Like We Were A Rented Mule
Of the 329 million people in America in the year 2020, nobody had a harder year, than the 313 thousand people of Southwest Louisiana. The area’s largest city, Lake Charles, suffered four federally declared national emergencies, in the span of 263 days.
2020 was the year of Covid-19, the pandemic that defined the year for the rest of the world. But in SWLA, the virus played second fiddle to Hurricane Laura, the most powerful hurricane to hit Louisiana since before the American Civil War.
“Train, train, it was like six hours of hearing a train on the other side of that wall.” Fear was one emotion. For some it was guilt, one father thinking, “My stubbornness (about not evacuating) was going to lead my family to their death. I lied during the worst. Telling them it’s gonna be okay, when I really didn’t believe it.”
After Laura, after the adrenaline wore off, people faced the long, slow, rebuild. Women admitted to crying daily, in private, away from the children. “I lost it yesterday. And the day before that. Every day I lose it. Saw my husband go off behind a big root ball to be by himself. He needed that.”
One guy professed to be “clearing limbs and kicking ass,” but another guy confessed, “I’m hanging on like a hair on a biscuit.”
It’s Our Story, Ours Alone
“What I can’t get over is how ugly it still is. If someone from afar could see what I saw today, in what millionth guess would they finally guess, “…somewhere in America?””
Laura remade SWLA into community. The Have and the Have Nots all needed the same things, food, water, courage and perseverance.
“I do like our people. If you’re from around here, you come from something solid. There’s an inheritance, hidden within us, from our ancestors, who went through their storms, and came through.”
One family had a motto – One Day, One Duck. Get a duck in a row, whether big or small, doesn’t matter, just get something done. Little by little, steady by steady, tough, tough, tough.
Where To Get The Book?
• The book is available at Expressions, 3100 Ryan St, Lake Charles.
• If you’d like books mailed to you, send an email to 81unclep@gmail.com. Indicate: Quantity – Names if wanting personalized – Mailing address – your PayPal address
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