Saturday, September 10, 2005

Thinning Out

When I went back to the shelter today, it was obvious that the place was starting to thin out. There were still thousands there, but people were able to put a little bit more space in between their beds, and a lot of people were out and about, which, presumably, means they are getting on with getting on ... I was surprised that some of my families were still there simply because they were so likeable I figured someone would have "adopted " them by now. The mom with the three cute girls was still there, although she had found someone to let her girls have a "sleepover" just to get them out of the shelter for a night. She was asking me about houses. She was looking for a four bedroom, and her maximum was $800 a month. In my mind, I was going, "Whoa! Is that even possible here?" and feeling really terrible because that probably means the girls aren't going to get in to very good schools, which is a shame because they seem bright. The couple with the two-weeks-old as of Saturday baby was still there, which I found extremely shocking. (Think about that for a second - the baby was all of TWO days old when the hurricane struck, and remember, these people came from either the road they kept showing on TV or the Convention Center. Can you imagine being two days out of labor and having a brand new baby and being in that situation??) I couldn't find Lucille. I don't know if she left of just wasn't there when I was. And, because they are now doing laundry regularly there (or, rather, the Hilton next door is,) I couldn't locate her bed with the yellow sheets that she called "sexy." Another very flirty man was still there, and he thanked me for some clothes I had found for him last Saturday when he arrived. He was still looking for socks. I went and checked, and he was right, there was not a single pair of new socks for men.

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