THE NEXT PHASE... positive signs (Part 64a)

Now free to tell everybody about the new job I felt it only fair to tell the “boys” first. Dick said he wasn’t surprised as he just couldn’t see me being satisfied with being a handy-man at a trailer park as a career. Ben, on the other hand, seemed to take it as a personal affront that I’d leave on such short notice. Fortunately, he walked out of the office right after I told them as it left me free to explore my “plan” with just Dick. I told him that I’d be happy to stay on and work on Saturdays and I’d also still be willing to be the emergency contact at night and weekends. He had no problem with that at all which made me relax a bit. Then I told him about my “dream” to buy one of the new 60 foot trailers with the pop out living room. Of course his eyes lit up when he heard that. I told him I would try to sell my 41 foot trailer and that I had a 16 foot camp trailer that I would also sell. I told him that now with a full time job I’d go to a bank and finance the rest. I remember him saying he was impressed with my thought process. So, with that I asked about being able to show my camp trailer at his lot for a possible sale. He hesitated a bit and then asked how much I wanted for it. As I’d mentioned before, I knew it was worth more than I’d paid for it as Harry had sold it to me basically his cost and that was for $1,000. Before I could give him an answer he said he’d give me $1,100. It was only $50 less than I was going to ask for it so almost without thinking said “yes”. I told him I’d bring it to the park over the weekend and that he could keep the money as a down payment on the new trailer. As I walked out of the office I was walking on a cloud and I hadn’t even told Elle about the job interview.

Of course Elle was excited and she let me know just how much by inviting me into our bedroom and taking one of my hands and placing it between her legs. Within seconds I felt a nice warm, wetness in her crotch. Being afternoon, the baby was napping and Jean was visiting one of her friends. Talk about “afternoon delight”; that was it for sure!

Andy, Mac and Jim seemed happy for me. Of course my grandfather was ecstatic and both my parents and Elle’s parents were pleased. I continued to work at the park until the 30th. During that period of time Elle celebrated her birthday and all I got her was a card. I’d found out that the County paid every other week and it meant that my last pay from the trailer park would have to last for two weeks. There just was no money. At least Kay came through and invited Elle to go bowling with her. The local lanes had a morning ladies league complete with babysitting. She made a small cake and made it into a party. I remember Elle being “touched” by her thoughtfulness. At dinner she told me something that I didn’t know about Andy. He was a very good bowler and competed for money a couple of weekends a month. After hearing about it I really wanted to go see him bowl. Elle had enjoyed herself and, thinking to the future, wanted to get back to bowling again. I just added it to the now ever growing list of things that I wanted to do as well.

As my first day approached a few concerns popped up. I only had one suit and one blue blazer to my name and it was obvious that a coat and tie was standard dress. I mentioned it to my grandfather when taking him to see my grandmother that Sunday. Without batting an eye he told me to meet him at the one good men’s store after work that next day. I was happy for the offer but as I thought about my grandfather’s taste in clothes I began to worry that he might try to dress me the way he dressed. It was not a good thought but, thankfully I survived the ordeal with two acceptable (to me) suits.

I walked into the office that Monday morning expecting to see Irwin. He had told me that he always arrived around 8;30am but there was no one at his desk. I didn’t know what to do so took a seat by his desk and watched as the women filed in and sat at their desks. There was only one who I considered pretty and she was obviously a teenager. In reality I was disappointed. There were a dozen women in the trailer park who were considerably more attractive than this group.

When Irwin didn’t show up by 9:30am and the only other men in the office, by then, had no idea that I’d even been hired to work there I headed for the Controller’s office. The secretary, a woman easily in her sixties, knew that Irwin was having trouble with his leg but that was all. The Controller was out for the day, electioneering at a breakfast and a luncheon. She didn’t know what to tell me so I went back to sit by Irwin’s desk and did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. It was strange. I was going to get paid almost $20 for the day and I didn’t have to do any work to earn it. I did go to the cafeteria for lunch and saw a few cute women but on the whole was not impressed with what I’d seen.

Tuesday was better. Irwin showed up and, without explaining his absence, outlined my job responsibilities. The County had just purchased their first computer, a Univac 120 so that they could automate the payroll and, eventually, pay the bills. The computer was located on the other side of the general work area. The county had only hired a programmer to get started and since it was a punchcard driven system, had tapped two of the clerks in the department to be keypunchers. The plan was to run a test payroll in November. My job was to “proof” (audit it for accuracy) it and all payrolls that were to follow. Payroll was presently done semi manually by the Treasurer’s office and Irwin warned me that they were none too pleased to lose that function. Upon hearing what my job was I was anxious to get started but Irwin told me that he wanted me to have the “skinny” on the people in the office. He said it would make my job a lot easier if I knew from the start who to “trust” and who to avoid. That was a bit of a surprise to hear from my boss.

To be continued...