LACOOCHEE - The nearly 200 people who took shelter at Lacoochee Elementary School suddenly were in the near-dark Sunday morning when the power cut out about 10:10.
People abandoned the windowless cafeteria and settled into classrooms that did have windows. In Room 203A, some 20 Lacoochee residents held an impromptu church service.
"Are you ready," a young girl sang.
"Children, are you ready," the small congregation responded.
"Oh, are you ready."
"Children, are you ready."
After the call and response song, Deacon Robert Coleman began reading: "What a friend we have in Jesus."
"There are three congregations here," said Coleman's wife, Tina. "We're doing fine."
She said everyone was a bit surprised when the power went out. But she said the classroom was a perfect place for relaxing, for napping, and for a church service.
Lacoochee principal Ky Grand was not at his school Sunday, having broken his shoulder at home earlier in the morning. He opened the shelter and was in charge of the school Saturday, then went home Saturday night for some sleep.
"I got a good night's sleep; I would have been in great shape," Grand said. He said he went out into his driveway to get his morning newspaper and "hit a slick spot." He fell, injuring his shoulder and his hip.
"I'm feeling a little guilty about not being there," Grand said. "But we'll all make it through this."
Grand was keeping tabs on his school from home. A generator was on its way to the school by late morning. Other school administrators were headed to the school to relieve those who hadn't had a break.
STEPHEN HEGARTY
Passing the time
LAND O'LAKES - More than 100 people hunkered down in a wing of Pine View Elementary School. Most were evacuees from mobile homes considered too flimsy to stand up to Frances. Dominoes clicked, cards flipped, TVs glowed and toddlers toddled.
For Millie Soloman of Lake Bambi mobile home park on U.S. 41, passing the time meant leafing through Southern Living magazines, doing crossword puzzles and chatting. You want to know her age? Let's just say she's a senior.
"I usually wear high heels, but today I've got flats," Soloman said, perched at a student's desk, rain lashing the school's basketball courts outside the stormproof windows.
Pine View's reputation for structural soundness - it opened just last year - brought Beverly Rumsey and her family from Hillsborough County.
When the wind ripped a limb from a tree near their modular home near Livingston Avenue they knew it was time to leave.
The Rumseys - Beverly, John and Jonathan - passed the time playing rummy. The shelter served eggs and ham for breakfast Sunday. Pizza was on the menu Saturday night.
Sleep was hard to come by on the hard tiled floors. Some didn't drop until 3 a.m. Weepy children didn't makes things easier. But few wanted to face 60 mph winds in a tin can.
"It's better to be uncomfortable and know you'll be okay," Beverly Rumsey said.
JAMES THORNER
"What can you do?'
ZEPHYRHILLS - Power blinked off at Zephyrhills High School about 10 a.m. Sunday, and Nina Redman sat on the end of her lawn chair gazing outside toward the light.
"What can you do?" said Redman, 69, who stayed at the school Saturday night with her husband and son.
About 1,300 people packed into the school - the city's only shelter - many of them elderly mobile home residents. One wing was reserved for people with special needs.
Even with an official capacity of 3,600, conditions were growing cramped.
"There's still a lot of Zephyrhills residents out of town. We're lucky in that way," said Ron Cherry, an assistant principal at the school.
"It's going to get anxious all through the day," he continued. "We've got a lot of elderly people. They just get anxious. They want to go home."
Throughout the morning, people slept, or tried to sleep, on air mattresses and lawn chairs. Some played cards and watched televisions tuned to weather reports. A steady flow of people passed through the glass doors to smoke outside.
But when the crowded main corridor went dark, children became excited. Older folks wanted to know why the generators didn't keep the lights on.
Zephyrhills police Officer Robin Kirk said the generators weren't hooked up correctly, and officials were working to get power back on.
The special needs unit was taken care of, with light and air conditioning, Kirk said. But through the afternoon, wind whipped around outside, the rooms remained dark and large fans pumped damp, warm air through the doors.
Kirk said some people became agitated but were generally taking things in stride.
"We got lunch served," she said a little after 1 p.m. "So they're starting to calm back down."
The Redmans, who live in Forest Lake Villages RV Park, just tried to keep track of their belongings and each other. Jerry Redman, 71, recently had surgery and struggled to get around.
