A Letter from the Wake of Hurricane Katrina

Dear Panama Red,

Hurricane Katrina came through our town and
destroyed our lovely tropical garden out
back. Everything was flattened.

We started cutting up what Katrina left
behind and began to build a pile in the
back yard. After several days, the pile was
enormous. Something like a small mountain.
I studied the pile for a long time
wondering how in the world I could get it
out of the back yard and into the front
yard next to the street to be picked up. I
decided that the best way was to simply get
started. Working like an ant in the searing
heat of the day, I started dragging one or
two branches at a time to my new pile in
the front.

A strange thing is happening here. The new
pile in the front has become at least three
times larger than the original pile in the
back. The pile out back refuses to change
sizes no matter how much I remove from it.
It's exactly the same size that it was when
I started.

Although this project has been going on for
just a few days now, it seems like I've
been doing this most of my adult life.

I have now given up on the pile in the back
and refuse deal with it any longer. Now I'm
just walking back and forth from pile to
pile staring in amazement. Pretty stupid.

Lately I've been walking through the air
conditioned house instead of around the
house thus avoiding the heat of the day as
I stare at the two piles. Pretty clever.

So far, I have only stopped walking back
and forth long enough to write this down on
the computer as I pass it in the living
room.

- Ric O'Barry

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