Page 89 of Through the Storms

“Is that a trick question?” Peggy asked.

“Why do you say that?” Oakley answered without answering.

“I see the mischief behind those beautiful brown eyes.”

Oakley feigned outrage. “Mischievous? Me?”

The four women laughed, while the newlyweds remained lost in their own world. It was at least good to get a laugh out of Chloe and Riley.

“Does that mean nobody wants to hazard a guess?” Oakley asked.

“Seventeen seventy-six,” Sandy said.

“Ah, good guess.” Oakley smiled. “You’re going with the beginning of our government, but it’s not right. Although, there are legends that say Ben Franklin was the first storm chaser.”

The women laughed.

“I’m not joking.” Oakley held up her hand as if taking an oath. “There are claims he chased a tornado on horseback.”

“That’s badass,” Riley said. A twinkle played in her eye. “And here I was impressed with you chasing with the Oakanator. I might have to reconsider my admiration.”

Everyone laughed, but Chloe laughed the hardest and patted Riley on the leg. At first, Riley stiffened, but then her grin widened.

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.” Oakley winked at Riley before she continued. “Any other guesses?”

“Nineteen twenty,” Peggy guessed. “They couldn’t drink, so they might as well do something else.”

“The nineteen twenties is a definite no.” Oakley smiled and nodded toward Peggy. “Peggy was right. It was a trick question.In 1870, a man by the name of John Park Finley began studying storms. He wrote a book calledThe Character of 600 Tornadoes.”

“Unbelievable.” Chloe’s mouth dropped open. “They’ve been gathering data for over one hundred and fifty years and still can’t pinpoint the exact conditions.”

“Ow.” Oakley put her hand over her heart. “Now that you put it that way, it makes us sound pretty inept.”

Chloe’s face reddened, and she muttered an apology.

Shit.Normally, Chloe would have enjoyed the ribbing. “I’m just teasing,” Oakley said. “The history of tornado research has been fraught. What would you say if I told you the word tornado was forbidden in weather forecasts for over fifty years?”

“I’d say, bullshit,” Sandy said.

The others laughed.

Oakley smirked. “And you’d be wrong.”

“No way,” Riley said.

“I know, sounds crazy, doesn’t it? After John Park Finley’s research, the powers that be got involved.” Oakley shook her head. “Another lesson in why you should never let a bureaucrat make scientific decisions. In the late 1890s, they banned using the word tornado because they feared it caused too much panic.”

“Jesus.” Riley shook her head. “So they’d rather people get blown away.”

“That’s terrible.” Chloe said, and Riley moved closer to her.

“It was. It wasn’t until the 1950s that public pressure caused them to change their policy.”

“It took fifty fucking years,” Peggy said. “That’s ludicrous.”

“If you want to read something fascinating, check out the Thunderstorm Project in the 1940s where pilots flew into the storms to collect information about them.”

Chloe pulled out her cellphone and began typing. “Did you say the 1940s?” Oakley nodded. Chloe finished typing and put her phone back in her pocket.