The single mother and her two teenage sons, forced from their public housing complex as the building is ripped to shreds. The affluent couple, huddled together as rains and winds play havoc with their house, theater and office.
Two very different families, linked by one disaster, and by a surprising conclusion: Despite the fear, the loss and the bureaucracy, they say Hurricane Andrew somehow managed to make their lives better than they were before the storm.Brenda Boynton moved three times before settling down.
"I was looking and looking and looking and looking for something in my range," said the 35-year-old custodian, who now lives in a $450-a-month, two-bedroom duplex. "I like it because I have my own yard. And I can plant my little plants."
Boynton and her sons, 13-year-old Roderick and 16-year-old Terracish, moved into one of 10 trailer homes donated by NationsBank immediately after the storm. Construction was scheduled to begin on the land beneath the trailers, however, and after four months there, she had to pack up again and move in with her 79-year-old bedridden mother.
The three-bedroom home was filled to capacity with Boynton's sister, brothers, in-laws, nieces, nephews and children - more than a dozen under one roof.
"We didn't have a choice to be around one another," she said. "Everyone needed a place to stay."
In the first days of August this year, the Boyntons finally were able to settle into their new home, less than a mile north of the public housing complex that once was their home. All that remains of those gutted buildings are walls bearing the spray-painted message: "WE NEED HELP."
"I don't care if I don't go back," she said, as she chopped cabbage and stirred the turkey wings steaming on her kitchen stove.
"I think I'm doing better than a lot," she said hopefully.
Unlike Boynton, Larry and Barbara Stein never left their home during or after the hurricane. But between their house, dental office and equity theater, they suffered more than $800,000 in damages.
"We got three-for-three," joked Larry Stein. "The lucky thing is no two hurricanes have ever hit in the same place."
Almost a year after the storm, he still is fighting a battle with insurers and landlords for repairs to his dental office in suburban Kendall. He said he is frustrated but hopeful the repairs soon would be completed.
"You're trying to work under sterile conditions, you know. It's very hard," said Stein, who with a temporary ceiling and lighting was able to reopen two weeks after the storm.
Actor's Playhouse, a two-stage theater located at the opposite end of the same shopping plaza as the dental office, was almost devastated. The main stage had to be reconstructed, there were repeated power failures, the seats needed to be replaced, and props and equipment were destroyed.
But Actor's Playhouse didn't miss a curtain call.
For the Steins, Andrew's impact on their lives has been a great nuisance to be taken in stride. The brochure for the upcoming season exemplifies their attitude:
"We blew you away last season, but we're going to nail you to a seat this season," it reads.