Q is for Quarter
Like any National Park, Piston Peak had its rhythm. Summer quarter was the busiest. It was when they were swamped with visitors. It was also when thunderstorms, flash floods, and fires were at their strongest. The fall quarter was the shoulder of the season when the lower number of visitors gave the park staff the space they needed to make repairs and prepare structures for the fringed winter months. The fall quarter ended in a final spike of visitors who would fill the lodge for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Winter quarter was the Park's quietest, as most of the landscape hibernated under a thick blanket of snow, and the risk of avalanche closed many popular trails and roads.
But before you knew it, the days would get longer, the icy grip of winter would slip, and the calendar would flip from March to April. Spring quarter would finally arrive, and while it heralded many things, the fact that spring was currently on their doorstep meant that it was time for Cabbie to hide the explosives.
"Stop…just stop…" Cabbie sighed as he watched Maru and Blade try to 'help' him store the crates of avalanche control explosive materials by pushing a couple of different colored crates together. "For one thing, you are not going to store the blasting caps directly next to the thermobaric charges."
"Please remind me why we are not just storing all of this at the lodge?" Blade harrumphed. "I clearly remember that that is how the explosives were handled before the Air Attack Chief was made into a year round position."
"And I was dropping dynamite out of my hatch back then, an explosive that is incredibly safe as long as it isn't rigged for detonation." Cabbie tried to patiently explain for the sixth time this morning. "Sticks of dynamite are relatively safe to have in close proximity with the public. These," Cabbie nosed one of the red-painted crates, "are bombs. Not basically bombs, they are exact same bombs that were developed to try to take out the Vietcong's tunnel networks during the Vietnam War. They are dangerous as slag, but are one of the most effective tools out there to combat an unstable snowpack."
"Which is why we need to make sure that all of this equipment is in a place where the smokejumpers can neither find nor access it." Maru drawled, clearly finding the whole situation somewhat amusing.
"Correct." Cabbie bobbed slightly. "Those little ground pounders are skilled enough causing trouble and light enough fires without the help of explosives. I really hate to imagine how much chaos they could get themselves into if they knew just how much firepower we had on base."
"I suspect that we would probably be scrapping their wrecks off the rocks." Maru supplied, which caused everyone to stare at the crates in front of them, trying to imagine the scene that had just popped into their heads. The mechanic suggested after staring crates for a couple of minutes. "What if we put the blasting caps in Windlifter's hanger this year?"
"That might work…" Blade somewhat agreed, and the whole team got back to work hiding the explosives in preparation for smokejumper proofing the base.
Term- Quarter- A description of a three months period of time. Often used to help estimate how much money, personnel, and materials will be needed to run a park during different parts of the year.