Gracie was sitting on the end of the bed, looking at the TV a few of
feet in front of her. Her little sister Megan was arguing over
something with their mother—again. She wanted to scream. It wasn’t
fair!
Only a few short weeks ago, she would have been sitting in her own
room, playing on her computer and texting her friends. Today, she was
sitting in a hotel room, without cell phone service and sharing the
cruddy old television with everyone – her mother, her father, and her
sister.
And they were watching the news because that is what her dad wanted to
see. All because of a stupid hurricane. Hurricane Sandy had ruined
her life.
“Turn it up, Gracie,” Dad said, when the arguing was too loud to hear over.
Gracie sighed loudly and did as she was asked.
The announcer was talking about having a Thanksgiving dinner
somewhere. Gracie tuned it out. She didn’t care anymore. Unless
someone fixed their house really, really fast, she didn’t have
anywhere to go for Thanksgiving dinner.
Her only relatives, her grandparents on her mom’s side, lived in
California. And since the wall of water swept into town and the family
car sat in three feet of water overnight, they were kind of sans
vehicle.
“This stinks,” Gracie said to herself.
“It all stinks,” Dad said quietly. Gracie blushed with embarrassment,
not realizing her dad could hear her over the argument.
In the two weeks they had been crammed in the hotel, there had been a
lot of arguments. Mom’s business was underwater, dad’s business was
without power and her school was without power. Sure, the first day
off from school was fun, but then it got old. Fast. Gracie missed her
friends, her free time. Heck, she even missed the tests and quizzes
and school lunches.
“I suppose we can have turkey sandwiches for Thanksgiving, huh?” she
said, trying to be optimistic and a little grateful. It wasn’t like it
was her dad’s fault this had happened.
But she was still mad over it.
“That’s what I was watching. It seems they’re holding a large
Thanksgiving dinner in the Old City Hall. We could go. Maybe some of
our neighbors will be there. Some of your friends. Would you want to
go?”
Gracie tried not to roll her eyes, so closed them instead.
Yeah, she would go. But it would be different. Where would her mom’s
famous crescent rolls be? Would City Hall have pumpkin pie? What about
stuffing? When she thought about everything they wouldn’t have at this
year’s Thanksgiving, Gracie wanted to cry.
“When is that dinner?” Mom asked as she sat down on the bed.
Dad said, “Thursday. About noon. All of the churches in our
neighborhood got together to plan this. They know people are going
without a lot and wanted to try to get them together.”
“That’s a good idea. We can go and clean up some more in the morning,”
Mom said, “and then walk over before they start serving.”
“Great, more cleaning,” Gracie said.
Her sister Megan was right next to her on the bed now. She said,
“Yuck. I am tired of cleaning.”
“I am, too,” their mother said. “But if we want to live in our house
again, we have to get it cleaned so it keeps drying. After the
insurance company can look, then we can hire people to fix the other
problems.”
It still wasn’t fair. Even though all of their neighbors had been
flooded and probably most of her friends, Gracie kept wondering why
they had to go through this.
“What do you say, girls?” Dad asked, “Do you want to go to the dinner
and see our neighbors and friends?”
“Yes!” Megan said. Megan didn’t have a cell phone yet and didn’t miss
her friends as much as Gracie did.
Her mom and her dad looked at her and waited.
What was she supposed to say, after everyone else thought it was such
a great idea? No?
“I suppose,” Gracie mumbled. “But I really hope they have pumpkin pie.”
“I hope so, too,” her dad said. He looked sad but she was feeling too
sorry for herself to care much.
Gracie’s family spent a few days in their house, throwing out most of
their possessions from the basement and the first floor. Luckily,
their bedrooms were on the second floor and those belongings were not
ruined. However, there was no electricity so they still couldn’t stay
overnight. It was too cold and there was no way to cook.
Finally, it was Thanksgiving morning.
