Twelve men came and counted the stakes. What dries up first when the water dries wasn't part of their reckoning.

• Old Man HrytskoThey dammed it once before, forty years back. There was no flour that whole winter.
  MarinaAnd something else went missing that summer too.
• YaremaThe elder says three days and they'll see the bottom.
  MarinaThree days. I'll be counting.
• Granny HorfinaCome to me first, the day they drive the stakes. And don't come empty-handed.