"I told you," Rosalie Lusher announced. "I told you when Katrina was coming she would destroy this house."

"Yes, dear. You say that every time our relatives come to visit," replied James Lusher, her husband.

"Well, I was right this time. Besides, Katrina isn't really my relative. She's your cousin's niece or something."

"She's his first cousin, once removed," offered Rosalie's fourteen-year-old son, Ray.

"I should have had her removed when I had the chance," said Rosalie. "Now look what she's done."

The Lushers were standing outside the wreck of their former home, at 334 Bolden Avenue. A few passers-by were gathering to witness the terrible devastation.

"What makes you say it was Katrina?" asked Marcie Jenkins, a nosy neighbor.

"Why was it Katrina?!" Rosalie shouted. "She was the one who knocked over the figurines on the mantelpiece. Before you knew it, the whole place was falling down. Besides," she added, "she destroyed her parents' house in Alabama already. That's why they sent her here in the first place. I told you she would destroy us, too." She directed the last comment at her husband.

"Yes, dear," James replied.

"But how did Katrina knocking over some figurines end up destroying your whole house?" Marcie Jenkins asked.

"I don't know how, it just did," said Rosalie. "I told you, Katrina's destroyed houses before. She obviously destroyed ours, too."

"I think the mantelpiece broke apart after the figurines fell off, and then the wall behind it started to crack, and then there was a loud noise and we all ran outside," said young Ray Lusher, trying to be helpful. James ruffled the boy's hair in a paternal gesture.

"Well then," said Marcie, "it sounds like the mantelpiece and the wall were just waiting for something to set them off to collapse. Maybe it wasn't really Katrina's fault after all."

"Not Katrina's fault?! Damn it, YES IT WAS!!" Rosalie was almost beside herself.

"It's ok, dear," said James, rubbing his wife's back in a spousal gesture. "Mrs. Jenkins is just trying to help."

"What's all this about a mantelpiece anyway? I don't remember you having a mantelpiece," said Nick Butler, a neighbor from further down the street.

"If you must know, we had it installed last year to make the living room look nicer," said Rosalie.

"We got the Levy Brothers to build it. I helped them out," said James. "We finished it in less than a week."

"Levy Brothers? Never heard of them," said Nick.

"The Levys were the cheapest ones we could find," said Ray. "All the other ones cost at least twice as much." Rosalie glared at her son.

"So maybe it was the Levys' fault," said Marcie Jenkins. "It sound like they did a bad job building that mantelpiece." James Lusher blushed.

"Absolutely not!" shouted Rosalie. "That mantelpiece was fine for three and a half years, and then that...that BITCH!...Katrina comes over and knocks the whole damn house down!"

"The Levys did a fine job," said James.

"Actually, I hired those guys one time to remodel my kitchen," opined Bill Gonzales, who lived around the corner. "They did an awful job, and we had to get rid of them midway through. I just ended up doing the whole thing myself, with my brother-in-law's help."

"Who cares about the goddamn Levys?! IT WAS KATRINA!!" Rosalie's veins were beginning to pop out of her skull.

"With all due respect, Rosalie, I think it was the Levys," said Nick Butler. Several of his fellow neighbors nodded in agreement.

"KATRINA!"

"Levys."

"KATRINA!!"

"Levys!"

"KATRINA!!!!!"

"LEVYS!!!!!"

In the ensuing melee, young Ray Lusher wandered off and started building a castle in a neighbor's sandbox. After working diligently for several minutes, he felt someone push him from behind so that he fell onto his creation, destroying it. He looked up just in time to see his second cousin, Katrina, running off into the distance.