Cindy Margrave had been just as glad to get assigned to the six-station weight machine for today’s exercise session. Having to count her reps gave her something to occupy her mind, unlike time on an exercise bicycle or one of the other machines.
Still, it was only a temporary respite from everything that was on her mind. She’d overheard altogether too much worrisome stuff while she was doing her shift as receptionist to Shepardsport Pirate Radio this morning. Autumn Belfontaine had been in and out of the newsroom, talking to her news staff, or talking on the phone to people who knew where. She’d even called Lou Corlin out of the DJ booth to help her with something in Japanese, although Cindy didn’t know whether it was from Edo settlement or from the Home Islands.
Some of the stuff Autumn was talking about had sounded pretty technical. Cindy knew a lot of astronomers and space weather watchers were getting concerned about the Sun’s magnetic field, but her own knowledge of astronomy stopped at the basic course she’d taken from Dr. Paulding last year.
However, she did know one thing — the vibe was just like back in Houston when there was a busy hurricane season. The sense that the current hurricane in the Gulf wasn’t likely to be the only thing they had to worry about, and everybody had better be prepared for the possibility of lengthy disruptions of basic services.
Which is probably why Aunt Betty’s been so scarce of late.