Today's tips are for Molly

When I made my regular stop at the Cafe Allegro this morning to get a cup of coffee, there was a display on the counter: snapshots of a young woman in a bikini and denim cut-offs, and of a boy (or maybe a girl? maybe both?) running through a sprinkler, maybe one of a dog too. In my regular morning daze, it took me a while to notice that the tip jar was in the middle of this, with a note that explained: "Today's tips are for my friend Molly." The barista gave me my coffee and said, "Today's tips are for my friend Molly. She lost everything to Katrina."

"Does she live in New Orleans?" I asked, as she got me my change.

"She lives in Biloxi, Mississippi."

"Yeah, Biloxi ..." I said, trying to indicate that I knew Biloxi had been hit more directly.

"Except there's no Biloxi anymore," she said. "Molly's house is gone. She lost everything."

I put five dollars in the tip jar, which didn't seem adequate to "everything".

"Thank you," she said with a smile, as she turned to the next customer.

And now the disaster has a blurry, but more personal, face for me.