Hurricane Wilma slammed South Florida today. It was a Category 3 when it hit the coast near Fort Myers. Here in New Orleans it was a crisp cool day and the sky was perfectly blue, no clouds in sight. These days whenever I look up into the sky I fully expect to see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Or perhaps an incoming swarm of locusts.
Today was the first day that our law firm’s New Orleans office was open. At lunch we talked about hurricanes. Every conversation in New Orleans eventually revolves around some Katrina-related issue. Several people can be huddled together at a restaurant table when a cellphone will ring. "Hmmm, I can’t tell who this is," says the person staring at the tiny screen. "But I better take the call because it may be my insurance adjuster. I’ve been trying to reach him for weeks." You don’t want to miss your appointment with the insurance adjuster, that’s for sure.
My insurance adjuster is coming this Friday. Most of the roof work has been done already, but I have some pictures to show him in case he needs verification of my damage. I wonder if I should create a nice Powerpoint presentation too? I want to make a nice impression, you know.
Last week the FEMA representative came. I wasn’t able to meet her but my friend Vincent was there to meet Chloe, who it turns out is a refugee from Nigeria. I found this out when I called her to give her my insurance information. Chloe said that a bad day in her home was finding out that the village well had run dry. A really bad day would be when neighboring warlords would attack the village and force everyone to flee. Needless to say, there is nothing like FEMA in Nigeria. And there is no ‘invasion insurance’ either.
I asked Chloe how she liked it in New Orleans and she said it was nicer than where she was from, but it was still depressing to see so much devastation. But, she said, the work is interesting and rewarding. Plus I’m sure it’s a comfort to know that her FEMA village is well protected.
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