Crystal Clear River in Bonito, Brazil, flowed through paradise with the graceful movement of a ballerina. The village leaders, who were proud of their piece of heaven on earth, proposed the first fiesta in 1993. They named it Guirnalda des Petunias, or Garland of Petunias for the petunias that grew wild along the edges of the river. Most of the year the small village of Bonito napped, but during the annual 3-day festival the town woke up with music, dancing, food, and a floral parade. Each year there was a petunia-painting contest, where giant “paintings” were done using petunia blossoms. The Petunia Queen and King led the parade on the Royal float.

In 2018, the 25^th anniversary of Guirnalda des Petunias was approaching. Rain was forecast for the week before, and everyone was praying the rain would be done before the festivities began the following week.

But the rain didn’t stop. It not only didn’t stop, it was a pouring from the clouds as none had ever seen before. The Crystal Clear River began to rise as the water-soaked lands emptied their extra into her. Her steady current became a torrent. By the weekend, most streets were covered with water. The petunias were dashed and sodden clumps on the ground.

On Thursday, the day before the fiesta was to begin, the waters of the Crystal Clear River broke her bounds. By now she was a monster and her flood raged over the entire village. All was going under with her terror, and climbing to the roofs of the buildings was not high enough. The villagers got in their boats with their pets, their livestock, and whatever possessions they could carry and headed for dry land.

The rains stopped on Sunday. The floodwaters had receded by Wednesday. The villagers, whose religion was nature, gathered to talk about what happened. They had never heard the term, “global warming,” but they did know that Mother Nature was not happy or she wouldn’t rage like this. They blamed themselves for the pride of the fiesta, which was bragging about the paradise they had no hand in creating. The decision to end the annual fiesta was unanimous.

The End.

Fandango’s FOWC is movement, the Word of the Day Challenge is propose, and Paula’s 3 Things Challenge words are Brazil, nap, petunia

Sarah is the host of Mindlovemisery Menagerie’s Saturday Mix.  Sarah says:
This week we are diving into the depths of PERSONIFICATION. Our challenge is all about the use of personification in our writing. You will need to use the statement provided, – The flood raged over the entire village in your response – which can be poetry or prose.