7 Hurricane
Frederic It
was Friday night so that meant that for the many young people in Mobile it was
time to party. We took a taxi, and Stephan asked the female taxi driver to drive
us to the best party in town. It
was quite a luxury to be dropped off right in front of ‘the
place to be!’ However,
it was crowded in front of the entry. When
we got inside we both instantly felt part of Mobile's nightlife. After
talking with some young citizens of Mobile, we noticed that the hurricane Frederic
dominated their conversations. The hurricane visited the coast of Mexico two
months ago on September the 13th. We
ran into the same man who gave us some excellent advice in front of the bank this
afternoon. He was a judge, and he introduced his wife Ashley to us. After
some general exchange of courtesies and pearls of wisdom, I lost Stephan and
our judge in the crowd. Ashley stuck with me, and that was certainly not a punishment.
She was charming, friendly and easy to talk to. After
she showed some interest in my background, my trip and my country, she started
to tell me about how Frederic was the reason of a tragic drama in her family. “My father
Ike worked for a trucking company at the port here in Mobile. Every morning he
left the port around 5:00am5:00 to be in Atlanta at 9:00am9:00.
There he would unload its cargo and get back home at around 3:00pm15:00. On
September the 13th, my dad was leaving the job site in Atlanta at around 11:00am11:00
while the remnants of Frederick were blowing through. The
worst damage done in Atlanta came by the tornadoes and one of them caught my
dad. There
was no sign of a crash with the bridge. According to accident investigators his
truck was, as it crossed an overpass near the airport, lifted by a tornado over
the guardrail and dropped onto the road below. It
killed my dad instantly.” While
telling me the story she became a little emotional and I tried to comfort her
by putting an arm around her shoulder. It is something spontaneously, inherited
from my mother. I was glad it did not scare her. No, the opposite, she felt comforted
by it. Around
eleven, Stephen came to me and asked me if it was okay to go back to the hotel.
We
said farewell to Ashley and left the party. At 11:30pm23:30,
we were back in the motel room both tired after a long day. The inevitable
moment was there. I had to share a bed with a guy that I had met today. I
felt weirded out, not quivering weird , just a bit uncomfortable. It
confused me because I was well educated, progressive, liberal and open-minded
but still felt uncomfortable. I became
even more uncertain when Stephen came out of the bathroom showing me his nakedness
again, telling me with a smile he was one of the ten Americans that slept naked.
As
he slipped under the sheets next to me, he explained that people generally slept
better naked, it improved blood circulation, reduced stress and built self-confidence. Big
deal when you can walk around naked with such an oversized thing. The
difference between self-insured and insecure was clearly visible in bed. Stephen
took his space his arms and legs spread wide out touching the imaginary boundary
between his part of the bed and mine. I, on the other hand, crumpled up as
narrowly as possible, far to my side of the mattress. It
was so in my head, afraid that every time I would turn, I would put my arm against
his shoulder or put my foot or legs too close to his side. I was afraid that in
my sleep I would automatically feel attracted to the warmest part of the bed. It
made me restless, but my thoughts were my problem. |