Chapter 93

I slept rather well that night. It was almost worth giving the pig a blowjob just to give him a beatdown. I didn't enjoy the blowjob, but I did enjoy the look on his face as he lay gasping for air. I really shouldn't have. His only crime was supply smuggled Chili Peppers. I honestly just didn't like him and he threatened me. I acted more on instinct than anything else.

A few days later I went for my morning run, since it had set into rain for a couple of days. When I got home, Wilson stepped from the kitchen unit onto the deck. I walked the plank onto the barge, when Wilson called down to me. "Hurry Sylvia you need to hear this," he said.

The 'this' was a weather alert running on line. Some weather girl, who was almost completely dressed, advised that a tropical storm was riding the gulf stream north. It wasn't supposed to make landfall where we sat, but it might be a brush by. Since Wilson and I had never been in the middle of even a 'brush by', I was concerned.

"So how about we call someone for some advice," He suggested.

"I don't know let me think. I would feel a lot better, if those plants at the garage were more rooted," I said. They would keep the wind away from the bottom of my hanger. It might prevent it from taking off like the weather girl's umbrella."

"Fuck that, I'm more worried about rain damage to our electronics and even the houseboat," Wilson said.

"Wilson if your girl friend Margo did a good job on the roof, if should survive a brush by storm. If not we will have a problem for sure. We are far enough up river that we might get some flooding, but not a full storm surge. Not unless we get a direct hit. If it comes ashore here Jefferson Island is a barrier island. It will slow the winds down some. It will take the storm surge, but we will most likely be up to our asses in flooding from the rains."

So what should we do to prepare?" Wilson asked.

"I don't know, if we need to do anything. We are tied to some post on the shore line that are embedded in concrete. I know the posts will hold. The cables are hurricane rated, so we are going to move around some, but stay afloat," I explained. The line to the dock may need some loosening. Otherwise we should be fine.

"You hope," Wilson said giving me a knowing smile. Since I knew he didn't know anything, I let it pass.

"Well there will be no biking or flying till the storm passes," I said.

"So you are going to sleep late tomorrow?" he asked.

"Maybe but now I'm going out to the airfield to check the garage out there and tie down the plane just in case the roof comes off," I said.

"You want some help?" Wilson asked.

"As a matter of fact I could use some help. After that we can get those plywood pieces that fit the windows. They should be in the shed with my trike. We really do have a lot to do." I said.

"The plywood is just for the big window in the kitchen and the patio doors. The doors connected the dinning room to the outside deck. They shouldn't take long to put up. All the door and window in the office have shutters." he said.

"Well let's get busy. We can batten down the hatches today and have a 'watch the progress of the storm' party tonight and tomorrow," I said.

"Right you are," Wilson said.

Wilson and I spend most of the daylight hours standing in a rain storm. We got the airplane secured while it was just a drizzle. It didn't matter much we were inside the hanger/garage putting the weighted five gallon buckets to fuselage of the plane. We removed anything that could go flying about. I knew a direct hit could throw the riding mover like a baseball but I decided to take a chance. I put one of the extra five gallon concrete filled buckets on the seat pretending that would help.

We drove the Honda back to the barge. "Well let's get the covers on the barge then we can decide where the computers will be safest." I suggested.

"It's not the computers I worry about those are backed up on our server, and in the cloud. We have a ton of very expensive surveillance equipment. Not to mention the lab equipment." he said.

"Okay make sure everything susceptible to water damage is stored above four feet high. Empty out those lower cabinets of anything valuable," I suggested.

If it gets waist high in here, it is going to ruin your new electric trike," he said. Nothing I can do, but put some cinder blocks under it and hope for the best." I did wrap the motor and batteries in a couple of black garbage bags. Between the blocks and the tires the batteries were about two feet off the ground.

I put in a call to the tool box factory, "Hey you guys ready for the storm?" I asked.

"This ain't now storm. I can remember huricane Hazel when I was a kid. Now there was a storm went right up the Tomahawk River all the way to Capitol City. But to answer you question, we got all the raw lumber covered. Long as the winds don't get too high and their isn't much storm surge we are good. We gonna shut down soon and go home. Do you need anything?" he asked as an after thought.

"I think me and Wilson have it covered," I said. "Well hang in there see you when this is all passes."

"Yeah, see you then," he said.

I had a bottle of rum that I hadn't opened so I opened it for our 'impending storm' party. "We certainly aren't going to be driving in this crap, so let's get plastered. At least then we can sleep." I suggested.

After two drinks I was feeling pretty darned relaxed. "What you think is going to happen with the B&B now that Chrissy is in the wind?" I asked.