Peter the Meteor(ologist) - 6. More Fun In Miami

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

Miley Cyrus - 2009

17

I took the map Raymond provided and a black marker and carefully plotted Octavious’ path. He entered the map’s longitude and latitude points and saved it with the name Jonathan suggested. We went back to the observation room, and he called it up on one of the large wall screens. Jonathan immediately noticed the difference.

“That’s not the path you described earlier.”

“No, and it’s not what I drew for Raymond,”

Jonathan frowned, “What happened, Ray?”

“Um, I guess I was off on the map points.”

Pointing at the screen, “I know you know better than that. What is that?”

“I figured if he was just guessing anyway, it really wouldn’t make a difference what I programmed.”

A little anger seeped out, “He’s pointed out two significant deviations that occurred exactly as he described. I don’t believe he’s ‘just guessing.’ Go and fix it!”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, Mr. Barclay.”

Ray left, Jonathan apologized for him, “I’m sorry, Pete. He’s usually very reliable.”

“It’s okay. I can understand why someone would find it hard to believe.”

“That’s no excuse. He was given a simple direction.”

I just nodded, not really wishing to belabor the point and potentially cost the man his job. A few minutes later, Ray came back and put the new trajectory up. Jonathan looked at me, I nodded to indicate he got it right.

Jonathan really took command then, “Okay folks, that’s what we’re going to tell everyone as soon as Octavious is far enough along to present reasonably accurate models. People are used to seeing multiple possibilities, but that,” pointing at my prediction,“ will be the primary path we push.”

I sure hoped this wouldn’t be the first time I saw it wrong.

18

The next stop was Miguel Chavez's office. Miguel was the Hurricane Specialist Unit Branch Chief who led the organization I would be part of if I were hired. I only spent about a half hour with him, since he was present for the previous day's demonstration, before moving on to Thomas Paterson, one of the non PhD. Senior Hurricane Specialists. They both seemed to like me and felt I would be a good addition to the team, replacing a recently retired member.

The rest of Thursday, Ray avoided me, which was easy for him since Jonathan mostly kept me busy looking at past hurricane trajectories that he knew missed what the models predicted. To make sure I didn’t have an eidetic memory, he randomly picked some from forty to fifty years ago. In every case, after I pointed out what I saw as the true path, he overlaid what really occurred, and what I said matched the history nearly perfectly. The only variations were trivial differences in oceanic pathways.

“Wow. That is truly amazing. We need your input here, Peter. I’ll have to start you off as a Hurricane Specialist, like Elena Young described yesterday. Everyone higher than that in the organization has a lot more experience than you do. Why don’t you go back out to the observation room and ask Keith to walk you through the steps we’ll be taking between now and the immediate aftermath of landfall while I go talk to HR about your offer.”

“Wow, so I’m in?”

“I’d be crazy not to hire you after all I’ve seen in the past twenty-eight hours. Miguel and Thomas both liked what you could add to their team, as well.”

“Thank you. Wow. I hoped to get hired, but never expected something this quick.”

“Neither did I after I asked my first question yesterday. I’ll see you a little later.”

“Okay.”

About an hour later, Desiree came by to take me to the HR department. We walked into the HR Director, Violet Byrne’s office. Desiree introduced me, then left.

“Please, take a seat, Peter.”

“Thank you.”

“It isn’t often I get a hiring request directly from Jonathan. You’ve really impressed him. Anyway, here’s your offer. I’ll summarize it for you. The salary represents a cost-of-living increase for Miami compared to Corpus Christi, plus a thirty percent increase over your current salary, which Jonathan obtained from your manager, Steve Peller.”

“Okay. That’s a nice number.”

“It is, but to be honest, it’s only about the twentieth percentile for our meteorologist/programmers, a step down from hurricane specialist. I couldn’t justify going any higher due to your level of experience.”

“I understand. Just under four months isn’t long.”

“We’d like you to start on November second. If you can’t find lodgings before then, we’ll cover a short-term rental for you.”

“November second; that’s a Sunday, right?”

“No, a Monday, but being the new guy, you will have the Saturday through Wednesday shift, should you decide to accept the offer. Vacation, personal days, and other benefits are in line with industry norms. We’ve also taken care of your hotel bill through tonight and your flight tomorrow. I hope two-forty is an acceptable departure time. It’s a fairly short ride to the airport.”

“That’s all fine. I don’t need to think about it, I was planning on taking any reasonable offer, if it was given.”

“Excellent. I’m sure Jonathan will be very happy to hear that. If you’ll just sign the acceptance page.”

I signed.

“I’ll have one of my staff take care of all the necessary information, forms, et cetera, tomorrow morning. Just check in with my assistant anytime after nine tomorrow morning, and we’ll get the rest set up.”

“Thanks. This is just great.”

“You’re welcome, have a good evening.”

“You too.”

I made sure to say goodnight and thank you to Jonathan before I left.

19

I couldn’t wait to tell Rebecca. She had said she had an eight o’clock class, so I hoped she’d be done by four o’clock. I called from the NHC's parking lot.

"Hey, PC. Finish early?"

