Word: pickup
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...Gene Moore is scanning the cloudy skies, pulling on a cigarette, adjusting the treble on his stereo and aiming his blue Ford pickup truck toward western Oklahoma...
...always watched storms when I was young," Moore says. "I figured when I got old enough, I'd follow one and see what it was like." Sometimes these days, he sees them a bit too well. As the pickup hurtles along Route 66, Moore recalls his last big storm. It ended up chasing him all over north central Texas, then dispersed, then treacherously re-formed and became the deadly tornado that killed more than 40 people last April in Wichita Falls. Moore outran it for 15 minutes, until it crossed the road behind his truck. Says he: "It sounded...
...storm clouds are "falling apart." Moore is unconvinced. He heads west again to get a better look at a cloud bank that seems to contradict the forecast. "Look at that thing!" Moore yells. "It's going up! Hell yes, it's going up!" He throws the pickup into a fast U-turn. He turns on the AM radio just in time to hear an unmistakable crackle. "If I didn't know better," Moore shouts, "I'd say that was lightning!" As the truck speeds through Cheyenne, the skies grow darker...
There is, however, plenty that could go wrong with this forecast. A major imponderable is the pickup in business spending for new plant and equipment. Corporations are expected to increase capital investments this year by 16%, but the rise is a mixed blessing. If, as expected, capital spending continues fairly strong through the early part of the recession, it will help cushion the slump. But if a capital investment boom develops, it could delay the recession and ultimately make it worse...
...college, is robbed of his chance at glory when a recruiting violation costs Centenary College its opportunity to try for a national championship. McLeod is drafted but fails to make the Chicago Bulls. Having risen too far too fast, all three athletes plummet back to daily life and weekend pickup games, a lot sadder, and a little wiser, in the ghetto where it all began...