Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

There are people all over the place involved in finding Billy now, for which I'm very grateful. I want to thank the ladies on the Greg Lake forums for their volunteer spirit and sisterhood.

It's not the first time Billy has gone MIA, gods know. We'd go a month or two without hearing from him when he was in Vietnam, pretty regularly. The first couple of weeks we'd hold breath, dreading the 2 guys in dress uniform would show up at our house. Eventually it became a sort of unspoken tension in the family. We'd watch the news in a grim silence. Then a letter would arrive or there'd be a phone call if he had leave somewhere and it'd all be over until the next time. When he was a cop he was happy and handsome and having a blast, and if anything happened to him he'd be taken care of and we'd know immediately, so you get used to that worry. This is different. A natural disaster is chaotic. There's still no power and no phones working around his house. I'm fairly certain he's staying close to home. But I'm sure that he probably isn't thinking that I'm losing my mind worried about him. Billy doesn't think about such things.

In other matters...
This morning was Larry's memorial, Wendeleh called me after it was over. A full house, a good memorial.

Speaking of Greg, there's a contest for tickets and VIP passes to his London show:
http://www.greglake.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1351955870/0#0

And it's 1:30 already and I haven't accomplished anything but this, answering emails, returning phone calls and chatting on the phone. Time to get off my arse and do some constructive something.

No Way! Not Yet!

Tonight's forecast- chance of snow, low in the low 30s. And tomorrow? Lows in the 20s. This is really not called for. I'm not ready to close the windows for the Winter yet.

Tomorrow is Larry's memorial service. I'm not going. Gal Friday was here this morning and after she left I got into boxes and searching and I sat here too long and now my back is poop. Which means it'll be Kardashian tomorrow. Everyone and his mother will be there so I won't be missed. And like I represented Wendy at Henry's service, she can represent me at Larry's. I have come to hate, loathe, despise and abominate funerals. Larry knew I liked and respected him, and that's what matters.

Not a word about Billy or MaryAlice.

My friend in NY state came home to find her power back on tonight. Woohoo for 20th century living!

Stories are coming out about those who died by Sandy, most in Staten Island. Thankfully, nobody I know among them. Those folks are suffering down there. Manhattan's well on the way to normal, but the outlying areas are far from it. This is the Katrina of the north. Here's a gallery of reader's photos on NJ.com:
http://photos.nj.com/1816/gallery/breaking_news_photos/index.html

A neighbor housed her son and his family for a month here in the Shire. They lost their jobs and home in Texas and had nowhere to go and no money to start up. We aren't supposed to take people in- we're required to report overnight guests and are only allowed to have a total of 4 weeks of stay-overs in a 12 month period- but nobody here ratted her out.  It's possible that only a few knew about it but not likely. People here watch everything. One woman was accused of having an affair with a young man. It was later revealed that he was her son coming by. It's that sort of place, which is why I keep to myself. Still, nobody ratted her/them out. I want to think there's an unwritten solidarity here.

Don't mistake this, we're going through a Great Depression, natural disasters and all. I pray that Obama gets back in. Romney in his magic underwear will be the Anti-FDR. Instead of creating infrastructure jobs to get us back to work and in working order Romnut will just contract everything out to his profit-making tax-dodging friends, thereby creating the sort of plutocracy that all Fascists enjoy. The rich politically-powered will own the government and we'll all owe our souls to the company store.

Yeah, times are a little bit scary.

Dear Campaigns,

Go $%&# yourselves. Really. $%&# yourself really hard because right now I don't care about how much money you need, when your deadline is, or, frankly, whether or not any of you live or die. And how dare you try guilting me with a "statement of contributions" and telling me I can do better? Go take a flying $%&# at the moon. Cuz you can find all the money I'm giving you there. If you haven't noticed, there's some real #$%& going on, like people missing and who are suddenly homeless with nothing left and you want money so you can hassle people for more? You sure you wanna do that? I'm a woman on the edge. One more of you ass bastids emails me for money and I'm never giving any of you a cent ever again.
Sincerely,
LA

Day of the Dead

I had one of those dissociative moments this morning. In the morning fog that I'm becoming used to having these days, I had to regroup. Billy's still missing. Is it really November already? Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away and Christmas, 8 1/2. Halloween goes back in the box and it's time to straighten the house out for the holidays. The windchimes and lawn signs have to go back outside.