After a trip to the restroom, Redman made his way from a wheelchair to a regular chair using a cane. He leaned back and rested his head up against the trophy case behind him. His son, Jerry Jr., placed a pillow in front of the glass.
"That's not bad!" the elder Redman said, smiling.
MOLLY MOORHEAD
Sharing a toothbrush
NEW PORT RICHEY - In 59 years of marriage, Joanne Pizzuti had never let her husband borrow her toothbrush. But it finally happened Sunday, at Chasco Elementary School. Tony forgot to pack his.
"So this morning he had to use mine," she said. "Ugh."
Tony, 81, didn't hear her complaint. He was caught up in a game of pinochle with three of his buddies.
The card games started before 10 a.m. Sunday, earlier than then they do back at the clubhouse of nearby Suncoast Gateway Mobile Village. There wasn't much else to do.
About 30 folks from the neighborhood, most in their 70s and 80s, took refuge at the school as the front edge of Frances drizzled outside.
"Okay buddy, spades," announced Herbie Vilk as he studied his hand. Somebody else groaned. "I'm not letting anybody squeeze me out."
Vilk, 74, snatched a few hours of sleep the night before in his Buick Century in front of the school.
"My seat goes back and I hear the rain and the wind blowing," he said. "It's better than all that snoring."
His wife, who stayed inside among the snorers and squeaky air mattresses, said she didn't miss him. "Not really, after 27 years, come on," said Jean Vilk. Then she admitted she sneaked out in the rain to check on him.
These seniors look after each other like a family, and they socialize like college kids.
Back at the neighborhood, they hold dinners, variety shows, bingo and parties. They have Friday Night at the Movies each week in their clubhouse.
They had planned a Labor Day Luau for today. Needless to say, it has been postponed.
"Now we won't call it a luau, we'll call it an after-hurricane whatever," Joanne Pizzuti said.
The card game was interrupted when someone came in to report an awning was blowing around their neighborhood. They looked around at each other and shrugged. "I didn't leave mine up," they said to each other.
STEVE THOMPSON
Staying at the "Hilton'
TRINITY - Mobile home residents started seeking shelter at Trinity Elementary on Saturday after mandatory evacuation orders. By Sunday morning, about 260 people were settling into classrooms as school administrators and the Red Cross converted the building into a makeshift community center.
"We're staying at the Hilton," said Irene Carstens, 70, jokingly, as she sat in the cafeteria beside her husband, Eugene, 75. The couple kept busy playing bingo with their neighbors from the Country Place Village mobile home community across the street.
It is the second time in a month the group has sought shelter at the school because of a hurricane.
And "I'm getting tired of it," said Joanne Clay, 70.
So was Mindy Rogers of Odessa. The 20-year-old cuddled her 6-month-old daughter, Madison, in her lap after evacuating from their mobile home on Ogdon Loop.
"I've only lived here three months," she said, recalling her recent move from the Midwest. "Now I just want to go home . . . to Ohio."
MELIA BOWIE
Bundles of joy
RIVER RIDGE - Cynthia Babb, 33, of Hudson and Catherine Fletcher, 21, of Moon Lake bonded over bellies and bad weather.
The two expectant mothers both fled their mobile homes twice in the past three weeks for the shelter of River Ridge High.
Strangers until meeting the first time during the Charley evacuation, they now share an experience that they and their families expect might keep them friends for a long time. Both are in their final month of pregnancy.
Babb's original due date was Sept. 5. Doctors are telling Fletcher her bundle of joy should arrive Sept. 26. Now, the two women are in a race to the finish - who can give birth first.
Sunday, Babb appeared to be winning.
She was whisked away to Community Hospital after experiencing lower back pains. But, then again, Fletcher had a false start early Sunday when, she said, a midnight drop in the barometric pressure sent her into contractions. Doctors stopped the contractions, saying it was too early. Now everyone at the shelter wants to know where that baby is.
"The child's going to be a hell-raiser," said Gladys Downing, Babb's stepmother, as she smoked a cigarette and watched rain blow sideways through the school's courtyard.
"That's exactly what I was thinking last night," Fletcher said and laughed, rubbing her belly through a black T-shirt.
Both women are expecting boys. Neither has plans of naming them Frances. Or Charley.
"One'll be Mayhem and one'll be Chaos," Floyd Baxter of Moon Lake said jokingly. He is another stranger-turned-friend from the shelter. "Everyone has their catcher's mitts, just waiting."
