A CLEARING HORIZON... with just a little fog (Part 67f)

I certainly wasn’t in the Christmas spirit after hearing all of that so when Elle called me into the girls bedroom to tell me that I had to go downtown to get the present we had on layaway for the oldest I was definitely not happy. Elle, when shopping for clothes for the kids for Christmas (basically, they were to be their presents especially for the younger one) the older daughter had seen this horse that was suspended on a stand with four springs. She had climbed on it and when Elle was ready to leave she wouldn’t get off, causing a bit of a scene. Elle persuaded me that, even with our tight finances, at the age of 2 1/2 she was entitled to at least one toy, especially if it was something that she really wanted.

I ate my dinner in silence with Judy occupying the kids. Concerned about the weather for the weekend and how it might affect our move I turned on the TV. It was while I stood up to turn it on that I realized that in all the planning we’d done concerning the move we’d forgotten about the TV. This was the same one that I bought at an auction right after we’d bought the trailer. It was what was then called a table top model complete with a wood case but designed to sit on a table. Like all the TV’s from the 50’s it was quite large and quite heavy. It had been perfect for us because whoever designed the trailer they made a built in place for it and that’s pretty much how we’d forgotten about it. Out of sight; out of mind. What concerned me the most was that there absolutely was no place for it in the new trailer. It was just another aggravation to add to the list.

Stores were open late on Friday’s and with it being the next to last shopping day before Christmas I didn’t have to rush. At the toy store I paid off the last money due and loaded the box into the station wagon. I’d parked behind the store and as I was headed home had to go past the appliance store. When I was doing the maintenance at the park I’d become friends with the son of the owner as he did the repairs for the store. I actually drove on past before I got the idea to go in and to see if he might have a reasonably priced used ”portable“ TV. I think I told you that his father and mine were good boyhood friends and that my grandfather did a lot of business with them. In any case, when I walked in the back door I saw John working at the bench with a relatively small TV playing along side him. After the usual, ”how are yas“ I asked. Almost without blinking he pointed to the TV on the bench. I knew from seeing ads that this was a very new TV with a feature called ”Instant On“. Instead of tubes printed circuits were used which didn’t need minutes to warm up before the TV would actually go on. Initially I told him I couldn’t afford it but he told me that he’d sell it to me for $50. I couldn’t believe the price. I knew from the ads that they went for something like $140 or even more. The he explained that this was actually the first one they’d sold and the person who bought it had problems with it. Long story short, the manufacturer came though with a brand new one and John ended up keeping the defective one. He told me he played and played with it and as far as he could see there was nothing wrong with it at all. It had been playing on the bench all week long. I didn’t have $50 and told him so. he smiled and said he knew where I lived and unplugged the set.

As a ”portable” it could sit on a table but even with our expanded living room (or soon to be) there was no room for another table, especially with the toy horse I had out in the back of the station wagon. Just then John’s father walked in from the front of the store. He spoke to John and I overheard him mention his wife, John’s mother. I then asked where she was because I knew she worked at the store both as a salesperson but also did the billing. Between the two they explained that she had some health problems and that if everything went well she would be back in April. I expressed my concern and best wishes. That whole exchange only took a minute and then it was back to business. John then asked his father to get a TV stand that would hold the TV on the bench. At that point all I was thinking about was how was I going to pay for all of it. When the father showed up with the stand we went back into the shop and John and the TV were gone. The back door was open and when we got there I could see that the TV was already in the back of the station wagon. I thanked them both profusely and wished them as merry a Christmas as they could have under the circumstances.

I really didn’t know how to explain the TV (and stand) to Elle so decided against it, parking the wagon in front of the new trailer. By the time I got back to Elle and Judy it was well after 9pm. Lance was back on base until 6am so there wasn’t much for us to do. One thing I had noticed was that Judys’ blue coat and her skirt was no longer in the bathroom. Elle had mentioned that she’d taken Judy all around town showing her where important things were located. I figured that they had taken the things to the cleaners while out. We turned on the TV and shortly thereafter there was a knock on the door. When I opened it I saw this black man with a cap with an airline logo on it asking if he had the right location while reading off my address. When I told him "yes" he handed me a suitcase. I asked Judy if it was hers and by the look on her face I knew it was. I think I had maybe a dollars worth of change in my pocket so I gave it to the man and shut the door.

No sooner had I done that when I saw Judy undoing the straps on the suitcase. I didn’t say anything but took a seat at the table and proceeded to watch as she took everything out and made neat piles of the different things. It was obvious that this bag contained her “everyday” clothes. I, of course, was wondering if she’d actually pull out her panties and bras what with me there. It didn’t take long for the answer as I saw a stack of panties, maybe six or so, stacked next to the bag. I don’t think I took my eyes of them until she’d found what she was looking for. She’d put her Christmas present for Lance in the bag, carefully burying it among her sweaters. It was an engraved ID bracelet. Once she found it she seemed to relax again.

To be continued...