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

Timing is everything in life and mine wasn’t the best. Elle had just been to the bathroom and was awake as I came in the trailer. I never got a chance to tell her about my big news as she was all over me about being selfish and uncaring for not calling to tell her I wouldn’t be bringing the car home. It was useless for me to try and interject my side as she was as mad as I’d ever seen her. I just sat and listened until she finally wound down. We were in the bedroom and when she stopped she just turned off the light and rolled over and away from me.

There was one point she made that I didn’t disagree with and that had to do with the car. She’d complained during the summer that a convertible was not a good choice for a family with young children. We couldn’t put the top down because it was too much air for the kids to handle. She’d never really been comfortable with parking it because it was so big and long. At one point, early in the summer, I’d actually thought about selling it to generate some needed money but knew it would upset my grandfather. But with Elle now registered to be a substitute teacher and her desire to not be ”trapped“ as she had described her situation during her rant, I gave it some more thought as I lay there in bed.

It was almost as if she’d orchestrated it when the phone call at 7am was for her to come in and teach that next day. Talk about panic! She immediately called Alice who had volunteered to watch the kids whenever Elle got called in. Then it was trying to figure out what to wear and then it was taking a shower and washing her hair. In the meantime the kids woke up. When she came out from showering she told me the kids were mine to take care of until I took them to Alice’s. This time it was a different kind of panic... mine. At best my role with the kids had been a supporting one. Elle was the stay at home mother/wife and I was the wage earner. As she darted about she was giving me instructions of which I probably retained a half. Then came the bombshell... she was taking the car.

There was little I could do to change the situation without creating a real big confrontation. It was very obvious that I was still in the ”doghouse“ and that, mixed in with the nerves from her first real teaching job, made for a very frazzled young woman. About the only positive thing that I added that morning was to remind her to take some ”supplies“ with her as she started out the door.

I got the kids washed and dressed and got some food in them. The real problem for me was getting to work. In spite of working with Jay for almost two weeks I’d not gotten his phone number. As I took the kids to Alice’s trailer I tried to come up with a way to ask if she could give me a ride. I knew I could walk but it would take almost a half hour and, since there were no sidewalks, it would be somewhat dangerous. I could tell that Alice was none to pleased as she was just finishing dressing her daughter. As it was I was about 10 minutes late. It didn’t matter as Jay wasn’t there yet and, thank goodness, neither was Nina. I wasn’t looking forward to her reaction when told I was taking over for her as far as the payroll was concerned.

The ”proof“ of the payroll journal we’d run the night before went well so we ran the dummy checks. That part had not been done on the first payroll test so there was a little apprehension. Jay had worked out an idea of having the check numbers prepunched into them with the check manufacturer. This was a test of that system as well and Jay was a bit uptight about it. We both held our breath as the printer started. We let about 10 of them run through before we checked and when they proved to be correct we both let out a yell. We scared the keypunchers, Linda and Donna, and got a rebuke from Donna. We were both behind the printer and I distinctly remember Jay muttering ”Bitch!“.

The whole run of checks was perfect. They could’ve been used but the Treasurer’s office had run their own and were using them. For the following week, which would be my first paycheck, the plan was to run them both. If everything was OK with the ones we ran they would be the one used. I couldn’t wait.

Running the payroll itself was only one part of the job. There were all sorts of subsidiary reports to be generated not the least of which was the earnings history for each employee. These reports were created while waiting for the keypunch ladies to complete their jobs. The difference was that there was no specific deadline for them like with payroll. That allowed for some, but not much, frivolity. Jay, when not under pressure, was a bit of a jokester. Linda was a perfect foil. I’d had a few brief chats with her and found her to be a nice person but very gullible. After the afternoon break Linda came back to find that her chair wouldn’t roll. Jay had some black electrical tape. He made four little rolls of it with the sticky side out and then jammed them under the front and back of two of the wheels of her chair. When she returned she sat down and tried to roll herself up to her machine. It wouldn’t move. She looked down but Jay had hidden the tape so well that she couldn’t see it. She finally got up and took a closer look finally squatting down. Jay and I were hiding behind the printer and from where I was I got exactly what I was looking for... a nice white triangle. The only problem with it was that Linda was probably 30 pounds overweight. It did detract from the view a bit. At least it was the first peek of any kind that I’d had since I’d started. It got me to thinking about the cute, young blond who sat in the back of the general work area.

To be continued...