Second Beginning
A short story by Karen Graywood
After years of innocent flirting on the office phone, a chance encounter brings Harry and Miranda together, sparking an instantly powerful connection and revealing a hidden story of redemption.
A deafening screech rose up from the street, right outside the front door of Torinese Construction’s Brooklyn office.
Miranda winced as she heard the crash from the impact of the collision. The sound of metal folding like an accordion. It had been so loud, so it must have been close.
Everyone in the building scrambled to the front door of the converted carriage house. They had to see what was hit and if everybody outside was all right. Miranda’s station was closest to the front door so she got there first.
Her heart pounded as she saw a [make and model car] up on the sidewalk and halfway up the neighbor’s stoop.
The fire hydrant that had stood there moments earlier was down on its side.
Miranda’s jaw dropped as she watched a geyser open up right behind the car.
Water under high pressure shot thirty feet in the air, then fell on the street like a monsoon.
An eruption of panicked shouts rang out from the street. Some screaming to find out if the driver was all right. Some screaming to find out if anything or anyone else was hit. Some screaming to call 911.
A volcano of swear words exploded from indoors, coming from the boss’s office. He’d been fighting a losing battle with water in the basement throughout the spring and summer, ever since the new neighbors paved their rear yard, and accidentally graded it to drain their rainwater directly to the office’s backyard door.
Water from the geyser fell so hard and so fast. It flooded the street, crested the curb and washed over the pavement.
In a matter of time, it would begin pressing against the basement windows.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Miranda squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for the driver and his passengers.
A shirtless man jogged on to the scene, carrying some long tool. Down on his knees at the foot of the geyser, he took up hands full of the autumn leaves which were piling up on the sidewalk. With his gaze focused on the ground, he tossed the leaves into the current rushing downhill.
In five seconds time he was thoroughly drenched.
Miranda had lived and worked in the neighborhood for twenty-five years and she thought she knew everyone. But as she watched this man tearing through the falling water and the accumulated leaves, she was sure she’d never seen him before.