Seeking Refuge

September 12th, 2005

Whitemarsh Island, GA

The last few weeks had been a nightmare for him. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29th. His home got destroyed due to a tree falling on it and he, along with his mother got displaced and packed on a bus heading east to Atlanta. Then from Atlanta, his grandparents came all the way from Tybee island and drove them to their home on the island. With no return in the near future to New Orleans, for the time being Tybee Island would be his home. Having missed the bus this morning as he was unsure of where his bus stop was, his grandfather drove him to school.

Now he finds himself trying to resume normalcy after losing almost everything but the clothes off his back. Running a hand through his moppy brownish-blonde hair, he looked around for a spot at a table. Lunch, if you could call it that didn't consist of much just a chicken patty sandwich doused in hot sauce and tator tots with chocolate milk to wash it all down. It was his first day at Islands High School which is located on Whitemarsh Island, the school itself is the main high school for the outlying barrier islands of Georgia. The only thing people knew about him was that he's a refugee from New Orleans. It seemed to him that in a way people were looking down on him as he was a refugee instead of a resident of Tybee Island.

Glancing around the lunchroom, he spotted a blonde girl who was sitting all alone. He walked over to her table and stood in front of her holding his tray "Is it okay if I sit here?"

She looked up at him, her eyes were blue and he noticed a bandage under her left eye. Taking in her appearance he noticed her clothes were dirty and she looked like she hadn't eaten a proper meal in a few days. Not saying a word to him, she nodded her head. Pulling out the chair, he set his tray down and sat down. Popping a tator tot in his mouth, he noticed she didn't have any food and was eyeing his.

"Here." He said as he grabbed his sandwich and split it in half, he also grabbed a handful of his tator tots "It's not much but you look hungry so here." He held the food out to her. She eyed him as if she was judging his motives, cautiously she grabbed the food from his hands.

"Thanks." She said quietly as she began to devour the food.

"My names Beau by the way, Beau Devillier."

"Macey." She said in between bites of food.

Beau took a sip of his chocolate milk "Nice to meet you Macey, I think I saw you in homeroom this morning...were you wearing a red hoodie with a hole in one of the sleeves?" Once again giving a non-verbal answer she nodded her head as she continued eating.

"Well as Mr. Sellards announced to everyone this morning, I'm a refugee from New Orleans and so far not one person has talked to me albeit the faculty and staff. Are people really that way to everyone? I mean there's refugees in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, and Houston! It's like I'm being treated like a second class citizen."

Macey looked at him for a moment, chewing her food and swallowing before talking "Like Jim Morrison said, people are strange. Don't worry, nobody really talks to me either."

"So which island are you from? I'm living on Tybee with my mom and grandparents, my dad is in San Antonio with the New Orleans Saints, he's one of the team doctors."

"Tybee."

Beau smiled "Cool well maybe we'll see each other around sometime, my other grandparents live in Dulac, that's down in Cajun country where my dad's family is from." He looked at the bandage under her eye "Can I ask how that happened?" Pointing to the bandage.

"Got into ." Her answer was short and brief.

"Did he hit you or.." Beau trailed off hoping for a longer explanation.

"Told me I didn't clean the dishes good enough and threw a beer bottle at me." She answered "Had to clean it and stitch it myself, was mostly healed but getting hit in the face with a ball during dodgeball reopened it and the nurse took care of it."

Beau took a bite of his sandwich as the lunchroom "What about your mom?"

Macey shook her head "I was sleeping one night and woke up in my dad's truck with him driving, I don't know where my mom is. He never told me either, I was six years old."

"That's fucked up, do you have any siblings?"

She nodded her head "Four siblings and my dad."

Beau nodded as the next few minutes they just ate in silence. No other person came and sat down with them but he could feel some people were looking at them and judging them or starting rumors. Typical high school drama. As they finished their lunch the school bell rang signaling that lunchtime was over. Getting up and pushing his chair in, Beau tossed his plastic tray in a nearby garbage can. Macey stood up and wiped her hands on her pants.

"Thank you for lunch, it's nice to eat something a little more than just rice or canned food if it was available."

Beau looked at her "Don't mention it Macey, it was nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand and she shook it.

"Nice to meet you."

The two of them parted way towards their next class. Beau walked out of the lunchroom and halfway down the hall to the boy's bathroom. Stepping inside he headed to one of the empty urinals and began doing his business. Footsteps from outside followed by laughter that got louder as a group of boys walked in. He looked over his shoulder for a moment before looking back down at what he was doing.

"Oh shit if it isn't the refugee from New Orleans." One of the boys said "Guess your gonna have to survive by whatever your mom makes on the street corner huh?"

"Nice one Derek." Another boy chimed in.

Beau shook his head and tried to ignore them. Zipping up his shorts, he pulled down on the handle and headed towards the sink where he began washing his hands. He could see the boys in the mirror, the one with the spiky red hair he assumed to be Derek.

"You know." Derek walked over and leaned against the wall facing Beau "My dad is looking for a good time this weekend. What's your moms number? I might just slip it to him so you can eat McDonald's for the weekend."

Beau grabbed a handful of paper towels from the dispenser, wiped his hands and tossed it in the trashcan. He knew if he swung it'd be a beatdown.

"Dégage." Beau said as he tried to walk past the group.

One of them grabbed his shoulder as Derek pushed him up against one of the bathroom stall walls.

"What did you say you to me you French fried faggot?!"

Beau smirked "I politely told you to fuck off."

Derek took a step back and Beau knew immediately it was too late to get out of a beatdown. Derek threw the first punch which connected with Beau's mouth. In response Beau shoved Derek against the sink, grabbed his shirt collar and punched him in the nose. Derek's friends quickly jumped in as one of them grabbed Beau's arms and held them behind his back as Derek took another swing, this time to Beau's stomach which caused Beau to drop to his knees in pain.

