Book 5 β Major Events
Chapter 1 β New Arrangements
Nancy stood beside Dave's desk holding her iPad so Dave could see the display. She pointed at a dark green crescent of heavy rain in the southern Gulf of Mexico flecked with red and orange showing strong cells, "It's called Tropical Storm Bebe. It formed last night from a strong tropical depression just off the YucatΓ‘n peninsula. The track has it headed right for New Orleans, but the way she's wandering around, she could make a straight line right for us."
"Still strengthening?"
"The fine print says that NOAA doesn't think it'll make it to hurricane status. I agree; for mid June it's still early for things to intensify in the Gulf. We know it can still do a lot of damage, plus there's always flooding and storm surge wherever it comes ashore."
Dave said, "All right, let's follow the procedures you and I set up in January."
"Where do you want to marshal the crews?"
Dave looked at the map and the cone of uncertainty. "I think I'd put them up around Lake City. What do you think?"
Nancy grinned, "I already booked all the hotel rooms there." She chuckled at her own audacity. She looked around to be sure no one was at Dave's office door and then gave him a quick kiss. "I love you and we think so much alike."
Dave laughed and waved her away from his desk. "Give me a report at noon about the storm or after NOAA updates the forecast again."
Dave reached behind his desk and pulled out the thick and tattered notebook filled with emergency preparedness checklists, notes, agreements, and mandates. He called the state emergency coordinator, Steve Gibson, and told him about the deployments they were already making. From his office window, he could see about ten of the line trucks preparing to caravan up to Lake City as soon as the last of them had the recommended storm repair equipment onboard and half of them with augers were pulling trailers with utility poles on them. Dave sent an FYI email to the executive team of the utility.
By five o'clock all the crews from Sarasota and Tampa had been dispersed to Lake City. The storm had moved significantly, and started to turn towards the west, aiming more for Houston, Texas, than New Orleans, Louisiana or points east. The mutual support pacts the various utilities had executed with one another, covered a wide area, and so some of his crews would indeed see action at the rate things were happening. Landfall was expected the next morning. Given the speed of the storm, major flooding might be avoided although landfall did strange things to storms like this.
Dave said, "We'll watch it tonight and see if there's any changes that need our attention."
"Let's go home," Nancy said. She reached for Dave's hand and pulled him from his comfortable desk chair. He threw a few things in his backpack and they left for the Circle. He noted it was Thursday and that tomorrow morning he'd have to make a potentially costly decision about putting the crews on overtime as they waited for the storm to do its damage.
As usual, upon arriving at the Circle, Dave dropped Nancy off at her townhouse so she could change and walk over to the core, and he went home to change into shorts and a tee, and then tend bar for those interested in any liquid refreshment.
As Dave reached the patio, he found the bar staffed by Jake Randall and Murph, who he'd learned donned the real name of Angus Murphy, a peculiar mix of ethnicities. They waved to him as he arrived. "We just thought we'd open early for you." They looked worried that they'd overstepped some rule.
"No, you guys keep doing that if you like. I do it because it's kind of fun, plus I get to see most of the Circle. You should be doing that if you plan on hanging out around here for any length of time."
Murph nodded. "That's what we were thinking. We want to get known as the nice and helpful guys that we are; Phil and Ron, too." Big smiles. "We also want to meet all the others we never got to see at the graduation party. The girls seem to have a better time of it just by showing up; they've met everybody. We have to work at socializing."
Karen Simon strolled out onto the patio barefoot and wearing short shorts and a see-through top. Murph's eyes about fell out of his head. Dave said, "Ah, my sister-in-law." He stood and went and greeted her with a large kiss and hug.
Dave asked, "Everything all right?"
Karen said, "I think so. Wait until Alice and Julie join us and then I'll tell you about the past couple of weeks. I've been a busy beaver in so many ways since I left you. I did talk to Julie on the phone so I know a little about the aftermath of the graduation party." She uncharacteristically giggled at the thought.
Dave introduced Karen to Murph and Ron. There was some snickering and laughter on both sides. Karen explained, "I think we kind of met the night of the graduation party. Actually, we did more than meet β a lot more."
Both of the young men came out from behind the bar and gave Karen a solid hug and some kisses. There was some real affection there much to Dave's surprise. He surmised that the two men had been two of the four men Karen had sex with before she connected with him.
Alice showed up in a monokini. She waved and said, "Before I talk to anybody I need to have a dip in the pool. I'm hot and I need to be refreshed."
Dave chuckled when he heard Murph say to Jake, "I'd like to help refresh her."
He turned and said, "And she probably wants you to do just that. Hang around for dinner and then see what happens afterwards."
The two men looked at each other and bumped fists.
Lisa arrived on the patio with Grace following. She joined the men and gave out kisses and hugs. He saw that the men also knew her. She was wearing scrubs, but Grace had changed into some shorts and a thin scoop neck top.
She kissed everybody, even the young men, or as Dave continued to watch he changed his observation to 'especially' the young men. They obviously liked Lisa and the kisses she freely distributed.
Alice came up to the group dripping but drying off with one of the pool towels. "Hi everybody. Hi sis. When you'd get in?"
Karen said, "Only a half hour ago. Where's Julie?"
Alice laughed, "She's up in the bedroom with Phil and Ron helping them take the edge off the day. I think they're taking showers, so she'll be down shortly."
Murph and Jake looked at each other in dismay. Jake said loudly, "Well, we opted to tend bar. I didn't know that there were other options." Those standing around laughed at their shortfall.
The guys took orders and prepared drinks for everybody. In Dave's opinion they were doing a pretty credible job. He noted that when they were unsure of someone's name, they asked in a friendly way. Often, they were asked for their names as well, so they were getting some integration in the Circle. He heard their twenty-five word 'elevator speech' introductions several times.
About ten minutes later, Julie, Ron, and Phil strolled out on the patio. Everyone had wet hair, and Julie was in a sexy microkini that she'd just bought online. Dave noted there wasn't much in the way of skin that didn't show, even in her nether region.
Lisa looked at Julie and declared, "Oh, if only I was younger again."
Grace encouraged her friend, "Around here you know you could try it. We all love nudity, so you could just skip the suit completely." As an afterthought she said, "Why are you still wearing your scrubs? Take those off."
Lisa blushed, "I don't have much on underneath."
"More than Julie?" Grace teased.