Ninth Ward Monologue

Hello, I am Anaya Linsey. I live in the Ninth Ward which is one of the poorest communities in New Orleans. When I was nine, my mom died and I never accepted it. My dad couldn't accept her death either but she is still with us somehow. My dad has a picture of her on the refrigerator, and he weeps about how he could have saved her, but I don't believe him. My father sat there and watched my mom drown in the White river. No wonder he was the primary suspect when she died. It’s even worse that he made us live in a poor neighborhood called the "Ninth Ward". The whole place looks like a junk yard with a wall around it to protect it from getting washed away. My father’s house was the last house right in front of the levees. He always tried …show more content…
He told me I’m not going to school until the storm leaves and we get back on our feet. I turned on the news to only hear the mayor has not announced this as a serious evacuation, but thousands of people are still evacuating in the whole southern region. I turned to the weather channel only to hear that Katrina was coming towards the Gulf Coast and was going to hit all coastal states directly. Afraid of what I was hearing I turned the television off. The television was going to be no use during the hurricane. I saw dad run into the kitchen and grab pill bottles and medicine from the cabinets. I didn’t want to say anything but I had no choice but question our safety. “Dad where are we going to hide out during the storm?” He looked at me as if I was the dumbest person in the world. “The attic if the house gets flooded obviously.” I didn’t want to ask him what he meant so I left the subject alone. I looked outside and saw the dark gray clouds in the distance. It was kind of beautiful how they looked even though there was certain death if you got close to them. In my home school lessons dad didn’t teach me about hurricanes, all I know is they are dangerous. I turned around to see dad looking at me. He was looking at me the way he used to look at mom. I wonder if he thinks about mom most the time, but then …show more content…
I heard the crunching sound, but it sounded like a falling iceberg. That’s when I remembered the levees. New Orleans is below sea level and if the levees break the whole ocean comes in. I looked at the hole I kicked in four hours ago. Then just like that the attic started to flood. I woke dad up and yelled, “The attic is flooding we have to get on the ceiling.” He nodded his head in agreement. Both of us started to lay on our back and kick at the ceiling. The water was around my neck when we made the first hole. We got up and started to rip the ceiling open so I climbed out and helped dad out of the attic. That’s when I saw the whole section of the levees fall and watched the water rush in. We were about to stand up when the house shook. “The hinges of the house broke. Get down!” is all I heard dad yell when the house moved at speeds I couldn’t even think of. Then we ran into a tall oak tree. That’s when dad told me to run to the house next to us. I was about to run, only to see a branch from the oak tree fly off and swipe dad from his feet making him roll down the side of the house. I jumped and grabbed his hand hanging over the ledge of our house tilting sideways on a half broken oak tree. I tried to pull him up but he was too heavy. Dad must have saw the worry in my eyes so he spoke. “Swing me on that car next to the house and then jump on the car, I’ll catch you. Promise.” I couldn’t believe what