The sirens sounded.  The dam, a mile upriver, burst, and the water was headed towards the town.

As many as made it to the higher ground, the next day, looked down on the devastation of the flood and their homes, a mute testament seemed to float among them as a hat, solitary, moved downstream.

Then, to the survivor's surprise, it turned and began flowing back upstream.

By the time the hat switched directions twice more, everyone was watching, puzzled by it, until an older citizen piped up. "That must be my husband..."

"I told him that he would mow the lawn come hell or high water."