HURRICANE KATRINA - A TALE TO REMEMBER
Where do I begin this horrifying adventure. Well, as Glenda in the Wizard of Oz
told Dorothy on how to begin her journey to Oz, “It is always best to begin at the
beginning,” so that is where I will start as well.
It was Friday, August 26, 2005 at 1:15 p.m. I had just returned to the office from
my lunchtime power walk in the French Quarter. The assistant bookkeeper was at the
receptionist desk (which is one of her job duties to relieve the receptionist at lunchtime)
when she motioned me to come see her. The first words out of her mouth were, “now
don’t get upset” which obviously would lead a normal person to panic from the tone of
this phrase. I asked her what she meant by “don’t get upset” and she told me to call my
Mother since my Father had fallen down at home. This was definitely something to
worry about as my Dad was 84 years old and Mom was 82 years old and had been
diagnosed 3 weeks earlier with Alzheimer. I immediately called home and spoke not
only to Mom but to Dad as well, and he told me that he did not hurt himself in the fall
since he broke his fall with his left hand which resulted in a brush burn on his palm. I
told them that I was on the way home and then made a mad dash to get there. Upon
my arrival to the house, I noticed that Dad was ghostly pale and knew that the only
place to be was the emergency room at Tulane Medical Hospital and off we all went.
We arrived at Tulane Emergency Room at approximately 2:00 p.m., and keep in mind
there are no televisions in the examining rooms in the emergency department of the
hospital. The doctors did a cat scan of Dad’s head (to be on the safe side) and found
no damage to his brain. The next test was a cat scan of his abdomen. This test
showed that he had a strangulated hernia which required immediate surgery which
would be performed the next morning. We waited in the emergency room until 2:00
a.m. whereupon at this time, a private room was procured for him. Keep in mind still no
television meaning no news about Katrina! I left Mom at the hospital as she would not
leave Dad, and I then proceed to go home. When I arrived at home, I fed Boo (my 4
year old Cairn Terrier), took him outside after he ate and then collapsed into bed without
turning on the television (oophs, I should have!).
I awoke around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 27, 2005, the morning of Dad’s
surgery. I dressed, kissed Boo and returned to the hospital. By now I have had roughly
3 hours of sleep and still, I did not turn on the television. I got to Dad’s room around
6:00 a.m. and since he and Mom were still asleep, yes, again I did not turn on the
television (bad move yet again!). By the time the anestheologist came by as well as his
surgeons, it was time for Dad to go to surgery so we kissed him bye and went into the
surgical waiting room. Guess what, the television was on here and what was playing,
Hurricane Katrina. My eyes started to pop out of their sockets when the TV
commentator was describing Hurricane Katrina as a category 5 storm heading right to
New Orleans. By now, my Aunt Jane came in and she was optimistic that it was either
going to turn away from us or become a hurricane 2 storm. I on the other hand was
starting to get a little nervous. Dad’s surgery took roughly 3 hours and of course he got
through it with flying colors. The surgeon told us that he was in ICU and that we could
see him in a few hours. We finally got into the ICU around 2:00 p.m. and he looked
100% better than he did on Friday. This was to be the last time we saw Dad for 4 days
and we only got to see him for 15 minutes. Aunt Jane could not come into the ICU but
waited for us. Since I had driven my car to the hospital, I decided that if we were going
to stay and wait for Katrina that it would be better to put my car in my parking garage by
my office because the car would be elevated and away from any standing water (boy,
was I clairvoyant or what!). Aunt Jane followed me to my garage and then took Mom
and I home. When I got home I then took Dad’s car to go to the market to get
“hurricane” food, i.e. Spam, food in cans with pop tops, more bottled water, etc. When I
left the market (which was quite crowded), I noticed that Dad’s car had less than a
quarter of a tank of gas so I thought I should go and fill up the tank - oophs, I forgot that
there was a small problem named Katrina which caused a run on gas because
everyone else in the City was preparing to leave and they needed gas too, translation,
there was no more gas left in the City of New Orleans. I gave up looking for gas, went
home and put Dad’s car on the neutral ground, a/k/a the media, thinking I was keeping it
safe should the streets flood (wasn’t I fooled since it got totaled anyway). Mom and I
ate a hearty evening meal and we took baths so as we jokingly said, “to be clean for
Katrina.” Of course what we did not realize was that we would not be bathing for
another 4 days - however, we did use a lot of deodorant so as not to offend ourselves or
others!
