The Haunted Locks

Thurs. 8:45pm
After the side to side bouncing we experienced when we came into the lock this morning, I was expecting the same from the five locks that help river traffic overcome the 100m or so difference in water level created by the Three Gorges Dam.  Instead, as  we enter the first lock we seem to float exactly where we ought to, between the lock wall and a coal barge, as we wait for the doors to clang closed behind us and for the water to rise.  But the doors don't clang shut.  I don't even notice that they have shut until I see the water level is changing.  And then the unearthly screech of metal on metal begins, calling to mind ghost stories and horror films and ear plugs.  But it does not last long - 15 minutes at most - after which the door in front of us opens silently and we glide into the second lock.