While I was sitting in the waiting room of Hurricanes R Us LLC (HRU in the industry), one of many businesses owned by eceentric billionaire James Howard, I felt something akin to anxiousness, a feeling previously unknown to me. I really needed the job of hurricane-chasing pilot advertised by HRU on the Internet and in industry publications. The feeling disturbed me.
I was disturbed because my reputation is that I've got ice water in my veins and make Cool Hand Luke look like a long tailed cat in a rocking chair factory. As a pilot in the military my call sign was Glacier; stupid but descriptive.
I had been waiting since five minutes before my appointment time of 9:00 a. m. and it was now 9:22. I was offered coffee or a soft drink by the receptionist -- the only person I had seen so far -- but politely declined. Just after checking my watch for the tenth time a whirlwind came through the door, followed by three other people; I guessed that the whirlwind was James Howard when the receptionist said "Hello Mr. Howard," and stood up.
If I was capable of being nervous I would have shit my pants; I expected my interview to be conducted by one of Howard's minions, not the man himself. My gaze turned steely but I didn't stand.
"You must be Andrew Peele," Howard barked at me after gruffly acknowledging the receptionist.
"Yes sir," I said, now standing up and taking his offered hand.
"Come on into my office," he snapped, then turned to the three people who had followed him in the door and said "Bill and Axel you stay in the waiting room until I'm finished with Peele here, and you Candice get on the phone to confirm my afternoon appointments at Masterson Dynamics," Masterson Dynamics probably being the largest company that Howard owned -- at least according to my bible, Wikipedia.
I had barely settled into a comfortable chair across from Howard's impressive mahogany desk when he got right to the point. "I wanted to interview you myself, Peele, because I have a real personal interest in the project that you'll be working on if I hire you, and you have such an interesting resume."
I simply nodded as Howard opened up a file on his desk.
"How did you end up as first in your class in flight school?"
"I was better than everyone else."
"I can understand you not being first in your class at the Air Force Academy, but in the lower 50%; what's with that?"
"They had lots of bullshit classes in addition to the important ones -- I aced all of the important ones."
"Why did you get kicked off the fencing team?"
"I broke too many swords -- and there were too many rules -- and I laid out one of my 'teammates.'"
"How did you end up in the Hurricane Hunters, the United States Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron? I thought that was just for reservists?"
"They made a special exception for me because the Squadron lost their three most experienced pilots, and the Air Force didn't like the way that I handled the F-35A; they said that I was too hard on it."
"You're not making any sense, boy," Howard chuckled, but then immediately continued. "How many hurricanes have you flown in?"
"Five; two category 2s as a co-pilot, and a 1, 3, and 5 as a pilot."
"All in the last year?"
"Yes sir."
"How did you end up getting bounced out of the Air Force early, and with only a 'general discharge,' not an honorable one?"
I paused before snipping "Do I really have to talk about that?"
"Only if you want this job," Howard grumbled, "and give me the complete and unvarnished truth, no pussy footing around or happy horseshit."
"Does anyone else have to know?"
"Probably not, but I can't guarantee that I won't tell someone else if they have a need to know," he snickered.
I paused again then gave the straightforward truth. "I got caught fucking a general's wife."
Howard now displayed his first emotion of the interview; his eyebrows raised and his eyes opened wide before he continued.
He had been taking some notes in my file, but now he just leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and said "Give me the whole story; this should be good. But before you do, do you have a photo of her?"
If I hadn't already exhausted all of my other pilot job possibilities and didn't need this job so fucking bad I would have told him to eat shit and left the room; BUT I did need this job badly.
Trying not to display any emotion I got out my smartphone and started scrolling through my photos. The best ones of Slone Kellogg were when she was naked, and I sure as shit wasn't going to show Howard any of those; despite my desperation I do have some pride. I found one of her in a one-piece bathing suit, enlarged the photo, stood up, and holding onto my phone showed it to Howard.
Howard held my hand that was on the phone while he looked at the photo for a good ten or fifteen seconds; then he cackled "I can see the attraction, but she looks ten years older than you are."
"Her chronological age is twenty one years greater than mine, but her biological age is only a few years more than my chronological age," I replied trying to have no emotion in my voice. That was hard to do since I still thought of fucking Sloane at least once a day -- and it had been seven months since I had actually fucked her.