An escape from Cape gone wrong

As Kristopher Naeger sits sipping a glass of white wine at Buckner's on a Friday afternoon, he shows no signs of the ordeal that destroyed the tools of his craft and the fruits of his labor.

His bleach-blonde hair stands up on his head in his usual style, the eyes behind his bluish-tinted glasses show no distress. He's relaxed and just a bit buzzed.

But Naeger endured an ordeal just about two weeks before, fleeing from New Orleans to escape Katrina's wrath.

"It was surreal," said Naeger of the hurried leave and the subsequent sights he and friend Steve Lott saw while stuck for days in a ruined Mississippi.

"We thought we were just leaving New Orleans for the weekend."

Naeger had left Cape Girardeau on a whim just a few weeks before, buying a one-way ticket and leaving in the middle of the night, wanting a change of scenery. He had no idea he'd return a few weeks later, hanging out in Southeast Missouri while he waits to see how much damage the storm did. He took only what he could carry from New Orleans.

When he found out what Katrina did to New Orleans after his powerless, phoneless exile in Mississippi, Naeger "sat there in shock for three days. There's no emotion to describe it, it's just shell shock."

Naeger was able to set up an art show in Cape Girardeau in September in Buckner's Riverview Room, selling his abstract paintings to give 30 percent of proceeds to the charity Real People Help. The sales weren't there, but Naeger at least tried.

Real People Help raised money following the disaster to take needed items directly to hurricane victims, Naeger said.

Naeger is now a victim himself, with his work and his implements possibly floating around in The Big Easy. He and Lott are now back in Louisiana checking on the status of the home Lott has owned since 1966.

Naeger said he has two shows coming up in galleries in Costa Rica, but he can't take his mind of New Orleans.

"I'll have a lot of things I have to deal with when I get back," said Naeger. "Maybe I'll get news the shows were well-received, but there's just so much clouding my mind right now."

But when he picks up the pieces, Naeger said he'll be ready to continue the creativity, inspired by loss and disaster.

"There are so many images I'd like to get down," said Naeger. "This is what I love. This is what I do."