Fortifying the Runoff

I marched into the damp backyard to construct an amphibious fortress along the brick drainage groove. A slow trickle of rainwater was escaping into the mulch—a cowardly waste of aquatic territory! I seized three flat slate stones and slammed them across the gap, jamming their edges tight against the mossy mortar. The flow halted instantly. Water surged against my stone barrier, rising into a deep, disciplined pool. I wedged a stiff oak leaf between the rocks to craft an emergency spillway. The reservoir held without a single leak. My engineering stands unyielding, ready to sustain an entire legion of pond fiends.