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eleven dollars. I took out a notebook that I usually I’ve got 62 tabs in the book now. From zero
5
keep near the register and started a little tab. to 62 in less than a month. It’s page after page of
That notebook kept coming back out. Next customers on credit. I’m out almost $3,000 so
it was Ms. Richmond. She did housekeeping at a far. I know that might not sound like much, but
hotel and lost that. Her tab was $48. Then it was at a store like this it’s my electric bill, my water
Narrative
a lady who shucks oysters downtown. She’s got a bill, the mortgage on my house. I never missed
big family to take care of, so she’s at $155. Then a mortgage payment in my life until April 1st
there’s another guy who I deliver to, since he’s came and went, and now this virus has me call-
bedridden, and I showed up with two bags and ing around and asking for forgiveness, too. I’m
he had nothing to give me. So he’s at $54.80. paying one of my employees with free breakfast.
This has gone from a grocery store to a 10 I’m maxed on bills. I’m doing my best to keep
food pantry. That’s how I’m feeling. this place open. Everybody here is waiting on
And what am I supposed to say? I don’t blame unemployment checks and stimulus payments
any of these people. I like them. Some of these to keep us going, but let’s be real. Some of these
customers, I love. I truly do. They’re getting by losses aren’t coming back. I know how this goes.
however they can. It’s not their fault. It’s not like I lived in a FEMA trailer for three years after
they’re asking me for handouts on gin or beer. Katrina. I went from having 48 neighbors on my
I don’t sell alcohol. I won’t give loans on ciga- block to having three. They can talk all they want
rettes. What they need is milk, cheese, canned about how we’ll bounce back and this will all be
goods, bread, toilet paper, bleach, baby wipes. behind us before we know it, but not everybody
It’s basics — the basic essentials. One elderly guy bounces back. Some people are already stand-
tried to start a tab for three dollars of snacks for his ing in quicksand. There might be a recovery on
grandchildren, so I gave him the snacks. Another Bourbon Street, but when will it show up here?
lady said she lost her job at a nightclub downtown, Recovering can take forever.
and she tried to proposition me for $20 even Sorry. I try to be optimistic. I try not to
though my wife was standing right there working be angry. There’s no use in it, and it’s not my
at the register. I gave her the $20 and she left. personality.
Steve Pyke/Getty Images Jim West/Alamy
These are photographs of the two neighborhoods that Cotlon describes in his piece, the tourist area of
Bourbon Street (left) and the Lower Ninth Ward, where his market is located.
What differences do you notice between these images? How does Cotlon’s description of these two
neighborhoods compare with their representation in these images?
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