On day three, Sunday, August 28, we called the hospital in the morning to check
on Dad since we could not go down to see him as Tulane had gone to their hurricane
preparedness status meaning that only the patients, doctors, nurses and aides were
allowed into the hospital. I then decided that maybe it was not a good idea to stay in our
apartment since we had no upstairs to flee to should flooding occur (again, I am
clairvoyant!) so I called John, our landlord, and asked him if he could bring us a key to
the upstairs apartment (the tenants had already evacuated). John brought us the key
and told us he, his wife and mother-in-law were staying in town for the storm at the
Fairmont Hotel and if we needed him, to call. By the time John left, it was lunchtime so
we ate. After lunch, I started moving our hurricane provisions, i.e. food, bottled water,
radio, small 5" black and white TV which ran on batteries, Boo’s food and treat, clothes
(I packed Mom 3 shirts, 2 skits, 2 pairs of underclothes and an extra pair of shoes -
Mom packed for Dad, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of underclothes, an extra pair of shoes,
an hat and his beloved gold belt buckles - I had a pair of shorts and an extra bra, silly
me I was under the impression we would not need any more clothes as we would be
going back to our apartment after Katrina passed, duh!). By 3:00 p.m., it started to get
breezy outside so I moved Boo, Mom and I upstairs. When we got upstairs, I decided
that Mom, Boo and I needed to get some sleep because once the winds really got bad
we would be living in the hall with all the doors shut to avoid any flying objects once the
storm arrived in full force. By 6:00 p.m., we all got up from our naps and had a hot
dinner and by 7:30 p.m. the lights went out and we went into the hall. Then it got really
scarey! By 8:00 p.m., the winds were blowing so hard that the house was shaking on its
foundation which Mom did not realize due to her dementia. However, Boo and I were
terrified and he kept jumping into my lap and was shaking. I however got over my fear
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of the house shaking because all I could see in my mind was the big oak tree outside
the front room window and it crashing through the house and killing us instantly! In fact,
every 5 minutes I tenuously crept to the front window to check on the tree which in
retrospect was stupid because if it had come crashing into the house, I would have
been the second object it hit with the window being the first! This shaking, rattling of
windows, and howling wind went on through the night until about 3:00 p.m. the next day,
Monday, August 29th. Once the wind died down, Mom asked me if she could go lie
down and I told her to stay put as I wanted to make sure all was okay in the bedroom
she would be using, i.e. no broken glass, tree limbs, etc. After inspecting this room, I let
her lie down and I stayed in the hall with Boo and we watched TV. After about 5
minutes of TV land, I heard what sounded like a waterfall in the apartment. I knew that
this apartment did not have a waterfall, or did it! I followed the sound to one of the back
bedrooms and opened the door. Sure enough water was pouring out of the light fixture
and running parallel across the ceiling. I stepped back to avoid the water and to my
surprise the ceiling in the back right side corner started to fall in! I was not a happy
camper. Since it was still raining outside, I ran looking for buckets to catch the water
and prayed it would quit raining (dumb me again - like I can stay one step ahead of the
rain and keep the room dry, duh again!). I found buckets and placed them around the
room and luckily it quit raining so there was no need after all for the buckets. By now, I
am physically and mentally exhausted and I go back into the hall to lie down, but first I
put a board I find in the utility room closet in front of the “waterfall” room door so Boo will
not go in and get hurt.
