the rEiGn of TeRroR is over!

alternate title:  let them eat ice cream!
 
Three nights ago I came into work at 11 p,m., my normal start time, and found my boss sitting here waiting for me.
 
My first thought -- "What am I in trouble for now?!" That should give you a clue as to the conditions I've been living under here. He loved to lay in wait for me when I first showed up for work. I fully expected to be lambasted for yet another manufactured charge. Instead, he told me he was going home on emergency leave.
 
We talked for two hours about all I would need to do in his absence to continue our presence at meetings and prepare for the new team that's coming in two weeks. I'm not the acting team leader -- we answer to the team leader in Tikrit -- but I'm to go through many of the motions.
 
My co-worker Donna and I had this running conversation about his possible departure. We've known for about two weeks that it might happen, but he'd given us as little information as possible. That's the way he was, always toying with us. This week he finally said he'd know by Wednesday morning, yet as of that night, he'd not told us if he were leaving so we assumed he wasn't.
 
I'd said to Donna that I wasn't going to eat any more ice cream until he left. The ice cream would be my celebratory gesture since we can't have alcohol. And if he didn't leave, I wouldn't eat any until we were preparing to leave here.
 
So she came in to work two mornings ago (after I'd spent those two hours with him talking about his departure) not knowing the news yet, and I had a powerpoint slide on my computer screeen waiting for her. It said, "Are you ready to eat ice cream?" And it had a bunch of pictures of ice cream cones and sundaes. I showed it to her with a straight face, just sure that she'd "get" it.
 
Her reaction was a look of horror. You see, I have shared a computer and desk with the boss, and she thought somehow he'd found something on my computer, that he knew we'd been talking about that. I know that doesn't make complete sense, but again. . . this is another clue as to the conditions we've been living under. Once I explained to her that *I* had made the flyer, she broke out into a huge grin and hugged me. We were laughing and dancing around the office! When we went to lunch that day, I had cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate topping for dessert, and Donna only had ice cream for lunch.
 
He was here for another 20 hours or so after that. I switched to day shift and Donna switched to nights (tricky but we managed). He was supposed to fly at 3:40 a.m. yesterday, but we'd had rain off and on all night so I was afraid he wasn't able to fly.
 
I called the pax (passenger) terminal to see if he got on the flight and if it went out. He'd arranged to get out on a medevac flight that was supposed to have a few extra seats. The guy at the terminal said no, he had not. My heart dropped. We discussed it a little further and he said, "Oh wait. Yes, he got on the flight."
 
I'm now on my second day of working the day shift. It's been pouring rain off and on for 24 hours. The electricity went out in the wee hours of the morning both in the office and in my room (where I was awake because I'm not fully adjusted to the new shift yet -- flashlights are great). There are huge puddles everywhere, and it's hard to go anywhere without having to navigate around them. Roads and parking lots are flooded. I was told some housing areas are flooded, though mine's not.
 
Despite the mess outside, life seems better already.

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