And Billy's still MIA.

Kick emailed me that she was going north this a.m. to get gas for the generator. If they could they'd stop by Billy's house. I shouldn't worry about any of them, they're all very capable people and if I got thru Irene they can get thru Sandy. I worry anyway.

There are so many stories coming out of this storm. Trees go roots-up and reveal skeletons. News reporters are helping people around the world locate their dislocated or incommunicado relatives. It'll be another week or more before people have water and power again. And the whole thing is on such a massive scale that I can't grasp it. New Jersey is a very populous place, entirely settled and paved for centuries. It's hard to picture what's happened, even after seeing the photos. Seaside decimated. The whole Jersey shore, all those towns, a big mess now. All those people living in homes that have been flooded, without power or water. And many made homeless. As soon as water recedes, the stench rises. How many homes will be condemned, torn down? How many will have lost everything they ever owned? One article described flying over Seaside, sand-filled roads, and here and there the bright colors of stuffed animals from the boardwalk game stalls, like sprinkles on butterscotch pudding.

Sandy has left about 160 people dead, in all, starting its devastation in the Caribbean. People are missing. A mother lost her grip on her 2 young sons as they were pulled into swelling waters on Staten Island, and she begged nearby houses for help but nobody would come out. A "mini tsunami" tore thru one house in Tottenville, on the southern tip of Staten Island, leaving a 13 year-old girl dead, her mother in critical condition and her father gone. Those claimed by the ocean may never be found.

I continue calling Jersey, but there's no getting thru. The home line has a recording saying my call can't be completed, try again later. Billy's cellphone, which I left a voicemail on Tuesday, just rings and rings now. On top of the power lines being down, cell towers fell too. Day by day my stomach sinks.

Finally just heard from a friend in NY state. She has no power but is otherwise fine. Maybe everyone will just pop up, one by one, like meercats. Meanwhile, we wait.

The Sandy Aftermath in Jersey

Kick's hubby Scott is a handy fella. He's hooked things up to the generator and they're all okay for the time being. Kick is a resourceful woman and is just fine with cooking over a fire. They'll be carrying on as well as can be expected til things get restored.

Meanwhile...

The residents walk around the neighborhood, some decide to leave on foot...

Boats are everywhere but in the water.

Patrick found a bundle of letters in the debris.

                     It's so sad to see all these beautiful boats wrecked and strewn around the land .

                             Patrick dried all the letters by carefully laying them out by the fire.
Kick tells the story:
"The most amazing thing did happen.  we were wandering around like everyone else...must have walked 20 miles.  We walked all the way down to highlands and back.  Patrick found a stack of old love letters dated 1942 to some guy in Troy Vermont!!!  he took them home and dried everyone of them by the fire.  We read them in the dark.  They are addressed to a Mr. Lynn Farnham all the envelopes say is North Troy Vermont...no zip or anything.

"Something so beautiful in the midst of all this destruction.  Reminded us all that love conquers all."

And destruction it is. Photos and vids are everywhere on the intertubes. Kick took this of "the small gas line" as she and Scott drove around the area this afternoon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNqAJk_JVb8
"fist fights at the gas stations. one of his buddies had to threaten someone with a baseball bat. guy tried taking gas cans out of his truck."

And my dear Kick says, "We are so lucky Laura.   I walk 10 feet down the street and I want to cry. people with huge trees on their houses.  walls blown out from the water rushing through.  found a 50 savings bond from Highlands, gonna look for the addressee some day.  I feel guilty taking pictures.  I make sure no one is looking." 
And so closes the second day after Sandy, Halloween 2012.