My little lie down turns into Tuesday morning. I wake up and notice it is cloudy
outside and I am getting worried that it will start raining and the waterfall will again
return so I figure I better get more towels from our apartment downstairs. Mom is
awake and I tell her why I am going to our apartment which I am not quite sure she
understood. She is nervous and tells me to be careful. I go downstairs and for a minute
I nearly flip out because I can’t get the door opened due to all the rain which has
permeated the wood causing it to expand. After much kicking, pulling and silently
screaming and cursing, I get the door opened. I put the door on the latch and pull it to
without actually slamming it so that I can get back in. When I go outside the first thing I
notice is all the utility wires that are hanging down by the sidewalk along with water that
has accumulated in the low areas of the sidewalk and by the house. I notice that the
house to the left of me, a duplex, already has water about a 1/3 rd of the way up the
front door, and the driveway by the upper apartment is completely submerged in water
all the way up the side door. With the hanging wires and water in front of the apartment
a little over ankle deep, I slowly climb down the landing in front of the door into the
flower bed and cross over to my apartment and climb up to the stoop. I am a bit
apprehensive that I will not be able to open the door to our apartment but when I put the
key into the lock, the door opens immediately! Is this luck or what. When I enter the
apartment the carpeting is a bit wet but everything else is in its place. I am not surprised
that the carpet is wet since our driveway is completely submerged under water. On the
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other hand, our house is elevated about 3-4 feet off the ground. Now that I have coped
with a wet carpet which should have served as an omen, I proceed to the bathrooms to
get the towels. However, suddenly, the phone rings which shocks me since we haven’t
had electricity since Sunday night! I run at brake neck speed to get it and surprise it is
my Aunt calling all the way from Los Angeles. I assure her all is fine with us but tell her
I have to get off the phone to try and call the hospital to find out about Dad. I dial
Tulane Hospital’s phone number but all the while I keep telling myself that I have a
snowball’s chance in hell in actually having someone at the hospital answer the phone.
However, again, luck is still with me, and not only does someone answer at the hospital,
but when I requested to be connected to ICU, they connected me cheerfully and
immediately! In fact it is Dad’s nurse who answers the phone and I believe that his
name was Jude. When I asked Jude about Dad he told me that they were in the
process of evacuating Dad and that he is one of the first patients to go because of his
age (later Dad told me that they took him and the other patients via trucks to Tulane’s
roof via helicopter and took him past the airport where there were 215 Acadian
ambulances waiting to take patients to safety). I asked Jude where Dad was being
transported to but Jude did not know and told me, “to call back later” to which I said I
wasn’t sure that I could and gave him my cell phone number. I then ran back upstairs
with the towels. When I returned upstairs, Mom was watching TV. As I neared the TV, I
thought I was going to go into shock because the TV anchor was telling everyone that a
levee has been breached. Luckily, Mom either did not understand what the anchor said
or was just pretending not to understand. I then told Mom that we had to leave since the
levees were obviously breaking. I got Dad’s car keys knowing that he hardly had any
gas in the car, but also realizing that it was better to run out of gas on the highway than
to possibly drown in the apartment. I first took Mom out which was no easy task since
the water’s height was now mid-leg deep, and of course, not to mention the hanging
wires we had to avoid. I tucked Mom’s skirt up to her waist so it would not get wet then I
had her play Mummy by having her cross her arms in front of her chest and resting on
her shoulders and then I guided her through the water and across the street. I opened
the car, sat her down and ran back upstairs to get Boo. I put Boo in the car along with a
trash bag of canned food just in case we would need it (in retrospect, I don’t quite know
why I grabbed the food since I was fleeing to Baton Rouge, which by the way, has food!
