Tony Dunbar - Tubby Dubonnet 07 - Tubby Meets Katrina by Tony Dunbar Read Free Book Online Page B

cans of Vienna sausages and bags of chips for sale. Bonner shook his head angrily and waved them off. If they could find food, so could he.
    He was preparing to dive in himself when he saw he had waited too long. A boat with two SWAT-team officers tied off at one end of the bridge. As soon as he saw them, Bonner walked the other way quickly. There was a female sleeping beside the crone, the one who had given him the granola bar. The prone figure clutched a worn poncho around her shoulders. He poked her once in the ribs and pulled the poncho off her back.
    “Hey, what—” She sat up. The old lady started to say something. Bonner put one finger to her lips, “SHHH,” and wrapped the blanket over himself to hide his uniform. He could not see the officers now. The woman he had ripped the cover from was too weak to protest, and she lay back down.
    Then it got worse. Two white buses had been parked in front of the prison, water over their tires. They began to move, creating a wide wake, driving slowly toward the overpass. Miraculously, they navigated the hundred yards belching exhaust bubbles and crept triumphantly onto the pavement. They chugged to the top of the overpass and stopped. A pair of prison guards got out and had a conference. They had brought with them about forty inmates each. Through the wrinkles of his poncho Bonner saw the SWAT guys again. They hiked up their side of the ramp and huddled with the guards. Bonner looked up at the windows of the buses. He saw lots of faces. Surely the prisoners inside could see him and imagine who he was. He stayed as still as possible. The old woman beside him also watched in silence. The day went on.
    Many more refugees arrived on the Broad Street overpass on Wednesday. They swam in or came by boat. The SWAT guys finally left for someplace else. A food vendor showed up in front of Bonner and offered a can of Lay’s Bean Dip for five dollars. Bonner grabbed the man by the throat and whacked his head into the concrete abutment. He tossed the can of dip to the old lady. He muscled the scalper over behind one of the white prison buses. “Meet Katrina, buddy,” he whispered in the unconscious man’s ear. Bonner liked the sound of his new voice. Glancing quickly up at the rear window of the bus, he saw eyes disappear. He bashed the man’s skull on the concrete a couple more times, and then began to undress him. It took only a few minutes to steal a pair of filthy wet blue jeans, an Acme Oyster House T-shirt, and a pair of Adidas. Bonner stripped off his own prison garb and put on the new clothes. He tossed his orange jump-suit over the side. Then he tossed the food salesman over the side. Then he jumped over the side and began paddling downtown.
    At the Place Palais, alone with an empty building to protect, Manuel the security guard had lots of time to reflect about what is truly important in life. In normal times his wife and kids drove him crazy. When he was at home he couldn’t even read the newspaper at night or watch his favorite shows for all the interference. It had been so long since he’d had the TV to himself, his shows probably weren’t even on anymore. He couldn’t take off his shoes without hearing that his feet smelled. He couldn’t yell at his son without his wife sticking up for the kid. She crabbed all the time, and wasn’t interested in sex. Then she bitched at him for always being angry and going to bed early. So, normally, he liked being at work.
    But now he missed the whole crew of them. Manuel had not seen his family for two days, and he did not know where they were. On the police band at his security office, he learned that Chalmette, the town where he lived, was flooded. His house was near the Forty Arpent Canal which would be the most dangerous place to be if the levee broke.
    No one from building management had called or shown up. The land-lines were still working, but he couldn’t connect with anyone. He had tried to reach Bucky, the chief of