Thursday, September 1, 2005. Morning.

It was near impossible to get any decent sleep. I woke up and glanced at my wristwatch. It was 8 a.m. Since my door was open, I could hear voices out in the hallway. Through the fog of waking up, it began to dawn on me that I hadn't heard any announcements about buses being located. Disappointed, exhausted and with no place to go, I dozed back off.

After getting a bit more sleep, I woke up, looked at my watch, and it was now 9 a.m. I could still hear people talking in the hall. "God, I'm still here," I thought. "I'm never going to leave." I drifted back off.

Forty-five minutes later and I woke up again. It was quiet. I froze and listened, but I couldn't hear anyone talking out in the hall. I got up, walked over to the door, stuck my head out into the hall, and didn't see anyone. "That's odd," I thought.

I came back inside, picked up the phone and dialed the front desk to see what was happening. The phone still worked and it rang twenty-five to thirty times. No answer. "That's weird," I thought. "Maybe I dialed the wrong number."

I hung up and dialed "O" for the hotel operator. Again, twenty-five to thirty rings later, there was no answer. "That's weird," I thought. "Maybe I dialed wrong a second time." I thought about that for a second. "How could I dial wrong? All I did was push 'O.' How the hell could I get that wrong?" I was trying to find a rational explanation as my heart beat faster.

I threw on my tee shirt, shorts and sandals and headed for the one elevator that still worked. Since this one didn't come to my floor, and was in a different part of the building, I had to go down my hallway, take the emergency stairs one flight to the fourteenth floor, and then reverse directions and cut back across the hotel to the elevator.

As I ran across the fourteenth floor I passed many rooms that had the doors propped open. Each one after the next was empty. I saw several trays with dirty plates on them, sitting on the floor just outside the room. Some even had leftover food. They looked like they had come from breakfast this morning. My heart and feet sped up.

I finally got to the elevator, relieved to see that it still was in operation. I pressed the call button and waited.

Damn! Where is the elevator? Finally, the doors creaked open and I hopped in. I hit the button for the first floor. My mind and heart were racing far faster than that old elevator could go. Finally, I got to the first floor, the doors opened, I popped out, rounded the corner, and was met by my worst fear: the lobby was completely empty. I had been abandoned.

"No, that's not possible," I thought, despite facing the evidence right there in front of me. The lights were on, papers were on the front counter, and everything was the same as the night before, except all of the people were gone.

I yelled out, "Is anyone here? Is anyone here?" No answer. I ran across the lobby. I looked over and the front doors were chained and padlocked shut.

My God. My one chance to get out of this hellhole and I missed it. At that moment, my greatest fear was the thought of facing Kathy and telling her that she was right, I slept through the P.A. announcements. "Get on with it man. Find the damned people!" I began to move again.

I ran up the mezzanine stairs and down the hall to the hotel executive offices yelling, "Is anyone here?" as I ran from locked door to locked door. Silence.

I ran back downstairs. I didn't know if I could even get out of the hotel, let alone find the people. I ran out to the garage exit, my heart pounding so loud that I could feel it in my ears. The sliding glass door was jammed open, leaving about a twelve-inch gap. I tried to push it further open, but it wouldn't budge. I was able to wedge myself through.

I wasn't trapped, but I didn't know where everyone went, and most importantly, what I was going to do. I decided to try to find them. Maybe I could spot the buses on the street, or maybe the buses were at the Holiday Inn loading up right now.

I ran through the lobby, caught the elevator up to fourteen, ran across the hotel and up to my room, threw my things together and flew back downstairs.

As I was running across the lobby in the direction of the garage, I was startled to see, through the glass front doors, two New Orleans Police SUV's and four officers in bulletproof vests, with guns drawn. The SUV's were parked in the middle of Royal, two officers were in the street, and the other two were up on the sidewalk right in front of the hotel doors.

One of the officers saw me and yelled out, "There's someone in there." "Thank God. I'm saved," I thought. The officer tried the door.

"You'll have to go around to the garage," I shouted. She understood me, so they got in their vehicles and backed down Royal. Feeling elated, I ran out to the garage.

As I rounded the last corner, I could see that they had backed both vehicles all the way into the garage, in a defensive posture. I squeezed myself and my bags through the small opening and two of the officers walked towards me, guns still in hand. "Where are all the people? What happened to the people?" I asked, in desperation.

"We have no idea. We heard that one of our officers was down here, so that's why we came," said the one closest to me.

By now, I was standing right next to an SUV. "What do you mean you don't know? I pleaded.

"Sir, we have no idea in the world where the people are. We just came to retrieve our officer," he said.

"Well, I haven't seen any officer," I replied.

I still didn't know if I slept through the announcement or what happened to the people. In addition to figuring out what I should do next, I was stuck on solving that mystery. I just couldn't believe that they had left me behind. "Well then, just what do you suggest that I do?" I asked him.

"About the only thing you can do is go to the Convention Center," he said blandly.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked.

"No sir, that's about all you can do right now."

"Well, can you guys at least give me a ride down there?" I asked.

"No. We can't really do that. If we drive down there in these police vehicles, we're going to draw gun fire," he said.

"You're joking, right?" I stammered.

"No sir, I'm not," he said.

Wait a minute. These folks were heavily armed, in fast vehicles, and they wouldn't drive me to the Convention Center, but they were suggesting that I just walk over there by myself. I was struggling to comprehend what he was saying and what that meant when he said, "Good luck." With that, they got back in their vehicles and sped off.

So there I stood, in the hot deserted garage, with one bag over my shoulder and one in my hand.

I realized now, in a way that I hadn't before, that this wasn't just an uncomfortable situation; it was downright dangerous: I could lose my life.

I had waited for the federal, state or local governments to help us. I had waited for the Red Cross, the National Guard, the Salvation Army and any other aid organization to help us. I had depended on the hotel management to take care of us. They had all, finally, failed.

As I stood there by myself, my thoughts became clear: if I was going to ever get out of New Orleans alive, it was going to be because of my own efforts. I had to find my own way out. No more looking outside for authority figures to make the decisions and make it happen for me. I had to trust my own instincts to lead me out. I walked out of that garage. I knew I wasn't coming back.