Ain't Goin' Back

We had open house tonight. Therefore I am exhausted. However, I thought you all would enjoy this exchange I had tonight with a parent.

This Parent, Mrs. C, is new to town. In fact, she, and the rest of her family are staying with relatives. See, they're from Gulf Port, Mississippi, and Huricane Katrina basically did a number on their home, lives, and livelihood and they headed up here to stay with kin. She enrolled her sun, D, in school yesterday and he landed in my class 5th period. Fortunately for D, we had a lab (and a fun one with something called Oobleck) and it was a good welcome to school for this kid.

So, I'm talking with Mrs. C., telling her about how happy we are to have her and her family here, and to let her know I'm here should she need me. I then ask her how long they plan to stay here.

She looks at me with these big sad eyes and says, "Oh, we're staying forever. We ain't goin' back. No ma'am. We ain't going' back."