So we stopped at a gas station to get some chow and then we went to the Waveland hospital. We spent some time reorganizing their storage area and working in the kitchen. I worked out on the docks and cleaned up all kinds od trash from soda bottles to scrap pieces of metal to old steel tanks.
The hospital staff had a big meeting that day so they were getting a special dinner along with the patients. By the way there are about two dozen patients in the clinic. There used to be about 125. Stuffed shrimp, scallops, blackberry cobbler, salad, sweet tea. Oh we went into the kitchen where I grilled about 60 ribeye steaks. I hope they turned out well and I think they did. The cook, Bonnie, let me go at it, which was really cool. Another thing about Bonnie. You may have heard stories about her boyfriend, whose name I don't know. When the hurricane hit, he fastened himself with a belt to a tree above his house and watched his whole neighborhood deteriorate. A boat floated by him and he grabbed onto it and rescued four more people. The boat was recently returned to the owner and spraypainted on it are the words, "Sorry about your boat it saved five people's lives." And he got interviewed by a bunch of major news channels.
Then there are stories like this one. One woman employee at the clinic, Deanna, lives with her 17 month-old daughter and her husband. A woman offered them her house for 8,000 dollars. They took it and started building on it. Then the insurance company and real owner got involved. Turns out this person was the renter of the property. She took their money and ran. FEMA won't help them either because their damage or living conditions weren't bad enough. All they really have now is each other and God. I mean what do you say after hearing a story like that? How do you react? What do you do?
After we left the hospital we drove to the beach again wand walked around in Bay St. Louis and Waveland. One year ago, there was bumper to bumper traffic here. Now, barely a car drives by unless it's for work. The only other people on the beach was this high school church group. They couldn't go in the water so they used a hose and some plastic and made a water slide. That was the best they could do. And they were from a beachside Episcopal church, which now meets inside a tent.
Dinner was pot ropast, veggies, rice, and salad. The group that went to Louisian stayed later like we did. So Jim, Todd, Susan, Evan, Mary, and I walked across to the 2-lane street from camp to this coffee shop in this 8 or 9 store building. There was one car in the whole parking lot and only 2 or 3 of the businesses are open. Not being a fan of coffee, I got a peach/pina colada smoothie with ice cream and whipped cream for 3.50. It was incredible after a long day like that.
By the way, is a black cow a root beer float or a Coke/Pepsi with vanilla ice cream? Believe it or not, this became a major debate tonight.
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