Ashley and Daniel Hinton, ten and six years old, lived with their mother and stepfather in Slidell, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. They attended Brock Elementary School together, where Ashley was in the fourth grade at the time Katrina hit. Their mother worked at a nursing home and was planning to become a police officer, and their stepfather worked for Boasso America, a shipping tank container service company. After Katrina forced them to leave their home, the family migrated from place to place until ending up in Houston.

Ashley talks about her home and the beginning of the hurricane:

VOW: So Ashley, how are you feeling right now?

AH: Terrible.

VOW: Why’re you feeling terrible?

AH: Because the only animal that my uncle saved in my house was my dog.

VOW: What’s your dog’s name?

AH: Princess.

VOW: And where’s Princess now?

AH: She’s at my uncle’s. We’re going to get her this weekend.

VOW: What kind of dog is Princess?

AH: She’s a Boxer mix with Chihuahua.

VOW: And could you tell us the other animals that were left behind?

AH: My two rabbits, my two birds, my fish, and… I think that’s it. And my three cats, and that’s all.

VOW: And where do you come from in Louisiana?

AH: Slidell.

VOW: Slidell. Can you tell us about your neighborhood?

AH: They have nosy neighbors. They always want to be in your business, but it’s quiet. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful.

VOW: What’s your street like?

AH: It has pretty houses, and it’s like any other street.

VOW: What do you do for fun on your street?

AH: Play with my friend Miranda.

VOW: Miranda. What do you and Miranda like to play?

AH: Anything. We like to make bracelets or we like to ride bikes.

VOW: Have you talked to Miranda? Do you know where she is?

AH: No.

VOW: Can I take you back before the hurricane? Can you tell us about when you first heard about it, and then what you guys did?

VOW: Well, it was… First we went shopping that day. The day that we left—we left Sunday—we went shopping. And then we heard about the hurricane on the news. And then before we left, we had friends come over in case we wouldn’t see them again. And we had a party, and then after that then we left like…

DH: …at 9 o’clock. It was 9. I know.

AH: It was 9:30, and we left.

VOW: Which day was that, do you remember?

AH: Sunday.

After the hurricane, the two left with their family from Slidell to Port Arthur, Texas, where they stayed with their grandmother, and then on to Lufkin, where they remained during Hurricane Rita. From there, they went to Wells, and then onto Houston, where they initially stayed in a motel with their mother and stepfather.

Ashley discusses how she has been coping with the post-hurricane transition:

VOW: What are some things that make you happy?

AH: Some things that make me happy… Well I just got a new puppy, and she’s a Dachshund, and she’s full-blooded. And her name is Rosie, and the second thing is that I get to go back this weekend and go get my dog.

VOW: Back to Slidell? Have you seen your house yet? Do you know if there’s any damage?

AH: Yeah. We know it’s damaged because my grandma, her house—that my mama, she’s buying it from her—and it got destroyed. ’Cause she went over there.

VOW: So has there been anything fun about moving around like you guys have been doing? What’s been fun about it?

AH: It’s like going from place to place, meeting new people, and seeing the world.

VOW: Is there something that sticks in your mind—something cool that you saw, or someone neat that you met?

AH: Well, I saw… In any town, whenever we drive around, I see the pretty lights. It’s pretty.

VOW: What kind of lights are they?

AH: They’re like lights in the building and stuff. They’re inside the building and the buildings are tall. It comes up tall, and they’re blue, and pink, and all kinds of colors.

VOW: What else has been fun about moving around?

AH: Seeing all the neat houses for Halloween.

VOW: What has not been fun about moving around?

AH: Well, really, moving around is never a fun thing. You get uptight, and you get anxious.

VOW: Have you gotten anxious or do you think it’s more your parents getting anxious?

AH: Me.

VOW: Have you had any good dreams?

AH: Not this morning. If I wake up in the middle of the night—’cause I wake up in the middle of the night at 12:50 each night and then I go to the bathroom—and then I can’t go to sleep until then, so I just sit up because if I go to sleep I have bad dreams.

VOW: Can you remember a bad dream that you had?

AH: Yeah, it was this morning. I have a cat, okay? Well I had a cat and she was really mean. The hotel that we were staying at, they had a cat and it looked just like my cat and it’s mean too. And it looked just like my cat. Same color. And well, my cat, whenever she was hurt, or all of her mama’s… Well her mama and all of her brothers and sisters and her daddy—they’re all black, black and white—and she was orange. She was a orange color. She had a black on her back, and at first we thought it was green. But it wasn’t. And they had a cat at the hotel that looked just like her.

VOW: So this is your dream?

AH: Yeah, but the cat attacked people. My cat does. And the cat attacked people too and I was scared ’cause I had a dream that it attacked me and my little brother, and everyone walking the dogs. It was scary.

VOW: So what do you want to do when you grow up?

AH: I wanted to be a model, but now I want to be a doctor or a lawyer.

Though currently living in a three-bedroom duplex in Houston, the family is unsure about the future.

VOW: Do you guys think you’re going to stay in Texas, or go back to Louisiana?

AH: Well my stepdad, he wants to go back to Louisiana, but I wanna stay here. It’s nice out here.

VOW: What does your mom want to do?

AH: She wants to stay here.

VOW: Who’s gonna win?

AH: Probably my mom, like she always does.

VOW: What’s your big dream?

AH: My biggest dream is that my mama—whenever I grow up—my mama and my stepdad, they become something big. And then whenever they retire, then we’ll be the same just like them.

VOW: And what’s your mom and your stepdad’s big dream for you?

AH: I don’t know. I know one of their dreams, their big dreams, is for us to go to school, and finish school, and do some work. And do something that we can…

VOW: Any last words before we stop?

AH: No.

VOW: Anything you want to tell the world about your experience?

AH: The world is a beautiful place to be.

VOW: Beautiful.