It had been raining for years.

            The council of five met once again.

            “Will the levees hold?” asked Jacob.

            “Like they always have,” Maryanne answered, “The rain, however, is not stopping anytime soon, it seems.”

            “Anything else?” Jacob said, sliding his gaze over the rest of the council.

            “Yes,” Alexander replied, “I have recently received some very grave news.”

            “And what’s that?” Jacob said with a slightly bored tone.

            “Well, I have just found out that Matt Smith, the town gardener, has forgotten to take out his trash for the sixth time this month.”

            Jacob’s eyes widened. Then, he growled, “Absolutely inconceivable. Why does he have to be such a worthless nitwit?”

            Olivia cleared her throat, “I too have some disturbing news for the council to hear.”

            “Go on,” Jacob said, his voice still laced with disgust at the forgetful gardener.

            “Well, Ava Johnson, a restaurant owner, has wrongly calculated her profits. She announced that she has made $5,009 this month. However, a quick check on those calculations reveal that she has only made $4,780 this month.”

            Upon hearing this, Jacob threw his hands up into the air, “Outrageous! It is unbelievable that she cannot even perform the most basic of arithmetic! Can people like her be more senseless, imbecilic, and thick-headed?!”

            “I must concede, Jacob,” Alexander nodded, “It is unacceptable that these people come to these horrid states. Can one think of anything that can save these people?”

            “Unfortunately, no,” Maryanne answered, shaking her head, “It is quite depressing what some these people have come to. They have gone to the point where they are doomed to live the rest of their lives in misery.”

            Olivia, seething with anger at the insolence of the people, began, “How grotesque, disgusting, repulsive—”

            William interrupted, “I hate to dampen everybody’s mood further today, but I have more bad news to bring to you today,”

            “Go on. It can’t possibly make things worse,” Jacob said.

            “It is with great pain for me that I have to inform the council that Dylan Miller, a physics researcher, has failed to brush his hair for the fourth time in a row.”

            “How hopeless can the man get? He has no sense of his appearance whatsoever. Does he not care that he is a painful eyesore to look at for the rest of this town?!” Maryanne cried out.

            “What has the humanity in this town come to? It is filled with ignorant, sickening, malicious human beings! This is the epitome of hideousness!” Alexander shouted, his face turning as red as a cherry.

            “Who has ever heard of such absurdly heinous people? They have come to downright brazen evilness!” William bellowed.

            “These people are unspeakable in their horrendousness!”

            “I have never seen anything more monstrous and vicious!”

            “The people of this town have become incurably vile!”

            “What an inhuman—"

            “Enough!” Jacob slammed his fist against the table.

            The council quieted down.

            “Enough,” He repeated, breathing heavily, “I have had enough of this. Nothing can save this town.”

            He paused for a moment, letting his words hang. Then continued, “There is only one thing that we can do.”

            Again, he paused. The silence stretched on in the room.

            “What’s that?” Olivia asked.

            Jacob inhaled before answering:

            “Bring down the levees.”

            There was no response from the council.

            Jacob continued, “It is time that we rid ourselves of these unsightly people.”

            “All in favor,” He said, “Please raise your hand now.”

            One by one, the hands came up. It was an unanimous agreement.

            Jacob walked towards a computer that sat at the corner of the room. He typed in a few commands. The feed of the levees popped onto the screen. He tapped a couple more commands.

            The levees opened up, and the vast expanse of water that they had been holding back rushed out. Warnings flooded the screen, but the council ignored them. Jacob sent them away. He sat back down in his seat.

            And the council watched the town wash away.