- I guess one does crazy things in times of crisis). Here we go I thought safe at last we
are going to get out Scott free. Boy, was I wrong! The only way out of town was by the
Mississippi River Bridge and since the side streets by the house were flooding quickly I
knew that I would not make it down these streets as Dad’s car, a Honda Accord, would
have flooded out and then Mom, Boo and I would be stranded unable to possibly get
back to the apartment. So to play it safe I figured I would just go down Claiborne Ave.
to get on the bridge. Oophs, not a good choice either because about 2 miles from the
house down Claiborne Ave. at the top of the overpass which leads to the bridge (to
safety out of the City) the New Orleans Police were stopping everyone telling them to
turn back as the other side of the overpass was underwater. I turned around and
headed back to the apartment because I knew I had no other choice with the water now
starting to flood Claiborne Avenue on the Lake side (remember in New Orleans we are
surrounded by water, the lake and the river - so we don’t use North, South, East or
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West but rather the Lake Side or the River side - our apartment was on the River side
which was good). When we got back to the apartment, I again steered Mom around
wires and water, got her upstairs, went back to the car and carried Boo upstairs and
retrieved the food. I then realized that our situation was getting somewhat critical. I
looked at Mom and Boo (who is now crouching under the desk in the hall) and tell her
that I am going downstairs to find somebody to help us. When I got downstairs, I look
around hoping to see a car to save us but instead I see in the distance houses that are
burning and I started crying, crazy. I thought my God those houses are burning and
there is nobody to put out the fires. I felt so sorry for the people who owned those
houses because they were losing everything they owned and nothing could be done for
them - little did I know that I was seeing my future, but not by fire, rather by water. I
composed myself and attended to my task at hand to find a way of escape. I looked
down the street and saw that there were quit a few people walking towards downtown,
and then my brain synapses snapped together and I realized that they were headed to
the Superdome. Suddenly, my brain goes into high gear, and Eureka, I have this bright
idea that we too needed to go to the Superdome since they had a special needs section
and Mom with her heart condition would be better off there, but how to get her there still
vexed me. All of a sudden not one but two National Guard trucks come by. I and the
other people in the street start yelling and waving our arms at them to stop but they
didn’t and went past us even though there were people in the trucks and there was still
enough room for us on the street. I was livid that they did not stop but Dad pointed out
to me (later in Lafayette) that they were headed towards where the water was deeper,
nearer to where one of the levees broke. Just as I was about to fall down in the street
and cry, I hear a voice say, “can I help you”. It was a young man in a huge truck with
another young man next to him. I explained to him that I needed to take Mom to the
Superdome and asked him if he would take us. He told me he would but he first had to
take the guy in the truck back to his house. He said that would take roughly 20 minutes.
I thanked him profusely and ran upstairs to get Mom and the food (you had to bring
your own food since the Superdome did not provide evacuees with food). I scurried and
got the food and Mom on the neutral ground then ran back to Boo. I took 2 and a half
weeks worth of food and spread it around the apartment and put down an equal amount
of water for him as well and a big bag of doggie biscuits. I then started downstairs and
Boo was following me. I told him to sit and he looked at me as if to say, “why are you
leaving me” and I nearly died on the spot. I told him I had to get “Gammie” (which Boo
knows Mom by) out of harms way but that I promised I would be back for him which I
thought would be in a day or two. He stayed and I cried and cried and cried and wiped
my tears and joined Mom downstairs. Well 20 minutes turned into ½ an hour and then
45 minutes and then I thought that he wasn’t coming back. Boy was I wrong because
no sooner did I think he had deserted us there he was. By now, the water is rising but
with his truck he got to Napoleon Avenue and then we made our way to St. Charles
Avenue where he had to dodge the fallen trees and wires. I looked at his gas gauge to
which he noticed and said, “yes I am running on fumes.” To this day, I wonder when
and how he got out of New Orleans, or if he is still in New Orleans or even worse if he
did not survive the flood. I only hope he had a Guardian Angel that helped him because
he was indeed our Guardian Angel. We work our way over to Loyola Avenue and now
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are by Poydras St. where the Superdome is located. We look down Poydras St. and
