Note: This story was produced for the ear. We recommend listening to the audio, but have provided a transcript below. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jada and James Anair lived in a house on the Lamoille River in Hardwick, which had been in James' family since the '20s. On July 10, it filled with 3 feet of water. The foundation washed away, and the house has become uninhabitable. The first time Erica Heilman met Jada and James, they were eating at a picnic table outside Hazen Union High School where the Civic Standard was offering free meals. It was just a couple days after the flood and they were staying with Jada’s daughter a couple streets down from their house. Here’s Jada.
Jada Anair: It's a total loss, the building is not structurally safe. We went in today to grab a couple things and literally 52 years of collecting stuff, I left with two bags. We will never live there again.
Erica: Has this happened before?
Jada: This will be the third time. We got hit with Irene, 2016 we had an ice storm. And this time obviously with this, yeah, we had to go.
James Anair: Well the water rose so fast. It was insane. Underneath my place just totally washed right out, just a big huge hole in the porch and stuff was all gone. And like I opened the door right before we left and it was like 3 feet of water in my garage. And it looked like a giant toilet bowl. And all your stuff is floating and bobbing around and whatever, you know.
Erica: Have you had conversations about what you're going to do?
Jada: Absolutely. We're gonna leave, we're gonna leave.
James: We're gonna leave.
Erica: You’re from here?
James: I was born and raised here. I graduated from right here in 1990.
Erica: So when you say you're going to go, where are you going to go?
James: I don’t know, I’m going south. Probably go to Virginia or somewhere.
Jada: We’ve been talking about this for quite a while.
James: My health has been so bad that it could be … (the house) was bought and paid for…
Jada: We had stayed for the health care...
James: ...It fit my budget. Kept me out of low income housing and all that other crap. You know what I mean?
Erica: You mean the house?
James: Yeah. The house itself. And now I'm, now I'm at the mercy of the wind, really. But I've been lucky. I've got some lifelong friends and stuff and they’re doing pretty good. They got an extra home now in Peacham and we can go down there and stay as long as we want for free.
Erica: You’re going to Peacham?
James: Yeah. As soon as we get done dealing with FEMA and stuff. And, you know, and it really breaks my heart because I'm— I was born and raised in the Kingdom, you know what I mean? And I'm not leaving because I want to, I'm getting forced out, you know, and it's a hard thing to swallow. It's a hard thing to swallow when, you know, I got pride, I chop my own wood, ... hunt your deer, you know, all of that. And now it's, it seems like it's gone.
Erica: What do you mean?
James: Just everything that I had to do it with, and all the means and everything, it's just, it's a lot to ask somebody like me that's had so many problems to accumulate all that stuff again.
I was born and raised in the Kingdom, you know what I mean? And I'm not leaving because I want to, I'm getting forced out, you know, and it's a hard thing to swallow.James Anair
Erica: The second time I met with Jada and James it was two weeks later. They're still staying with Jada’s daughter: four grownups, four kids, one cat and a dog. They're still waiting for FEMA to come. I met them in the pavilion at Atkins Field right before a thunderstorm.
I was thinking about how you were saying that this is a family house. And how complicated that…
James: It’s all complicated to be honest about it. Time just all kinds of just kind of melts together. I don't have a lot going on anyway, one of my arms is all messed up right now, my bicep’s torn so I can't do nothing, I can't pick up nothing decent without squealing like a girl for an hour. So I’m not giving up, but I'm tired. And then we're couch-surfing and everything. I'm 51 years, we're in our 50s, you know. Again, just, you know, how long can you maintain? You know what I mean?
Erica: You were talking about how what was awesome about this house is that you owned it.
James: Well, I could live off, we could live off my disability and her working part-time and making sure I'm OK.
Erica: You own the house.
James: Yeah. It was owned, bought and paid for.
Jada: He just paid some of the taxes the day it flooded.
Erica: What you've just taught me that I didn't grasp before is that even if you have an apartment in Peacham, you still feel homeless.
James: Yeah. Well, you get uprooted, displaced.
Erica: It's not home, no matter where you go.
James: Well, you know, maybe someday when we get another, buy a new place, you know, we get finally settled, if we can ever afford it the way the market is now. We can never afford to get back somewhere where we're on our own, not living besides or on top of somebody or whatever, whatever, you know. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with renting an apartment, but I was born and brought up in a home, and we always had a home and, and it's sad the way the times have gotten now that somebody can't just go out and get another home. Yeah, it's ridiculous.
You know, if you're lucky, you get born into money, or you know, or you're really smart, or something magic happens, you win the lottery or something. But for most people, you can work your nuts off and you're gonna live in a trailer park or something your whole life, you'll never own your own home, you'll never have— the American Dream is fading away. It's getting back to like it used to be in the Depression, you know, where families are— the mother, the son, with the wife and all their kids, they're all living in the same home because they can't afford to buy your own home. Or even if they could, they can't get one.
Jada: We've had a lot of people pulling in and driving by and looking and stuff. And it just, it's upsetting because you're like, ‘You're coming and driving by and looking at my life.’
James: Just so they can look, you know what I mean? Just so they can look.
Erica: What are they saying when they stop?
James: Oh, 'This is bad’', you know? No, no, no, no, no, you know, ‘Hey, I'll talk to you later, man.’ You know, basically that's what you get, you know, and it's like, if you're here for the side show, you know, beat it.
Jada: It’s sad. You have to be sad and angry.
James: I’m not angry.
Jada: Oh, I'm pissed off. I'm pissed.
James: I just feel like I'm a broken arrow you know, I can't fly straight. I just can't and it's just been so much and I just don't want to deal with it anymore. I just want to just move on and go away. Start over, somewhere where I know that the water’s not gonna take me away. You know, I don't care if it's in a box on top of a hill somewhere. That's how I feel right now. You know?
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