The phone rang.

"Jupiter, Florida?" I said to myself. It looked like a real number, not one of the pseudo-numbers that a telemarketing center might use. Still, since I wasn't sure, I decided to let the answering machine grab -

Oh, crap. We did know someone in Jupiter, Florida: Brandon, one of Jeff's Theta Tau brothers. I put down what I was doing and raced to the bedroom, hearing our old, generic message ("Please. Leave. A. Message. After. The. Tone.") play as I did so.

Don't hang up, I thought. Jeff will be highly disgruntled if I don't at least get a message.

I scooped up the phone. "Hey, Brandon!"

"What are you doing to prepare for the hurricane?"

"Huh?" I couldn't even begin to explain the level of confusion I felt at that moment.

"I said, what are you doing to PREPARE for the HURRICANE?" Brandon said, with a bit of impatience that clearly indicated that my humor was obviously sophomoric and that if I continued in the same vein, he would be forced to beat me severely.

I thought frantically. Hurricane? Hurricane? Huh? Oh, wait, isn't Hurricane Jeanne aiming toward Florida? I said, "Um, nothing, hon; we're three hundred and fifty miles inland."

"Very funny." A pause. "Are you crazy?"

"Um, no. I'm not. Really not. And we're really three hundred and fifty miles inland."

"Wait a second. Who did I call?"

"Jeff and Amy."

"Not Jeff and Trisha?"

"Er, no."

"Well, that makes sense." Laughter. "I can see why people in Huntsville, Alabama wouldn't be preparing for a hurricane that's about to hit near Jupiter, Florida."

"No, not really."

The rest of the phone call wasn't nearly so important, nor nearly so memorable, but it makes me want to ask the rest of you: so what are you doing to prepare for the hurricane? Me, I bought tickets to an outdoor music festival this weekend…

It was nice to hear from Brandon, but I don't think Jeff will let him live this down anytime soon.