It was Mark who came up with the idea of his check ride being on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ATCO strike.  It made no difference to Ford, but Neumeyer immediately saw the symbolism and was against it. 

Since Ford was his instructor and checking him out, August third was fine with him, especially since Neumeyer objected.  He looked over at the empty space where the telescope had sat and smiled.  Oh yeah, August third was great. 

CJ was working the ground control position and was reading some union information that Ford had passed on to her.  Ford had noticed a change in her personality and, upon reflection it seemed to coincide with Neumeyer’s arrival.  Little things that used to upset her about the FAA and tower operations didn’t seem to bother her as much now. 

Since his failed meeting with Neumeyer and the two grievances filed over the telescope and the no cell phone policy, Neumeyer had pretty much kept to himself in his office.  Ford, perhaps naively, held out hope things would ease up and they could find a way to get along.

Because of his medical problems, Neumeyer could not work air traffic and fill in, which made getting Mark up to speed all the more important. 

Once a controller was checked out, he would be fully certified in all positions in the tower and would no longer need training or instruction.  This would mean he could open and close the tower and be left alone. 

The morning air traffic was light and routine, and as far as Ford was concerned, Mark was ready for check out.  They both decided, however, to wait for the Miami International Airways flight with Mark’s parents on board.  Mark would clear the aircraft to land and it would be over. 

Ironically, it was also the flight that Bruce, Sue Ellen, and Shelby were on.  Even more remarkable, Ford discovered that Tono and Cyd were also on the flight.  Tono had been up to New York on business and Cyd had been called home on a family emergency.  When he found out that Leloni was also taking the same flight down, he started to wonder about stars lining up or some sort of astrological sign that would account for the twist of fate.

Ford was watching Mark confidently work when he was suddenly aware of a presence and turned to see Hurricane Hannah standing next to him.  What the hell? 

“Hannah,” he greeted.  “Wow.  Nice to see you.”  He eyed CJ to see if she had let her in, but CJ shook her head no.

Ford introduced Hannah to Mark and CJ, but Hannah didn’t acknowledge either one of them.  Hannah continued staring at Ford, as if trying to look through him or worse, trying to communicate with him in a nonverbal way.  He smiled out of discomfort and was about to remind her that he didn’t have ESP, but she interrupted his thoughts.

“Ford, dat plane can’t land here.  Make it go away!”

“What?  Hannah, what are you talking about?”

“Bad tings, Ford.”

The door opened and closed below, and Neumeyer made his way up the stairs, looking disdainfully at Hannah and then Ford.

“Ford, no visitors to the tower unless they go through me,” Neumeyer said. 

Ford fumed.  Not only was it an embarrassment to Ford to have him issue that edict in front of Hannah, he didn’t have the right.  He was tempted to lash out at him, but restrained himself.

“Hannah, this is the new manager of the tower, Gary Neumeyer.  This is Hurricane Hannah,” Ford said to Neumeyer, smiling.  “The famous Hurricane Hannah, I might add.  I’m sure you’ve heard of her.”

Hannah never turned in the manager’s direction, and Ford was sure it infuriated Neumeyer, to his satisfaction.  

“Ford, listen to me.  You have to do something.  That plane cannot land here.  You have to trust me.”  She was out of her dialect again, and she was being very clear. 

“What?” Neumeyer asked.

“Hannah, I can’t make the plane go away.  It’s going to land in a few minutes.  Even if I wanted it to, it would not have the fuel to go anywhere else,” Ford lied.

“Ford, if you like that girl, you must do something.”

What girl?  Leloni?  Shelby?  Oh, Lord!  He didn’t know if he was up for another ESP episode.  He looked into Hannah’s eyes, and flashed back to the time when he was trying to make everyone believe him about the Beechjet going in the water.  It was Hannah who was in the water waiting for the jet and it was Hannah who was there to save Sue Ellen and Shelby.  Was this the same thing?  

Ford picked up the phone to the crash house.  “Hey guys,” he said. 

“It’s Ford in the tower.  Listen, we may be having a problem with a jet coming in.  Go on standby, okay?  I’ll let you know if I want you to deploy.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Neumeyer asked.

“There’s no harm in having them stand by,” Ford told Neumeyer.

“Mister, I want to see you in my office tomorrow morning at oh-nine hundred.  We have some things to get straightened out around here.  You union people think you’re in charge?  That’s about to change!” Neumeyer snorted.

In an instant the thoughts he had about Neumeyer and the possibility of peace between them was gone, and he was enraged again. 

“It will be a pleasure!” Ford responded angrily.  “Now, if you don’t mind, and even if you do, I’m going to check out Mark.  After Miami International lands.”

“Where is da emergency?” he heard a familiar voice ask through his earpiece.  It was chief of the fire and rescue crash house.  Ford looked at the house to see one of the three Oshkosh model T-1500 fire trucks that were housed at the airport.  This was truck number one, and as he had watched them practice many times, he knew trucks numbers two, three, and four would follow in order.  Number one was equipped with foam and water capabilities, but also had a four hundred fifty pound dry-chemical system.  Trucks number two and three were the same but did not have the dry chemical system.  Truck number four was an E-One Titan 4x4 with foam and water capabilities, and a four hundred fifty pound hydro-clean system.  All this meant nothing to Ford other than they had the capabilities to put out fires.

Ford was about to speak to the chief but decided to make it a learning experience for Mark, who was looking to Ford for guidance.  Ford nodded towards the fire trucks for Mark to say something.

“There is no emergency,” Mark said.  “You were told to go on standby.”

“Standby?  No emergency?” the chief asked.

“Standby only,” Mark responded.

“Good,” Ford said, putting his hand on Mark’s shoulder. 

“You’ve lived here all your life and you haven’t figured out these natives!” Neumeyer said.  “Never call them unless it’s an emergency!”

Natives?  Ford couldn’t recall any one referring to the indigenous islanders as natives.  Stupid thing to say, he decided.  Hannah was native.  He wanted to apologize to Hannah, but she had had disappeared. 

He walked to the rear of the tower, glancing at a fuming Neumeyer out of the corner of his eye, and looked down the road.  Hannah was nowhere to be found.  Amazing! 

Make da plane go away.