Chapter 2

John’s turn:

What the future held, short-term, was another two hours of driving through the Texas countryside.

Conversation? Yes, thank you. Laura quickly shed whatever reservations she might have harbored about talking to strangers and I learned about her family and her schooling and her life in general.

If she’s telling the truth, she’s a bit of a rare specimen, a normal, although obviously intelligent, young lady who came from a nuclear family that had weathered tragedy.

“Mom had a bad variety of cancer,” she said. “By the time she got to the ‘get a doctor to look at this lump’ stage, it had metastasized. Tried chemo. Tried radiation. Best doctors in Houston came up short...”

“They’re supposed to have the best in the world,” I opined.

“I believe that, and it wasn’t that they didn’t try. It’s just that it was too far gone. Eight year old girls aren’t supposed to lose their mommies, especially to cancer.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I loved my mom. I love my dad. I love my step-mom and I love my half-brother. But sometimes I have to deal with the empty place where Mom should be at this part of my life.”

“I’m fortunate. The only thing I have to deal with is that they’re chasing the fall foliage in the Northeast.”

“Retired?”

“Yep. And loving it. And sister and her family evacuated to Tennessee. Her husband has friends up there. For them it’s an unscheduled vacation.”

“And here you are ... What’s YOUR plan?”

“Get back as soon as I can. I got a five-state area I’m responsible for, and a chunk of it’s right in the path of this hurricane. I have work to do. And I’ve got my own house to worry about. What’s your plan?”

“I’m working on it,” she said. “I really don’t know.”

“Area’s gonna be a disaster. No power. No water. Streets full of debris. And this is a Category Four. Went through a Three when I was a teen and THAT was a mess. This one’s going to be twice as bad.”

“I really don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“My dear,” I said, “nobody does, right now. After the storm, I’ll see what’s left, get some things together, start climbing out of the hole. I have resources. My company’s known for helping its own after one of these. And I’ll see what the steps look like. First step’s seeing what’s left of the homestead. If I can make it livable, things’ll get easier.”

“I don’t have that...”

“Dad and mom?”

“I could move back, but there goes college. They put me up into that apartment because they live too far away for me to commute to class.”

“Look, Laura ... take a deep breath. First, we don’t know how bad things will be. Second, you’ll have help...”

“You’re right. Happy thoughts.”

“You don’t veil your sarcasm well.”

“It’s a flaw.”

“We’ll be okay, lady. Okay. People survive.”

“Might be painful.”

“Pain won’t last. Kills some. Others get through it and go on with life. I like living, and whatever comes, it’ll be interesting.”

“May you live in interesting times,” she countered.

The countryside gave way to signs of burgeoning population, then we were easing into town, winding our way to the destined hotel. I parked under the covered entryway, went inside and registered. That was easy enough, surprising, actually. We were there well before the 3 PM ‘official’ check-in time.

Laura and I unloaded baggage onto a bellhop cart, I gave her a room key, and while she pushed the cart to the room I parked the truck.

Now I have to see what manner of adventure will arise from the presence of a quite attractive female of legal age, now located in my room.

I let myself in.

“Now I’m trapped,” Laura smirked.

“Hardly.”

“Joking.”

“Okay. Seriously, we’re here. One of those beds is yours. I promise not to parade around naked or attempt to touch you inappropriately.” I tossed the remote control for the TV towards her. “This is the greatest risk so far. I have no idea what manner of garbage you might find entertaining.”

I was setting my laptop on the room’s desk when my phone rang. I looked. The boss.

“Hey, boss,” I answered. “What’s up?”

“We evacuated to Mississippi,” he said. “Just running through emails. Saw yours.”

“Oh, yeah ... James called. He’s nervous. Wants his hand held.”

“That’s what I thought. Got a conference call in a bit with the division VP. He’ll ask.”

“We’re as prepared as we can be for this thing,” I said.

“And this one’s going to be bad.”

“We’ll get through it. I’m a phone call away, but seriously, the stuff that’s going to happen to us, well, losing power, people scattered to the four winds, those are things we can’t control.”

“Yeah, I know. Feel helpless, though, like a turkey waiting for the axe to fall.”

“I know.”

“Tell me,” he stated, “who’s ‘ll’?”

“Huh?”

“That email you sent out. At the bottom, it said ‘JH:ll’. I know who JH is. Who’s ‘ll’?”