Gracie didn’t feel like she normally did on Thanksgiving. She and
Megan usually woke up to the smell of cinnamon rolls and crescent
rolls baking in the oven. Depending on how big the turkey was
determined how early Mom had to wake up to put it in the oven.
Sometimes the turkey was already in before they woke up!
Then, the two girls would sit in their pajamas, under their favorite
blankets, and watched the Macy’s parade.
This year, they all were able to watch the parade, but from their beds
and without their favorite blankets. And there were no good smells.
Just the hotel room, like usual.
Gracie felt like crying. No cooking for their family today. No dessert
to have before bedtime tonight.
“Let’s get dressed and have some dinner,” her mother said once they
were all awake. “We’ll fill a few more bags of trash and then walk to
the Hall and see who’s come out to eat, too.”
Megan seemed excited to be going out again but Gracie was sick of it.
She hated seeing the trash piled high outside of their home and all of
their neighbor’s homes. There was so much trash in the road that they
couldn’t put anymore out or the garbage trucks wouldn’t be able to get
through!
“You ready for some pumpkin pie?” Dad asked as they started walking to
their house. They had to walk a few blocks and then jump on the train
in order to reach where their home was out on Staten Island.
“Yeah,” Gracie said without much enthusiasm.
“You know, it might not be the same as what we are used to,” her
father said with a bit of admonition in his tone, “but we have a lot
to be thankful for this year.”
“Like what?” Megan asked. “Our house is trashed.”
“It is wet,” Dad admitted, nodding thoughtfully, “but it is still
standing and structurally sound. It didn’t blow down, burn to the
ground or get washed away like a lot of other people’s homes did. Once
it dries out and the electricity is on, we can go back.”
Gracie supposed he was right, but it still stunk.
“And we have insurance to replace the items we lost,” Mom added. “A
lot of people didn’t. Plus, we were able to get a hotel room and not
have to stay in the school gym. There are a lot of people there who
weren’t so fortunate.”
“I know,” Gracie replied. She did feel bad about other people’s
losses. Was it wrong to just want to go home and have heat?
Dad said, “Let’s make the best of this and remember all of what we do
have this year instead of what we don’t. Because through it all, we
have a lot to be thankful for.”
“Like our beds and our clothes that were up in the bedrooms,” Megan chimed in.
“And the bathroom and the computers upstairs,” Mom added. “Once, the
power gets back, anyway.”
They spent a couple hours bagging up stuff that had been sitting in
water. Everything from the basement had to go, so they kept filling
bags with toys, blankets, pillows and everything that was in storage.
It hurt Gracie to see so many of her old memories muddy, reeking of
filth, and tossed into black bags like the trash they suddenly were.
“I’m hungry!” Dad declared. “Who wants to head to the Hall and eat?”
There was a chorus of “Me! Me!” around the room.
“Gracie?” Dad asked, looking pointedly at her, like he was asking if
her attitude was gone and she would be happier when they left.
Gracie mentally took a deep breath and agreed to try.
“I am,” she answered and forced a smile. “And they better have pumpkin pie.”
“Here, here,” Mom said as she led the way up the stairs and out of the house.
In the streets, the mountains of garbage were piling up, but past the
refuse were their neighbors. It seemed like many people had come from
the hotels or relative’s homes in order to have dinner in their
neighborhood.
“Hey, Gracie,” someone yelled behind her.
Gracie turned to find her friend Stacy running towards her. She was
with her mom, dad, and brother heading to the Hall.
“I was so hoping you’d be here,” Stacy said with a bubbly smile.
“It’s been forever with the stupid cell phone towers down.”
“I know,” Gracie answered as she hugged her friend. “I thought I was
the only one on the planet without texting right now.”
Gracie was pretty sure she saw her mom and dad roll their eyes, but
she didn’t care. She linked arms with Stacy and they walked inside the
Hall together to find seats.
As she entered, Gracie glanced over to the table along the wall and
noticed pumpkin pie! Her dad caught her eye and winked.
It was going to be a great dinner after all.