"Yeah. They let me leave after getting my offer letter."

Excited, "You got the job?"

"I got the job."

"I'm so happy for you. That means tonight won't be the last time I see you. When do you start?"

"I've got the weekend shift, Saturday through Wednesday, but I start on the second."

"I want to hear all about it, but um, I have a favor to ask."

"Anything."

"I haven't stopped talking about you to my parents. Once they know you'll be staying, well, coming back, they'll want to meet you."

"Damn, and I left my monster costumes home. That's fine. I'm flying back at two-forty tomorrow, so I guess that means tonight?"

"Ha ha, not funny. Yes. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I want to keep seeing you, so I'd have to meet them eventually."

"Awesome. Can you hold on a minute while I see how they want to do this?"

"Sure."

It was a little more than a minute, but she was still excited, "Tonight's good. They want to take us out to dinner. Do you like Peruvian food?"

"I've never had any, but I'm sure I can find something."

"Good. My mom's favorite restaurant is Peruvian, well, she is too. I'll text you the name and address. They want to eat early, would meeting us there at five-thirty be okay?"

"I suppose. How long would it take me to get there?"

"About fifteen minutes on the turnpike, maybe twenty or twenty-five on surface streets."

"Okay. I'll see you there."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

My phone dinged with the name of the restaurant, Aromas del Peru, and its address in Miami. My GPS confirmed it would take twenty-four minutes from the hotel on surface streets. I didn't get a Sun Pass because I was expecting to stay pretty local, although ten miles wasn't far at all. I headed back to the hotel, shaved and showered again, so I looked my best, and headed out.

I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early and went inside to see if they'd arrived yet.

The hostess greeted me, "Welcome to Aromas del Peru, are you alone?"

"No, I'm meeting someone. I think we'll be four though."

"Do you know if they have a reservation?"

"I don't, but if there is one, it would probably be under Carlton."

"Aaron Carlton?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know Rebecca's father's name."

"Aaron is Rebecca's father. They're not here yet, but I'll take you to their table."

I was a little surprised because she didn't even reference the seating chart to see what was available. But she took me to a table against the wall opposite the bar. The restaurant was a little less than half full, so maybe it didn't matter, especially since there was a 'reserved' sign there.

"Can I get you something to drink while you're waiting?"

"Just a glass of ice water for now."

"Very good, sir."

As she was bringing me the water, I saw Rebecca walk in with her parents and I assumed a younger brother. They came directly to the table. I got a pretty good picture of what she'd look like in twenty-five or thirty years, she looked almost exactly like her mother; just younger. I stood to greet them as they got to the table. All four of them gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she introduced me. Her parents were Aaron and Alessa, and her brother was Aaron junior, who was nineteen.

The staff treated us like royalty, which I soon found out wasn't too far from the truth, as far as the restaurant went. Her father owned it. The food was excellent, and the Carltons asked a lot of questions about me, but nothing too intrusive. They had all seen the clip of my adventure in Port Lavaca and felt I was famous, as did Rebecca when we first met. After dinner, I followed them back to their house and we continued talking until nearly ten PM, when her parents said they were going to bed. Aaron junior had retired to his bedroom shortly after we arrived.

"They seemed to like me."

"They did. And see, I told you that you were famous. I don't have a class until ten tomorrow morning, but I don't want to keep you too late. What time are you starting tomorrow?"

"I suppose I'll get there for eight, since I'll probably be leaving around noon for the airport."

"Okay. We have a little while before you turn into a pumpkin. Let's talk about what you'd want in an apartment."

So that's what we talked about. She said she'd start her search the next day and send me things that met what I needed, which wasn't much. I figured one or maybe two bedrooms in a nice, but reasonably priced place would work. After about a week, we settled on Lago Club, which was about ten minutes away from her house and less than ten from the NHC.

My prediction of Octavious' path proved to be accurate. The people in the three landfall sites were properly prepared and aside from one stupid teenager on Duck Key, there were no fatalities. The boy didn't think a one hundred mile per hour wind would blow him out to sea. He was wrong. He apparently didn't see my live report from Lavaca. His parents were begging him to come inside to the safety of their home when he was whisked away.

Raymond Arnold didn’t have much to say after Octavious went through exactly as I’d indicated. I suppose one could take our only discussion about it as an apology.

”Hey, Peter, thanks for not making a big deal out of my actions about Octavious. If you did, Barclay might have shit-canned me. I really didn’t believe you could do that.”

”I had that thought, so I really didn’t say anything more about it after you left.”

”Well, thanks. You did me a solid, let me know if I can ever return the favor.”

”Will do.”

Over the next two weeks plus, Rebecca and I spoke every night. I discovered I wouldn't need to move everything; her parents took care of furnishing the apartment for me. I shipped everything I was taking but a few changes of clothing to Rebecca's parents' house; they would hold it for me, and she and Aaron junior would help me move it to my apartment on Sunday the first. On the thirtieth, I said goodbye to everyone at KDF-TV, brought all my perishable food into the station, what was left, anyway, and spent the last night I thought ever would in Texas, flying out the next morning.