SPRING... adapting to the changes (Part 80b)

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I was in such a rush to get something posted last week that I jumped over a whole two week period. There were a couple of things that happened during that time that I need to post as they will come into play again in future posts. Sorry ‘bout that.
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The new store that my across the street neighbor (the ”mystery woman“) was responsible for getting opened right before the first of April. She pulled off a major marketing coup by having a ”pre-opening“ for special groups. Among others they included all teachers and school staff for the local school district; doctors, nurses and local hospital staff; all the local town government officials and staff as well as the residents of the mobile home park. It was by invitation only and it was held from 6pm to 10pm the Friday night before the Saturday Grand Opening. Elle and I wanted to go but without the kids. With Alvin, Millie and their girls, our former neighbors, now in Texas we didn’t have built-in baby sitters any more. Elle’s mother had stepped in during the days that Elle was called in to teach but on those days she was not willing to take the kids at night. We didn’t want to ”dump“ them at a neighbor’s and have them there when it was time for bed. Elle called me at work when she got home from school that Friday and asked if I remembered the name of the girl from church who had comforted our youngest when she had a problem the week before. The funny thing was that I remembered her last name but not her first. I gave that to Elle to see if she could track her down. Purely by luck there was only one family with that name in the phone book and when Elle called the girl answered the phone. After Elle talked with her mother she was given permission and Elle called me to tell me to pick her up on my way home from work. I was pleased for a number of reasons... I wanted to go to the pre-opening and, as I’d mentioned before, I had been impressed with her and the way she handled the situation with my daughter.

Her name was Karen and she was 15 years old. As I chatted with her on the way home I was, again, impressed with her maturity. We both attended the Episcopal Church but she was attending a Catholic High School which I found interesting. In any case, she was still wearing her school uniform. The skirt was a green and gray plaid with a white blouse, She was also wearing a green cardigan sweater with what appeared to be the crest of the school. I remember looking over at her and was surprised at how much of her thighs I could see as she sat there. I really hadn’t noticed how short the skirt was when I went to the door to pick her up but it certainly had my attention in the car. The kids took a little time to warm up to Karen but once she got down on the floor to play with them they were OK. Elle was in a rush to get going and I have to admit I was dragging a bit, hoping to get a peek at her panties.

The store was way more than I had expected, not in presentation, but in the vast amount of products that were available and at the prices that were posted. I’ve told you that Elle and I kept a list with two categories... ”want” and ”need”. I can tell you that when we walked out of that store there was little that was on the “need“ list. It was very much like the COSTCO and Sam’s Club stores of today in that much of the merchandise was on tables, in bins or on shelves and not really displayed. There were no food products but just about anything else you could think of was to be found. We actually ran into the ”mystery woman“ neighbor (Denise) who was in charge of the store. She explained the reason for the ”pre-opening“ was to get the staff up to speed in dealing with the public. But as I looked around all I could see was faces of disbelief on the other people who were there. I knew that I was going to tell anybody I saw about the place. It didn’t come to me right them that what Denise was hoping for was word of mouth promotion on top of normal media advertising. It was something that I put into the back of my mind for future use.

One thing about Karen was that she was shy in the presence of adults. Taking her home it was like pulling teeth to get much out of her. About the only thing I learned was that her father was a physicist at a local governmental facility and her mother was in administration with the new County Community College. With two professionals as parents it helped to explain the maturity that I’d observed from her. As I left her off I asked if she was interested in doing more baby sitting and her smile told me ”yes“.

The other major happening was that work was started on converting First Street at the mobile home park to travel trailers. As I previously mentioned, the news of the change did not sit well with the eight residents who were in those pads. Two of them decided not to move out and when Dick and Ben literally dragged their trailers off the lot it took police to straighten the scene out. That was the precursor to what was to happen.

The new park that the ”boys“ had announced was well planned out. Engineers and planners had been used. But, they had decided to convert First Street to travel trailers on their own and it only took a few days to see that they had thought the process out. First Street was the only two way street in the park and anyone living behind it had to exit the park by driving down the street. To do the construction work necessary it would be required to close First Street. That meant they had to make a new exit which entailed moving storage sheds and equipment. It only got worse from there and I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that it became clear that my involvement in the project was changed. If I had any other way to pay off the debt I owed the ”boys” for my patio awning and room I would’ve pursued it. However, I’d told them I’d help and I did but it was anything but what I expected. The ONLY good thing that came from it was that I got to meet Ben’s wife. With all that was going on (the new park; making room for a travel trailer section; adding a new line of trailers) she was brought in to help out in the office. Completely the opposite of Ben, she was a very nice, attractive woman. Before children, she had been a legal secretary. I have to admit that she was a bit of a flirt. She liked to wear tight fitting skirts and on occasion I would get a bit of a VPL. I definitely looked forward to visiting the office.

To be continued...