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

As you can imagine I was not looking forward to facing either Jay or Jo at work on Monday. I arrived a little early so as to be involved with a project when they arrived. However, Jay was already there and as soon as I arrived he motioned for me to go into his office with him. I don’t think I’d ever been in there with him before. He hardly ever used it preferring to work at a table in the general work area. As soon as we walked inside he sort of blurted out that he had filed for a divorce from his wife. At first I wasn’t sure what that had to do with what I’d seen on Friday but it quickly came to me that he was trying to use it as an excuse. I don’t remember saying anything but I do remember being very uncomfortable. It really was awkward.

Jo didn’t arrive until almost noon and I could tell that she was doing her best to avoid me. That, in itself, was strange because we had a really good working relationship. We’d usually start the day going over what we each had planned and just which order we would need each piece of machinery. Jo did go to lunch with Jay without telling any of the rest of us. I knew why but Andre was a bit puzzled.

As far as Rena was concerned it took a few weeks until she was back to her old flirting self. I was a bit surprised but certainly enjoyed the attention. The first such episode is still vivid in my memory. One of the duties of a keypunch operator was to occasionally empty the “chip” bucket. (“Chips” were what we called the residue from the punch cards. In the Bush election they were called “chad“.) Because she was new to the job she wasn’t as vigilant as she should’ve been and on this one day the chips were overflowing onto the floor. To get to the bin you had to lean over the machine and pull it out, actually pulling it away from yourself. When she did this she dumped a good bit of them out making a mess under her machine. When she squatted down to try and clean it up she was ”duck walking“ as she moved around trying to scoop them up. Each time she moved she would spread her legs and then close them. I happened to see it and was enjoying myself as I watched the white “magic triangle” go from big to small and back again. I really was hoping that she wouldn’t notice but she did and she saw me looking she smiled and stopped with her legs open as wide as her skirt would let her. I remember feeling flushed as I watched.

When Alvin and Millie left for Texas they had the electricity turned off. When Andy and Lil bought the unit they were like kids with a new toy at Christmas. They decided they wanted to sleep in it even without power and heat and brought blankets and flashlights much as they would have done if camping. For the next few days Lil and Dora, using their kids wagons, started the process of transferring their belongings. It took a few days for the power to be turned on and it seemed strange to see lights again. The one thing they didn’t have was telephone. On this one morning, while waiting for Elle’s mother to arrive to watch the kids, I got a call from Andy who was at work. He needed to get a message to Lil and asked if I could run next door to give it to her. As soon as Elle’s mother walked in the door I was on my way to next door. I was on my way up the steps when I saw Lil walking through the living room. Unless my eyes were deceiving me it looked like all she had on was a T shirt and panties. I knocked and I could see her returning towards the door. It opened and she was sort of hiding behind it. I gave her the message and, much to my surprise, she let go of the door and walked over to the dining room table. At that point there was no doubt that all she had on was a T shirt and her panties. She picked something up from the table, returned to the door and thanked me, making little effort to cover herself up. The whole thing took probably less than 30 seconds and as I started back down the steps I realized that I had a pretty sizable bulge. My concerns about living next door to Andy and Lil had been much reduced.

As opening night for the stock car races got closer it seemed like there were still a lot of little things to be done to be completely ready. Eric and I had recruited both Andy and Jim to go as our “pit crew” but as willing as they were they had no experience. Eric had done most of the work on the car but, among other things, it still needed to be painted. It had almost as much rust as paint on it with a faded silver number 51 showing through. It was a mess! When I had to move the storage sheds to make way for the new exit road from the park I found a whole bunch of old paint cans. Dick told me that they were mine if I had a use for them. I felt that by having Jim and Andy throw a coat of paint on the car would be a good way to get them involved. However, when they did the car looked worse than before they started.

The big day came and I still had to get my work in on the new travel trailer section of the park. The “boys” hadn’t planned on having to put the new road in so their budget had taken a big hit. They had envisioned having the trailers parked on cement pads and ordered a dump truck load of blue stone to lay as a base. My job was moving it to each location via a wheelbarrow. If you’ve been reading the whole blog you might remember that I’d hurt my back when I was training horses. I’d had an occasional problem but nothing debilitating. Well... I overdid it and by lunch time I was in great pain. I went home to get some aspirin and to take a rest. I lay down on the bed but after a half hour the pain was worse. Elle pleaded with me to go to the doctor but, by then all i could think about was opening night and the race car. It was going to be my first race as a driver. Jay and Jo were coming as well. I just knew I had to suck it up go.

To be continued...