the water is so high that the military trucks are floating! Obviously, we can’t get to the
Superdome so he looks at me and I ask him to go the other direction up Poydras Street
to the Hotel Monaco. I figure that maybe I can get Mom comfortably situated in the
hotel’s lobby and that I would hike over to the Fairmont and see John, our landlord and
stay with him, his wife and mother-in-law. Once at the hotel, some English tourists
descended on our young man asking him to take them to Baton Rouge and that they
would pay him for his time and gas. The poor guy told them he felt bad but couldn’t
help them as he wasn’t sure he even had enough gas to get himself home. We all
hugged and I profusely thanked him and took Mom into the hotel and sat her in the
lobby. I hid her purse and mine under the food bag which was on her lap and I took my
driver’s license and put it in my pocket. A nice older black lady said that not to worry
that she would watch over Mom and I had no choice but to trust her. I then proceed to
go in search of John. It was so spooky on the streets, a lot of unsavory looking
characters running around, people looting and police with big rifles looking to shoot the
looters (which was happening in vast numbers around me). I keep walking but not for
long as all the side streets are now filled up waist deep with water. By now I am quite,
how would you term it, terrified, as I back into a nice policeman with a big gun who tells
me, “madam I don’t think you want to be out here on the street”. I tell him no sir and I
turn heels and rush (almost run) back to Mom at the hotel. When I get back to the hotel,
a lady gets on the hotel loudspeaker and tells everyone that the hotel is closing as well
as all other hotels in the City and that Marshal Law is being declared in 10 minutes at
3:00 p.m. and that everyone should either go to the Convention Center or get out of
town. Well, I knew we were not going to the Convention Center so I told Mom that I was
going to get my car from the parking garage across the street and to stay put and again
the nice black lady smiled and said, “your Momma’s fine, I am here” and off I went. As I
am running up the stairs (10 flights), a menacing man with a tire iron in his hand is
descending and I am now ready for cardiac arrest or maybe my murder! I thought if I
was going to die, so be it, but I was not going down without a fight! I gave him my
nastiest stare and he hesitated for a second and then dashed past me. I now put my
terror aside and leap up the stairs 2 at a time. Maybe he was as scared as I was, or
maybe I did look intimating or maybe I was just lucky - I vote for lucky yet again. Now
my biggest worry is that the car has not been vandalized or worse stolen. Luck was
with me (as it has been since the beginning of this adventure) as it was there and hadn’t
been vandalize. I got in and went down the ramps at 50 mph. I then collected Mom
and hightailed it to the bridge which was 2 minutes away. We were literally outrunning
the water. I then realized I could not get back to Boo and started to cry as did Mom.
She kept saying he would be all right and we would get him back. I thought of the
promise I made to him that I would be back to get him and his pitiful look was now
imprinted in my mind. I also thought that I would go back but to probably bury him. His
look haunted me for quite a long time including now. We finally get to Baton Rouge with
a stop in Gonzales, La because I was running on fumes and I was lucky again to get
gas because most of the gas stations had run out of gas. It is now 6:00 p.m. and I know
there are no hotel rooms available in Baton Rouge but now I am making hotel rounds to
beg them to let Mom and I sleep in the lobby but to no avail. After all, we fled with just
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the clothes on our backs and we did look like vagrants. I even go to a flea bag hotel by
the airport which is also fully occupied and beg. They too turn me down but the
receptionist gives me 2 phone numbers, one for the Red Cross and one for the
Salvation Army. I call Red Cross but they never answer. I then called the Salvation
Army and they want to come to me to lead me back to their office. I tell them to just
give me directions and I will make it there which I do. By now, I am ready to pass out
from being mentally and physically fatigued. By the time we get to the Salvation Army,
all the shelters are filled. I tell them I will sleep in their lobby but they decline citing that
their shelter is for men only. I tell them I don’t care. One of the workers then tells us to
wait a moment and goes and makes a phone call. He comes back and tells us that a
family in Plaquemine, La is opening their home to us and are coming to get us. They
arrive at 11:00 p.m. and we get back to their trailer at midnight. The trailer was so dirty
but it seemed like Mecca to me. Once in the trailer, I called my brother, friends, cousins
and Uncle Runt (Dad’s brother) telling them that where we were but that I did not know
where Dad was and needed everyone’s help to try and locate Dad. Then Mom and I
collapsed and went to sleep.
