Their movements were frantic.
They weren't grazing.
They were fleeing.
The farmer in green looked toward them.
"What's chasing those?"
Nobody answered.
The trees began moving.
A section of low willow growth bent sharply.
Then a young pine tilted, its roots lifting from saturated earth.
The largest farmer stared.
For a moment, he seemed unable to understand what he was seeing.
Then came the cracking sound.
A long, deep rupture that carried across the valley.
The former engineer shouted into his radio.
The young farmer heard the words possible embankment failure.
Then she saw it.
Beyond the trees, a brown surge rose through the low ground, carrying branches, sediment, and torn vegetation.
It wasn't a neat wave.
It was a violent release of water moving through a landscape that had been altered without adequate regard for where overflow needed to go.
The old access embankment had failed.
The upper reservoir was releasing water into the wooded corridor.
And the flow was advancing toward the lower valley.
The young farmer grabbed the bell again.
Then shouted.
"GET OFF THE BANK!"
The farmer in green stumbled.
The largest farmer remained frozen.
The third man seized his sleeve.
"Move!"
For a moment, the older grower resisted.
Then the ground beneath the far edge of the embankment softened.
A narrow section began breaking away.
The third farmer pulled him backward.
The three men scrambled toward higher ground.
Behind them, the water rushed through the northern trees.
The young farmer looked toward the old gate.
Then toward the lower storage basin.
Water was already spreading across the cranberry beds.
The emergency route was receiving flow.
But the incoming surge was larger than anyone had hoped.
She needed to move away from the channel immediately.
And she needed to know whether the road downstream had been cleared.
The first surge struck the northern end of the cranberry system with a roar.
Brown water carrying branches and torn vegetation entered the lower channels, raising the level rapidly.
Some of the flow spread into the prepared storage area.
Other portions moved toward the old drainage route.
The young farmer watched the red cranberries swirl across the water, their bright color almost surreal against the dark sediment.