HEADING FOR WINTER... December (Part 77b)

It was also around that time that I received a notice in the mail from the bank that was handling the Trust fund that my grandfather had created for me. One thing that he’d stressed to me was to not sell any of it but to let it earn interest and dividends. That way I’d have a steady monthly income. The notice told me that one of the corporate bonds that was in the portfolio had matured. The bank told me that they had reinvested the bulk of the proceeds but there was around $300 left over and wanted to know what I wanted to be done with it. It was a ”no brainer“ for me, especially at that time.

I decided not to mention it to Elle and started an account just for the race car. That way I could know at a glance how much I’d spent and how much was left to spend. The most important missing piece was the motor. My friend, Cliffy, had told me the last time I’d seen him that his father would sell me one they weren’t going to use any more. That was three months prior. I figured the best thing to do was to get some money down on it before it was sold to someone else. On a day the computer was down for periodic maintenance I took a couple of hours off to cement the deal.

It had been almost five years since I’d been to the garage where they had their race cars and when I got there I was shocked to see a new, modern, gas station. There was no house (they had lived right next to the service garage) or garage. I asked one of the attendants and they directed me up the road a ways to a new street that I had never seen. As I turned down the street and headed West I recognized the house up ahead on the right. They had to have moved it. Right next to it was a large cement block building and as I reached the location I saw the familiar garage sign. As I got out of the car I looked towards the house and saw bunch of panties blowing in the wind on a clothes line. I don’t remember the number but it had to have been 8 to 10 of them. There was nothing else on the line. Cliffy had a sister who, when we were in school, was way younger than we were. I figured they had to belong to her. It made me wonder what she looked like. She had to have been a teenager by then.

Cliffy wasn’t there but his father was I asked if he remembered me and, of course, he said he did. He'd built my first race car. I asked about the motor and was told he still had it. He wanted $100 for it and that included repairing it. That was more than I’d hoped it would be and was sort of pleading poverty when this cute, blond girl walked in. It was Cliffy’s sister. I remember thinking about how much she’d grown up... and pictured her wearing those panties I saw on the line.

The Christmas party was scheduled for the second week in December. We agreed that Thursday would be best because the payroll for the week would be finished with time to spare. Jo had come in her own car that day because she wanted to leave early to help set up for the party. Lucy also left early so she could change her clothes. The ones she was wearing looked fine to me as I still felt that she was overdressed for our operation. The party was scheduled for around 6pm and we were going to have a ”real“ Italian dinner. Jo had promised that we’d all be treated ”royally”.

I was the first to get there and was introduced to Jo’s mother and other family members. There was no denying their Italian heritage. Jo looked somewhat out of place because you could’ve had two Jo’s just from the size of her mother. The restaurant was just that... a restaurant. It was small and intimate... definitely not a pizza joint. Lucy was next to arrive and when she said she was changing clothes, she meant it. She was in her City finest... definitely a fashion plate. Next to arrive was Andre... and Rena.

When Jo offered to host the party we’d decided that it going to be for just the people who worked in the department. Basically, I was the only one who was married (at least living with a wife) and I was OK with not having Elle attend. I know she wasn’t that happy about it but was comfortable as she’d been to the office and knew everybody. However, Andre and Rena weren’t an “item” at that time. I was a bit upset at seeing her there and actually asked Jo about it. Typical Jo... a little laugh and a casual response. It was along the lines of “... well, she’s almost an employee” referring to the amount of time she’d been spending there working on the Purchasing department project. I really had nothing to say about it because we were all there as guests of her family. I did feel somewhat left out of the “loop” as I was the last to know.

All in all it was a really nice night. We ordered off the menu (which was in Italian) and the food was really good. The only thing I knew about what I ate was that it was veal. They served us Italian wine and plenty of it. I was not a wine drinker, having had a bad experience when I was still in college, but did partake of a toast that the family made to Jo and Jay. I remember smiling thinking that they knew something that the rest of us didn't. Being a Thursday we all had to go to work the next day and, since Jo’s family wanted to clean up and close, we left fairly early. The only one who showed any real effects of the wine was Andre. He’d brought Rena right from work and had to get her back. Jo’s brother stepped in and suggested that someone drive him home. Rena, on hearing that went into a mini panic but Jo, always thinking, suggested that I could take her since we both lived in the same town.

I can’t deny that it was an interesting trip. Rena had had her share of wine and was a little tipsy. I started the trip (about 40 minutes) by trying to talk about the DP/Purchasing department project. After a while she became bored with that and started talking about “us”. Hmmmm... As I remember it she reminisced back to when I’d first walked in her when she was changing her clothes at work and how “exciting” that had been. She asked if I didn’t get “something” out of how daring we’d been. I had to agree but I also chose to reiterate that I was very happy in my marriage. I’m sure it was the wine as she asked how much harm were we doing. That was an interesting question. I had actually missed seeing her changing her clothes, walking around in her slip, panties and bra. We were almost to the County Center parking lot when she leaned over to me and asked if I’d like a peek. I initially deferred, hoping that would get her to back off a bit. When it didn’t I asked how Andre would feel about it if he knew. She laughed. I don’t remember exactly what she said but the gist of it was that he was a nice guy but she was “using” him. By now we were in the parking lot and there were only a few cars. Her old jalopy stood out. I pulled up along side so she could step out and into the drivers seat... only she didn’t. Driving, I hadn’t noticed that she’d unbuttoned her coat and her blouse. She turned to me and pulled them apart. All I had to see by was the light from the dash board and the dim lights from the parking lot. I could see one half of her chest. She wasn’t that well endowed but it still did get my attention. I just looked without saying anything. Then she got up on the seat and, kneeling, faced me. I honestly thought she was going to lunge at me. But she grabbed at both sides of her skirt and pulled it up. Again, the light wasn’t all that good but I could make out the white of her panties. I thought I might've seen the front crotch line. I can’t remember her exact words but it was something like “... how about that!” and then she let her skirt drop and got out of the car. I waited until I knew that her car started before I put my car in gear. As I did I realized that I had a pretty serious bulge.

To be continued...