Au Revoir, Chauncey

The goat and his two humans go home to New Orleans

A A A Comments By Michael Patrick Welch Thursday, Nov 3 2005

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Everyone told their story of What I Did on My Summer Evacu-cation, and discussed the new bevy of local jobs. Everyone either asked or answered the questions "Who's moving away? Who's staying? Are you?" And suddenly living in New Orleans seemed a real, feasible possibility.

We drove away from Molly's with a new sense of hope -- but still couldn't answer the phone when the landlord called with a message reminding us that their property values had doubled. "Which doesn't make sense," Mizzy pointed out, "since the levee coulda broke right at the end of our street."

Jill Hunter

Chauncey, the much-traveled goat, opts for New Orleans.

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This morning, St. Claude's neutral ground is cleaner than yesterday. Already. Our gas works fine, and Entergy workers parked against our levee claim that our electricity will be restored in two days. Still, we're ready to leave New Orleans and go back to the farm, back to Houston. But we can't get Chauncey out.

The only other damage to our Bywater house was that our lone, three-story tree -- which Chauncey was previously barely able to nibble -- now lies on its side, filling our entire yard. And though the tree crushed the homemade fence around his shelter, Chauncey considers this "damage" a vast improvement. He has remained kickball-shaped our entire two-day visit. And when we go out to retrieve him and put him back in his carrier for the long drive, he is somewhere deep in the newly fallen tree, eating for dear life -- so happy to be back in hopeful New Orleans.

So happy, that when our landlords call again, we answer and agree to mail them rent, as soon as we can find a functioning post office. For now, New Orleans is still home.

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