KOK Edit: Your favorite copyeditor since 1984(SM)
KOK Edit: your favorite copyeditor since 1984(SM) KOK Edit: your favorite copyeditor since 1984(SM) Katharine O'Moore Klopf
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Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Hurricane Rita's Lessons

My brother Wally e-mailed me just now:

Boat is safe. Got the valve stem changed this morning, put the wheel back on, pulled it [back] by 11:30 a.m.

He'd started his exodus from La Porte towing his Oldsmoboat behind his 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon. I'd misunderstood and thought at first that he'd decided to leave it at home so as not to strain the Cutlass's engine, but that wasn't the case. While he was towing it through WallyHouston's "beautiful crime-ridden southwest quadrant," a valve stem blew on one of the boat trailer's tires. He knew he didn't have the time to get it repaired or to tow it back home and tie it down there, so he chained the boat and trailer to a concrete-filled pole on the back side of a brand-new Walgreen's drugstore. It was very hard for him to leave that boat because the first one like it that he'd bought had been stolen; he was afraid he'd return after Rita to find that second boat had also been stolen.


Glad this ordeal is over. Also, sounds strange, but glad it happened. Nightmare though it was, (1) Yvonne & Gary proved to me that they're still my family, (2) I was really touched by the kindness of complete strangers, and (3) it showed me just how unprepared I am in the event of a hurricane. Only time and money can change that last part.

I love you, baby, and thank you for all of your prayers and kind, reassuring words via e-mail and telephone.

Thanks to everyone else for their prayers, too.


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