GOOD TIMES... Summer (Part 70d)

Armed with a chain saw we set about cutting the debris up to manageable sizes. Then the biggest problem was getting the junk to the landfill. We could only use Jay’s 4 wheel drive truck to get to and from the location of the breach because the town still hadn’t cleared the drifted sand off the road. Because of that it was very slow going and by noon we’d only moved three truckloads. By the time we sent Albert off for the last trip we’d only moved two more. I was physically beat. Jay suggested that we load his truck up one more time and he’d take it home and go right to the landfill first thing on Sunday. As we left for the night I looked around and truthfully thought we’d bitten off more than we could handle.

At least we had a decent day on Saturday. As I walked out of the trailer early Sunday morning I was greeted by fog. The closer I got to the island the worse it got. Albert was waiting for me but we could only take the panel truck as far as the breach as we had to wait for Jay to show up. I thought that Saturday was tough but it was worse that day. I will agree that I could see some definite progress but what was left was a daunting task. That night I was asleep by the time the kids were in bed (8pm).

I was aching and still barely awake when I arrived at work. I’d completely forgotten that the County Board of Supervisors were to meet on that day. Jay surely hadn’t as the proposal to pay us cash for compensatory time was to be considered. Even the reminder of that did little to energize me. Elle was still ”on me“ for working on the weekend (and those to come) and I was sore as could be. I really wanted to quit the project but was smart enough to realize that if I did it could jeopardize my good working relationship with Jay. I was conflicted, to say the least.

It was mid afternoon when Leo, the deputy controller, came in the room and had Jay follow him to his office. Just the sight of Leo upset me and having him walk in the room got me going (in a negative way) again. Hate is a strong word but I can, after all these years, truthfully say I hated that man. In any case Jay was gone for quite a while. When he returned he was very obviously happy. He called Jo and I over to a corner behind the computer and printer. The Board had approved the payment to us but what had made him most happy was that they also approved the move of the Data Processing department to a much larger area within the building. Then he told us the bad news... we were not going to be paid for overtime without receiving prior approval. The operative word was ”prior“ and to make it worse, it had to come from Leo himself. I was moderately happy about the money but the fact that Leo had interjected himself into our happy little domain was really upsetting. Things had been going so well and in a matter of three days it seemed to have changed.

I vowed to talk with Jay about the beach job on Tuesday. I just wanted to see if there wasn’t some better way to do what we were doing. I made a list of things to consider and during our break I brought them up. Jo was with us and before I’d gone all that far she jumped in and said she’d like to help. As I’ve said, I really liked Jo. But this work was all about money and once she spoke up my first thought was that I’d have to share some of what I was expecting to make... but I didn’t say anything. Jay took her offer and my suggestions and said he’d consider them.

When I got back to the office there was a message from Elle. My first thought was that something had happened to one of the kids or to my grandmother. It was neither. Elise, Mac’s wife, had called to say that they were leaving a few days earlier than planned and that Mac wanted me to stop by their trailer on my way home. Their trailer was on the same street that my old trailer was on. With cars parked on both sides of the street there was only room for one car to pass through. By the fact it was close to 6pm and most people were home from work there was no room to park so I stopped right in the middle of the street. Mac was loading things into the back seat of his car when I walked up. He told me that he’d been mustered out a few days early. After checking the weather forecast for the rest of the week he felt it best for them to take off the next day rather than wait for Friday. Riding a motorcycle, he didn’t want to ride in rain. His big problem was that the new owner of the trailer was coming on Friday. He took me into the back yard and showed me a pile of stuff that no one had bought or wanted and he just didn’t have time to dispose of it. Trash pick up was Saturday morning and he didn’t want to leave all their stuff for the new owner and asked me to dispose of it for him.

He was a good guy and Elle really liked his wife. I really didn’t want to but I said I would. As I did he made one of those ”off hand“ statements that we all make from time to time along the lines of ”I owe you.“ That reminded me of the fact that he’d promised to let me know the results of the bet that he’d made with Lil, Andy’s wife, about the loser walking down the street in their underwear. When I brought it up he darted into the trailer and was back quickly. He motioned me to the front of the trailer by the cars and handed me an envelope. He told me to take it home and bring it back later. I put it in my shirt pocket and as Elise showed up with more things to go in the car that was all the conversation we had on the subject. By then there was a car behind mine wanting to get by so I told him I’d see him later.

At my trailer I found my mother and father waiting. They wanted to see the kids and since Elle hadn’t gone to see her mother in a while decided to stop by on their way home from the hospital visiting my grandmother. Elle, graciously, asked them to stay for supper. The next thing I knew it was dark and time for the kids to go to sleep. I’d wanted to say a final good by to Mac and Elise with Elle but had to do it by myself. The only thing was that even though their car was there, no one was home. Back at the trailer I promptly fell asleep watching TV.

To be continued...