My father believed in work and in working.
Hollie Atkinson's sons began work early, and we worked hard. As a young man I
mowed yards, did janitorial work, and loaded oil onto freight trains and trucks.
I remember that I did the math one evening and found that I had loaded ten tons
of oil by hand that day.
I'm glad my father taught us to work. I know
what it is to put in a day's labor and to be bone tired. Okay, I had forgotten,
but today I got a big reminder.
Wednesday afternoon the news began to hit home.
Hurricane Rita was looking to be as big or bigger than Katrina and heading for
our coast. My in-laws live in Victoria, Texas, a small town about thirty miles
north of Port Lavaca. Right in the path of the storm as predicted at that time.
My father-in-law called to tell us that there would be a mandatory evacuation of
the entire town on Thursday. He wanted to board up his windows, but there was no
plywood left in Victoria. Jeanene and I hurriedly purchased twenty pieces of
plywood, loaded them in our minivan, and headed for Victoria. We got there about
8pm.
My in-law's home is all brick, so we had to
drill holes in the outside walls with masonry bits and sink special screws to
anchor the wood. I'd say we burned up four bits that first evening. This morning
we went through a few more.
You know, whenever I see hurricanes on the
news, they always show these people just as they finish driving the last screw
to put plywood over their windows. I never stopped to consider just how much
work is involved. I worked from early morning until noon today. It was over 100
degrees, and by the time I was finished my arms shook if I tried to hold them
up.
I was utterly spent. Jeanene had to drive most
of the way home. I could hardly sit up in the seat. I was so dehydrated that my
lips were turning a whitish color. I drank half a gallon of Gatorade on the way
home, and I still haven't had to pee.
What, you mean sitting around writing and
working with your mind for twenty years makes you a little soft? Who knew?
When we were finished, we joined the hordes of people
crowding every highway moving north. There was no gasoline anywhere in Victoria.
Luckily, Jeanene had filled our car up the night before. We drove for hours just
to go a little over a hundred miles, finally arriving home early this evening. I
would have hated the drive if I hadn't been hearing what the poor people trying
to leave Houston are going through. My sister and her family live in Houston.
They just gave up and stayed at home. She said, "There's no gas anywhere and
it's a fifteen hour drive just to get out of town. I'd rather be in my house
than sitting in my car on the side of the road."
So in case you were wondering, I'm fine. The
storm now seems to be heading East of us. San Antonio and other inland cities
will have some serious weather, but we'll be okay. My in-laws are safely here in
San Antonio for the duration. We couldn't finish all their windows. My
father-in-law is 74, and he worked as hard as I did. We finally ran out of
strength and time. We knew the highway was only getting more crowded, so we
left.
You know, last week I drove a young man who was
from New Orleans to a place in San Antonio where he could catch a bus to
Houston. He was going to move in with his cousin and start a new life there. All
of his possessions fit into a couple of bags.
I wonder how he's doing now?
I don't know anything. I'm too tired to know
anything. I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll know some things tomorrow.
rlp
