When Second Home Becomes the Only Home--II

A while back I mentioned that my sister and brother-in-law had to evacuate their home in Metairie, New Orlean's contiguous suburb, and how lucky it was that they had a condo in the Berkshires to flee to. Having seen them finally this weekend, I can report they are doing OK, although they are a little discombobulated and shell-shocked. It is now two weeks since Katrina tore through their lives and they still do not know the condition of their home.

However, satellite photos and New York Times maps seem to indicate they may have been spared flooding. That's one blessing. Now, they can only hope that despite the worst efforts of the state and federal governments... the local phone company (cell phone still work only sporadically and their home landline rings but Bellsouth's voice mail does not answer)... and the Jefferson Parish police (who should be stripped of their badges and weapons if the stories about them humiliating carloads of black evacuees at gunpoint are true)... they will be able to return soon.

When they do, they will seek a real estate agent who can sell their house so they can once again make welcoming western Massachusetts their first -- and only -- home again.