Derek wiped the blood from his nose on his sleeve and spit in Beau's face "Don't forget your place bitch, you don't belong here." The warning bell rang signaling that students should be in their classes. Derek and his friends walked out.

Beau sighed and stood up on his feet. Walking over to the sink, he looked in the mirror as blood had run down from his mouth and onto his shirt. Feeling around his mouth with his tongue, the taste of iron was bitter but all of his teeth seemed to be intact and in place. Splashing some water on his face, he grabbed a paper towel and held it under the water for a second before he began wiping his mouth and his shirt. His greenish-blue eyes were weld up with tears as he wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve.

Turning the faucet off, he threw the paper towel away and headed towards his next class. He had gotten all of the blood off of his face but he felt more starting to rise to the surface.

After making an excuse saying he tripped and busted his lip on the sink. The nurse gave him an ice pack. The rest of the day had been uneventful. People didn't really talk to him at all and he was sure Derek ran his mouth saying how he beat him up. Honestly he didn't really care as this time next year or even better next month he'd be back home in New Orleans. However as he stared out the bus window he knew that was far from the case as no set date had been confirmed for when they'll go back home.

"Hey." He looked up at Macey, recognizing her voice. She stood in the aisle of the bus "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Sure." Beau scooted closer to the window as Macey sat down beside him. She looked at his face and shook her head.

"I heard what happened in the hallway, everyone in our grade knows you and Derek Tyler got in a fight in the boys bathroom. He claimed he won but yet you both have ice packs from the nurse." She shrugged "Guess we'll never know the whole story." Macey said sarcastically.

At hearing this Beau smirked "I was using the bathroom and he walked in and started talking about my mother and how we're gonna have to survive with whatever she makes on the street corner, I tried to ignore him and leave but when I told him to fuck off in French, he swung on me so I swung back then his friends ganged up on me. That's the gist of it." Beau turned his attention back towards the window "Derek doesn't live in Tybee does he?"

Macey shook her head "No I think he lives here in Whitemarsh."

The engine came alive as the bus doors closed. School was finally over. As the bus pulled out of the parking lot, Beau kept his eyes glued out the window. He usually just stared at the changing scenery and would be in deep thought while listening to music.

"You okay?" Macey asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He turned and looked at her "Yeah..yeah I'm fine why wouldn't I be?"

"Well." Her southern accent came out "I'm just making a observation, you were talkative at lunch and now your all quiet."

She was right. Beau nodded "I mean you're right, I usually just use this time to reflect if I'm being honest."

"Oh, do you want me to change seats then and leave you alone to your thoughts?"

He shook his head as he felt his face turning red "No, it's uh actually nice to have someone to talk to."

She smiled "Tell me about back home."

At hearing this his face lit up "It's beautiful, you hear live music from brass bands, food is amazing, I don't know if y'all have Mardi Gras here but if not you gotta experience it, both type of Mardi Gras. It's different in the smaller communities compared to in New Orleans."

"Maybe you can show me sometime, when is it?" Macey asked, feeling her face turn a bit red as well.

"Depends, usually in late February or early March, I think next year it's on the 28th of February."

"I don't know what day that is." Macey commented.

"Fat Tuesday, it's on a Tuesday well it's always on a Tuesday. The day before Mardi Gras is Lundi Gras."

Beau leaned back in his seat as the two of them continued talking all the way from Whitemarsh to Tybee where they got dropped off. Macey stepped off the bus first with Beau following right behind her. They had gotten dropped of at a RV campground. Macey looked at the campground entrance and then at Beau "Well this is my stop." She announced.

His eyes went wide "You live in a RV?"

"If you can call it that yeah, it's really not much. Most of the time I sleep in a tent outside."

Now he really felt bad for her. She had no lunch at school besides what he gave her of his and she sleeps in a tent outside. "Are you gonna have anything to eat tonight?" He asked, a look of concern written all over his face.

She shrugged "I don't know, if my dad went to the store then yes but if not I'll probably just read until I fall asleep."

"Merde." Beau said under his breath "You wanna see if you can come over for dinner?"

Macey shook her head "I appreciate the offer but I can't, my dad is expecting me and if I don't show I'll get punished."

"I'll bring you food, I'll meet you back here later this evening okay? I don't know what we're having but I know we have paper plates and plastic utensils, I'll bring you a water or soda which do you prefer?"

"Beau that's really nice of you to offer but I'll be fine really."

It wasn't fine with him though. He's gone to bed hungry, not because he didn't have food but because he either didn't like what was for dinner or he wasn't hungry at the moment but ended up hungry later and was too tired to be bothered to get out of bed and get something to eat. As for Macey, it appeared from his understanding, she didn't really have a choice in the matter.

"My home is gone, I've been living off the charity of others for the past few weeks. I've got nothing and yet I've got more than you do. The least I could do is make sure you go to bed not hungry. Please...it's the least I could do."

She could tell by the look in his eyes there wouldn't be anything she could do to get him to drop the subject "There's no swaying you is there?" She still had to ask the question.

He shook his head "Afraid not, so be prepared to eat good food and go to bed with a full stomach, okay?" Beau adjusted his backpack on his shoulders.

"How can I repay you?" Macey asked as a few cars passed by them.

"By not going to bed hungry, I'll bring you snacks and drinks as well for later do your siblings live with you?" Beau slowly began backing away to head in the direction of his grandparents

"No I'm the youngest they've all grown and left."

"Okay well tonight, you Macey are gonna eat right I promise!" He said as he waved goodbye to her and started to head home. As he walked away heading home, he didn't see a smile form on Macey's face as the thought of going to be on a full stomach. She didn't tell him but she hoped he'd keep his promise.