Spitting in the Hurricane's Eye

Monday (on e-mail) -
"I just don't worry about hurricanes anymore."

Tuesday (at work) -
"It's too far out to know where it will hit. We all made ourselves miserable and exhausted getting ready for Rita, which turned out to be much ado about nothing as far as Houston weather was concerned."

Wednesday (on the phone)-
"Hmm. Yeah, I guess we should cancel our Saturday meeting. There could be a lot of rain. No use driving in that."

Thursday 5:10 a.m. (at the gym)
"It looks like Hurricane Alicia because it's wide, warm, and slow-moving? I didn't live here then, what was Alicia like? Tornadoes, huh. People lost power for weeks? That would be a serious problem for me. I can't go more than a day or two without using a laptop."

Thursday 5:45 a.m. (in the car)
"No one else is awake. I'll be able to pick up a few supplies just in case. Wait, what are all these cars doing in the Randalls' parking lot before 6 a.m.? Don't people work?"

Thursday 6:10 a.m. (in the grocery store)
"This is more canned food than I've ever bought in my life. If we don't lose power, my pantry's going to be overcrowded for months. Now what kind of batteries does my flashlight take? Oh, must be D since there's a big space where the D batteries used to be. What the hell, I've got candles and matches at the house. Time to go home and back to bed."

Thursday Noon
"Wow, look at the traffic. The lines to get gas are outrageous. I wonder if the stations will run out like they did before Rita. Glad I have 3/4 of a tank. Unlike during Rita when I was on my last 1/4 tank and had to drive back and forth to the hospital every day, coasting on fumes at the end of that stint was rough on the nerves."