THE ROAD TO GOOD TIMES... the start (Part 65c)

I realized Tuesday was a really important day when I finally went to bed and because of it I didn’t sleep all that well. The decision had been made to use the computer generated journal and checks to pay the County employees since the two tests had gone so well. Here I was, in only my third week at work, responsible for it. I was wide awake when the phone rang before 7am. It was a call for Elle to go in and teach. Normally that was a good thing but I was looking forward to taking the station wagon to work. Now Elle would have to have it and I had to find a ride. Elle had to wait to call Alice about taking the kids for the day until 7:30am. She liked to ”sleep in“ and by waiting until that time she had time to get both herself and her daughter showered and dressed before I showed up with the kids. It was a little before 8am and right after Elle had left when I got a call from Alice. When she went to give Julie (her daughter) a bath the water was just luke warm. Knowing that I’d worked on and around the trailer park she asked if I could take a look at it for her. Elle had helped me get the girls washed so it only took a little time to dress them. I still needed to get shaved and dressed but I took the girls over at around 8:15am. When I got there Alice was in a robe. Hers was the first of the new trailers at the park so I actually knew more about it than some of the others I’d worked on.

The first thought I had was to check the fuse box. I knew it was in the master bedroom closet and I asked Alice if it was OK to go back there. She was busy taking the coats off my kids and just waved me on back. As I walked in I saw her clothes laid neatly on the end of the bed... trousers, blouse, bra and panties. I looked down at the panties and I immediately wanted to pick them up but didn’t dare. I opened the closet and found the fuse box but needed a flashlight. I asked if she had one and she told me it was in the night table on the right side of the bed as I walked in. She was still busy with my kids as I walked back down the hall. Again, I stared at the panties as I walked past them, and this time I picked them up and checked out the maker. I couldn’t believe my eyes as the label read ”Munsingwear“, the same as the panties I’d just purchased in the city the day I took my test. There was a big difference though. They were just plain white with no lace of appliques. They were size 5, the same as I’d purchased but these didn’t seem quite as big. I was puzzled as I placed them back where I'd found them.

I retrieved the flashlight and looked at the fuses. As I’d suspected, the ones for the hot water heater were blown. I pulled them out and saw what the problem was. They needed to be 20 amp and were only 15 amp. I looked at my watch and it was almost 8:30 by then. I still had to shave and get dressed and I didn’t have a ride. I knew there were spare fuses in the trailer park's storage shed so quickly ran to get them. Upon my return I asked Alice if she would give me a ride. I knew she didn’t want to but she could hardly say ”no“ with me just having solved her problem. I told her I’d be back in a few minutes as knew she still had to get dressed and had to prepare the kids for going outside. Another thing the whole episode had accomplished, other than to give me a peek at her panties, was to get my mind off worrying about the payroll.

I was concerned about being 10 minutes late and on top of that was the sight of Nina sitting at her desk. Not a good start to my work day. Because of the time invested with the station wagon on Monday I still had some reports to run before the keypunchers were ready to hand their work over to me. I was just getting caught up when I got a call from Irwin to come into the empty Deputy Controller’s office. As nervous as I was about the payroll I certainly didn’t need this. All he wanted was to let me know that he'd heard that Nina was badmouthing me with the other workers in the department. Even though she didn’t report directly to him he said he’d try to keep the ”damage’ down to a minimum. I didn’t quite know what that meant but it was nice to know he was on my side.

Actually, the payroll work went well. Jay spent the day using the computer to test some of his new programs for the appropriations accounting project while I did the preparation to run the payroll. As tempted as I was to try my ideas for multitasking we decided to take the conservative route since it was the first “live” run. I was frustrated having to wait for each segment of the process to be completed before starting the next. I’d planned on working a bit late to get a bit of a head start on the Wednesday’s work. But, with Jay also working late and me relying on him for a ride home I stayed until he was done. As we left for the night all the cards were ready for the computer. I really wanted to stay but knew that was unrealistic.

I did get the station wagon to go to work with on Wednesday and got in early to get a head start. I was really excited. Right at 9am in walked the Controller, back from his vacation. He was surprised to see me and asked where Nina was. I really didn’t know what to say. Jay wasn’t in and neither was Irwin. I honestly don’t remember what I said other than to tell him that everything was going well. After he left I waited for Nina to show up. Jay finally came in and I told him about the Controller asking about why I was running the payroll. He just pointed towards Irwin’s office and shrugged his shoulders.

It wasn’t long after when I was summoned to the Controller’s office. When I walked in there was Nina. I knew this wasn’t good. He told me that Nina had told him that I had “stolen” her job. I knew that the only way that this situation could possibly come to a reasonable end was to have Irwin there. But he’d taken a sick day and wasn’t available. Again, I don’t remember exactly what I said but I do remember getting Jay to come in and explain that Nina had been out and the work had to be done. He told the Controller that I’d “volunteered”. The controller took it all in and finally asked Jay if Nina could finish up the payroll that was currently in progress. I do remember that Jay never said a word but just stood there shaking his head from side to side. The meeting ended with me being cleared to finish the payroll run but I knew the matter was far from over.

To be continued...