DAY TWO

The second day was not a difficult one either. Understanding we were to assist them in whatever capacity they needed, we were willing to do whatever might be helpful. The only problem we had now was how we were going to get from our lodgings to the station.

Wayne's mother called in the morning. She was staying in Baton Rouge with some friends along with his grandmother. He told her we weren't heading in until noon so she said she would be right over.

The reunion was moving. As an outsider, I felt I was witnessing a very special moment. There were smiles, laughs, and tears but it was good to see that he had the chance to see his family and now know they were ok...everything was going to be fine.

They looked worn, tired, but not beaten. They knew little about their neighborhoods, still had family unaccounted for, and then the sad tale of how a friend of the family had ridden out the storm and was later found floating down one of the flooded streets. It was a devastating blow for all.

His mother was focused on purchasing a house in the Baton Rouge area to weather the aftermath. Wayne offered open doors in Virginia to them but they didn't seem interested. This was their home and they were determined to stay.

The station was swamped and had no way of getting anyone out to retrieve us so Wayne's family gave us a ride to the Louisiana PBS headquarters.

Our task for the day was either finding kids enrolling in school or New Orleans residents searching for real estate in Baton Rouge. Being Saturday, the latter seemed the better option. We found a real estate sign in a yard, called the owner, and made the 15-minute ride to Gonzales.

The office was barren when we arrived as the owner was in the process of changing locations. Their business had gone through the roof in the last few days, selling over a hundred homes, a fifth of the area's transactions in the days following the storm.

The owner sent us to a location where an elderly couple was house hunting but when we arrived it turned out that the home had already been sold. The owner, a local contractor, had a brother who had a house for sale around the corner. It seemed with the current rush of real estate purchases, all the locals were selling their homes. The couple seemed less than impressed with the house but I believe with the supply of available homes running thin that they will likely snatch up the property.

While finishing up the editing of my story I glanced at video another photographer had taken from the convention center. It was brutal, horrific, and seemed to shadow my efforts. I feel as if my part was not enough here and that I need to get to the city. After a phone call later, it turns out we'd be heading in the following day.

We were wrapping up our duties when I noticed a WWL worker crying hysterically. She was being comforted by co-workers and I kept my distance. It turns out a former co-worker and friend of theirs and Wayne's had ridden out the storm and for reasons unknown and unexplainable, he had taken his own life.

It's these outside stories you don't see on the news, but find in the newsrooms, even when so far away from home.

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