Things like this don't happen in America

Whats it looking like? I asked my father. I had taken a break from my packing to consult the news, which for the past day or so, had been perpetually turned on. Not good, he replied. The next day, August 29th, just after dawn, we would begin our 12-hour journey to Massachusetts from Cleveland, Ohio. At the same time, it was predicted that Hurricane Katrina would begin her destruction of the Gulf Coast.