, then picks up his satchel. 

After all, he did promise he’d catch up. 

“We found the gate connecting the reservoir to the fountain.” Thomas tells Winnifred. “If we fill it in, it’ll build pressure, and we can flood the garden.” 

Winnifred smiles at him as he kisses the side of her face, then all but orders, “Do it.”, as she looks out at the garden. 

Thomas gets to work straight away, turning the valve, and in moments, the water comes flooding through, so the both of them quickly run off, lest they be spotted. 

Some of Thomas’ workers stay behind, to take the tarps off the plants and flower bed, ensuring their ruin even as the water gets closer, before they too take off. 

If it wasn’t so terrible, one would almost say Mother Nature was conducting a symphony, for how quickly the rain came in, destroying the newly bought flowers, the dug in flower bed flooded to the point where it almost looks as if it was never there in the first place. 

It’s only because Mariah comes back late in the night that he’s able to spot it and go for help, rounding up Will, Charles, and the rest. 

They move fast as they’re able, pulling the tarp back over the bed as Charles orders, 

“Weigh it down with wood!” 

As they work on it, Will realizes, “It’s the sluice gate! Someone must’ve opened it!” 

“We need more workers!” Charles says in a defeated tone. “We’ll have to pray for a miracle.” 

“Like hell we will!” Will shouts, as he hands over his side of the tarp to another worker to run off and find the gate himself. 

He eventually sees a small pipe, so he follows it all the way back, and when he lifts himself to see over the concrete, he sees all the water coming in, showing no signs of stopping. 

Quickly, he goes over to the valve, and pushes as hard as he can, but it’s so rusted, it’s not budging anytime soon, so he goes over to the other valve, slowly lowering himself with the metal ladder. 

He tries to hold on as tight as he can, reaching for the valve, but it’s so cold, so slippery, he can barely see what he’s doing. 

He doesn’t even register his feet slipping off the ladder until he’s already falling into the water.