It is now Wednesday morning after Katrina. I get up and our hostess is fixing us a
nice breakfast even though Mom and I have no appetite. I then noticed that our host
has stayed home from work and was busy making phone calls (which was too kind as
these people were not rich by any means - he worked at a factory) to help in locating
Dad. In fact, he had his pastor looking for Dad via the internet since he did not have a
computer. After breakfast, I went to give Mom her medicines and one of her meds was
running low, only one pill left. I said a mild explicative and our host asked what was the
matter and I told him Mom was low on one of her meds. He then took the pill bottle and
Mom (and I later found out his Pastor) and off they went to CVS Pharmacy in
Donaldsonville to have her medicine refilled. While they were gone I started calling
everyone from the night before to see if any of them had found Dad. After about 25
minutes of calling, my cell phone started to vibrate which of course gave me a small
thrill. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and there was a text message which read, “go
to Southwest Medical Center in Lafayette, your Dad is there.” The message was from
my Aunt Jane (Uncle Runt’s wife) in Tupelo, MS. It seems her Mom, 86 years young
(and I call her Ms. Ann), heard on the television that morning that the local hospital in
Tupelo had a locator service, via computer, to locate patients evacuated from New
Orleans’ hospitals. Well, that got Ms. Ann in gear and she got into her car, drove to the
hospital and in 15 minutes she was back at her house telling Aunt Jane where Dad was
located. By the time I read the text message, Mom had returned from the pharmacy.
We our new found friends good bye and thanked them profusely for their kindness and
off we went to Lafayette. We got to Lafayette in record time, a 2 hour drive became
roughly one hour and 15 minutes (call me “Air Simon”). When we got to Dad’s hospital
room, we all cried and cried and lamented Boo’s demise. And that is how we ended up
residing now in Lafayette.
Now that I have explained how us 2 legged creatures survived Katrina, it is time to tell
ya’ll about Boo or
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“A TALE OF SURVIVAL OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, GET ME OUT OF
HERE AND RETURN ME TO OZ!”
As you recall, Mom and I had to leave Boo and it broke my heart. I will never
never never forget the look in his eyes but I digress. When we got to Southwest
Medical, I started calling every day to the LA SPCA in Baton Rouge but then so was
everybody else whose cherished babies, yes, I said babies because those who have
four legged buddies know that they are our babies, were left behind in New Orleans. I
report Boo’s location faithfully every day until the second Friday when I returned to work
at Lugenbuhl (my law firm where I was employed as a paralegal) in Baton Rouge. By
then I was emotionally jello and when my co-workers inquired about Boo, I bawled
forever. Frazier Rankin (one of the senior partners) heard me crying and asked what
was the matter and I told him about Boo. Now remember, it hasn’t been 2 weeks since
Katrina hit and no one could get into the City without a special pass. Frazier told me
that he had a special pass and was leaving to go into the City to the office and then he
was going to try to get to his house (which was 5 blocks from our house) and that he
would also try and get Boo for me. I grabbed him and gave him a big kiss. My hopes
spring anew now! Alas, it was false hope because around 3:00 p.m. that day Frazier
called and told me that the water was still too high to get to either his or my house.
After Frazier’s call I was so depressed and cried all the way back to Lafayette. Over the
weekend, all I could thing about was whether my baby, was scared, whether he was
alive or worse dead! And, of course during the entire weekend, I kept calling the LA
SPCA over and over again.
When Monday rolled around, and now it is 2 weeks to the day that Katrina hit, I
went into Baton Rouge to the office and had resolved that I would try and find Boo. My
plan included a lunchtime trip to the Lamar Dixon Convention Center in Gonzales where
the rescued New Orleans animals were being housed. One of the secretaries, Doreen,
came with me and boy, it was so depressing there. When you looked into all these
animals’ eyes, they reeked of sadness and I just wanted to take them all with me.
