PASADENA, Texas (AP) – The line snakes on and on, along a wall inside the shopping mall, each person in search of help after a hurricane swamped their town.
As they wait, they ruminate.
Samantha Cusson, a 31-year-old mother of two, found out just before Harvey hit that she’s pregnant with a third. She worries about finding a doctor for checkups and wonders when the Subway shop she works at will reopen. When it finally does, she wonders who she’ll find to baby-sit her girls after the storm scattered those she turned to, and how she’ll get to work, since her car was flooded. Her next check will be a pittance, the rent is already overdue, and there are no savings.
Most of all, she worries about shielding her children from the reality that washed in.
“I can’t show it,” she said of her apprehensions. “They’re fine because I’m fine.”