Oh, Brother!

I do believe I mentioned that one of the Cake Eater brothers, Stephen, was in town the other night. Steve is the car dealer and when he got stuck here he was returning from getting his first look at his dealership in New Orleans. He was one of the business owners who was allowed to come back into town earlier in the week, to see what the situation was. Well, it wasn't pretty, to say the least. The dealership is, to put it bluntly, wrecked. If it wasn't nailed down, it was either picked up and thrown around due to the storm or someone tried to steal it. Any computers or electronics that didn't get flooded were looted. Cars were stolen, and in one memorable instance an air compressor was ripped off the little red wagon it had called home. If it was nailed down, well, then it was flooded with that murky concoction---and it was five feet deep. I saw the photos he took for insurance purposes and, well, yuck covers it quite well. Not only was all the office furniture, paneling, drywall, wallpaper---and fax machines, copiers, etc. covered in that muck, think about what a service bay at your car dealership looks like and then think of those big canisters of motor oil and anti-freeze and the like---and then imagine them turned over and leaking goo everywhere. I could go on, but I think you get the gist. It's just a mess and a half.

Steve was very tired when he got here, and he was a wee bit dazed, but he had a lot to say about what it was like in New Orleans, how surreal it all was, etc. Yet he neglected to mention that he'd hooked up with a reporter from the Billings Gazette who did a story on the death and dismemberment of the dealership due to Katrina. He never mentioned it, but that stands to reason: he's got bigger fish to fry right now.

I'm just glad I didn't know his GM was packing during their trip. Sheesh.