There were so many of them but alas no Boo. When Doreen and I left Lemar Dixon, I
looked at her and vowed I would not stop looking for Boo and that I would come every
day to Lemar Dixon as long as there was a chance that Boo made it and was alive.
When we returned to the office, it was so hard for me to concentrate on my work.
Around 3:00 p.m., all of the female staff which numbered 6 and one of the male
associates congregated in the lobby to chit chat. The phone rang and the assistant to
the bookkeeper was answering the phone (we all took turns at being receptionist under
the circumstances because our receptionist fled to Houston and was working out of the
Houston office). She looked at me and said, “I have a Lt. Colonel Williamson with the
Forth Worth National Guard asking for you”. My response was quite simple, “Oh, shit
what did I do now”! I took the phone and the Lt. Colonel asked to whom he was
speaking to and I gave my name. He then asked where I resided and immediately I
gave him the address for the upstairs apartment. By now, cardiac arrest is imminent!
Then out of the blue the Lt. Colonel asked if I had a dog and I yelled, “Boo” and started
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crying as did everyone else in the lobby, including the male associate. By now the Lt.
Colonel was laughing and said, “I’ll take that as a yes”. He then asked if I had
authorized anybody to come and get Boo and I yelled, “Frazier” and the Lt. Colonel, still
laughing said, “and Frazier’s last name is” and I said Rankin. Frazier got on the phone
and said I have Boo in my arms right now and he is fine except he smells to high
heaven and has lost weight (I had forgotten that Frazier had said that he would try to get
Boo on Monday as he had a meeting in New Orleans then). Frazier then said, “I am
bringing him to you in Baton Rouge so don’t leave till I get there”. I then told Frazier,
“hell will freeze before I leave, just bring me my baby”. When I saw Frazier drive up to
the office, I got on the floor and when he opened the door with Boo, I started singing
Boo’s song, “Ain’t no mountain high enough” (which I sang to Boo when he was a puppy
and he loves this song). Frazier let go of Boo’s leash and Boo jumped up and started
kissing me profusely. I told Boo, “you see I promised you I would come back for you”. I
then kissed Frazier and thanked him over and over and over again. I asked him how he
got Boo. Frazier said after his meeting he went to his house first and the water was
gone. After he checked his house, he proceed to go to mine. He was a block and a
half away from the house on Claiborne Avenue when 2 very young guardsmen stopped
him and asked him where he was going. Frazier told them that he was going to rescue
his paralegal’s dog. One the guardsman walked away and the other guardsman told
Frazier to wait. In a matter of 2 minutes, the guardsman who walked away returned in a
jeep with Lt. Col. Williamson. Frazier reiterated to the Lt. Col. that he wanted to get Boo
for me. The Lt. Col. took Frazier into the jeep and told both of the guardsmen to follow
him on foot. When they drove into the driveway, Boo started barking (thank God Boo is
a terrier because terriers are territorial and bark when anyone enters their turf). They
had to brake down the door (remember that even though I had not locked the door, the
water had swollen it). When they went upstairs my brave four legged soldier, was
hiding under the bed in the master bedroom. Frazier who has 2 dogs coaxed him out
and Frazier said that took all of 2 seconds. Boo leapt into Frazier’s arms licking him to
death.
So now you know the whole story of the family’s Hurricane Katrina adventure. I
have learned a number of things from Katrine though, such as, always tell your loved
ones when you get up in the morning that you love them because you never know what
each day brings, and never put off till tomorrow what you should do today and finally
don’t cherish material belongings over those we love because you can replace things
but not loved ones. Oh, and finally, what if similar circumstances existed and another
Hurricane Katrina hit, would I evacuate? The answer is a resounding, NO, I would be
the fool and stay because if I have to leave this earth, I want to leave it with the ones I
love. However, if another Hurricane Katrina would hit and the family is all healthy and
together, then, of course, we all would evacuate, or in the alternative, we would run like
hell!
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