“That’s Laura. She’s part of my evacuation experience.”

“Didn’t know you were seeing anybody,” Pete said.

“It’s not like that. Just being helpful. She typed the email while I drove. Just so you understand my level of dedication.”

“Yeah ... I got your dedication in mind right now. I haven’t seen initials at the bottom of an email before. Caught my eye. Got my curiosity going.”

“Well, Laura’s a smart young lady,” I replied.

“Yeah, well, good luck,” Pete countered.

“Whatever.”

“So when are you trying to go back and look at things?”

“Let the storm pass first. Then I’ll get back to see what I have left.”

“Your new house...”

“I spent extra to make it storm-proof.”

“Storm RESISTANT.”

“Yeah. That. If I have a roof over my head, I should be good. We’ll see who needs what, then.”

“Take care of yourself. And, uh, Laura.”

“Thanks. Talk to you later.” And I looked over at Laura, who was intently studying me.

“What’d I do?” she asked.

“You put your initials on that email. Got his curiosity going.”

“That wasn’t my intent. It’s just that I remember that the initials of the author and the transcriber are proper on a business letter.”

“You KNOW that?”

“I try to know things, especially when they may have a bearing on the impression of others.”

“I doubt that one in ten of my co-workers would know the significance, nor notice if it was or wasn’t there.”

“Your boss did.”

“And now he’s got all these thoughts rolling around in his big, empty head.”

“Tell me, Mister Hebert, are you taken to excursions of questionable behavior that your boss might question?”

“Never,” I said. “We have a good relationship, and part of that is demonstrated by subtle digs. Like this one. I’m sure he’s got a tiny idea that somebody might appear in my social life that he doesn’t know.”

“They know about your social life?”

“I don’t make a habit of issuing official updates. I don’t put out a newsletter. And I’m notoriously dull.”

“Two of us, then ... I think Alyssa saw this excursion as my ‘breaking free’ event.”

“Breaking free from what?”

“Oh, I’m sure you know. Moral constraints. Higher-order thinking. Mature choices.”

“Okay, I get the first two, but ‘mature choices’? She probably thinks she’s terribly mature...”

“Restraint and decorum, sir,” she stated, sounding deliberately stilted. “One can harbor thoughts. One can perform actions. But maturity places those in the proper context. And blowing your current boyfriend in the seat with a carload of people hardly meets those constraints.”

“She really did?”

“Until his eyes rolled back in his head.”

“You WATCHED?!?”

“Heavens, no. But I heard.” A sigh. “I guess I would’ve been less shocked if the couple in the back seat had done something. I understand that they’ve been a pair for a while. But Alyssa ... well, she and Brandon, maybe a week or ten days ... Hardly indicative of monogamy. More like serial sluthood.”

“I doubt she thinks of it like that.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t care what the lemmings do. I’m not following them over a cliff.”

“Thought you being a biologist and all, you’d know that lemmings...”

“ ... don’t really migrate off cliffs. Yeah, I know. Disney movie and all that.” She sat on the edge of the bed, taking off her shoes. “Too late, though. The image of lemmings diving over the edge is a permanent metaphor, ensconced firmly in the English language.”

“You use a lot of big words.”

“I love the language. Just because many of my peers can’t communicate doesn’t mean I can’t either.”

“You’re fun.”

“Apparently I can be tedious, pedantic and overbearing, too...”

“In those words?”

“Heavens, no. In words of two syllables.”

“I dunno. I’m kinda like you. It’s fun to open up and use one’s vocabulary.”

Shoes off, she flopped backward onto her bed. “Ahhhhh. Feels good to NOT be in the truck.”

“Myself. I could use a brisk nap. Then we can decide on dinner.”

“A burger’s good for me.”

“Burger. Are you a dedicated carnivore?”

“I am. Why?”

“Ever done a Brazilian steakhouse?”

“I’ve done a LOT of steakhouses. Dozens, maybe. Not a brazilian of ‘em.”

“That’s horrible...”

“Best I can do. I’m off my game. Wait. You said...”

“I did. Yes, I know the cost. I probably wouldn’t’ve done it without company, but you’re here, and for the price of your company for dinner I will gladly pay for your meal. Tomorrow, you can do corndogs as penance.”

Five minutes later we had a reservation and I laid myself back for a brisk nap. On the other of the two beds. I set a timer for an hour, took a few minutes to doze, then woke up before the timer went off.