August 29, 2005 marks the day the world has now recorded as one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the United States. Hurricane Katrina struck the poorest region in this country, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. She changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The following story was inspired by an interview I conducted with my neighbor. He moved to Los Angeles after losing everything to the storm in New Orleans. Although the story is fiction, and written to connect with the other short stories in the book, some of the incidents, times and locations are true accounts of what he described to me during his four day ordeal of waiting to be rescued. My neighbor declined interviews from dozens of Los Angeles newspapers that contacted him. His simple request to me was that his name be Chris in the story. I am honored he felt comfortable enough to share such an intimate story with me. He cried twice and broke down once. A man who can no longer sleep when it rains. A man proud to be from New Orleans but angry that he was left to die.
I dedicate the story, When Chris Met Katrina to EJ from apartment #7
also
my Grambling State University roommate, Kelly Lawrence. A Louisiana native whose face flashed on CNN news with her three children at the Houston Astrodome.
And respectively,
to the millions of people
effected directly and indirectly.
love, libations and prayers.
nikki
An awful truth.
Thank you for sharing these stories and giving voice to the people devastated by the tragic events during and after Katrina.
Your welcome! Thank you for reading! I was impelled to write these stories.