INTO THE FUTURE... with hope (Part 94e)

The next five to six weeks were a virtual blur, especially as I sit here and trying to remember it all and putting it in a time line. So... I’m going to give a synopsis and do a sort of fast forward.

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The race car had to wait. The baby was fine and showed no effects from Elle’s thyroid operation. The problem was Elle. After the operation the doctor thought he had the dosage of her meds regulated. However, the birth of the baby created a hormonal imbalance that had her all messed up. It made coming up with the right amount difficult. After she finally left the hospital someone had to be with her constantly. I’ll bet I made a dozen trips to the doctor with Elle during the first three weeks she was home. It took over a month for her to get back to feeling somewhat normal. One positive was that she’d only gained about 25 pounds during the pregnancy and was back to wearing her regular clothes within the month. She’d hoped that her incontinence would get better but it wasn’t, at all. We started talking about looking into a follow-up procedure for her soon after she got home.

Sonny was moved from the critical care section of the hospital he was in and was able to have visitors. With looking after Elle on a nightly basis made it almost impossible to get over to see him. The reports coming back from those that had were not good. It would be a long time, if ever, before he’d be able to walk again. I vowed to visit him as soon as Elle felt comfortable.

The new program that Jay had created to create computer generated lists for the Clerk Typist exam was a big success. I was so excited about its success that I wanted to have all competitive list become computer generated. Because so much attention had been put on the Police exam which had just been completed, Mrs K asked me to limit it to just that one. However, she didn't say "no" to the idea of doing it for all exams which was a good sign. Even though I had fit in well with the Civil Service office and liked the people and the work my heart was still in the Data processing department so Mrs K’s request was welcomed by me, for sure.

It was into April before all the police exams had been scored (over 1200 by hand). The next phase was the physical agility test. I don’t remember the number who had passed the exam but we had to run the tests at two separate schools. It was supposed be the first Saturday in April but, as the song goes ”April showers bring May flowers“, we had a mini monsoon and Mrs K deemed it unfair to run the tests under those conditions.  Because I’d made arrangements for Elle to have someone with her (I don’t remember who) for the whole day I decided to head to Crash’s house and try to finish up the motor. The season was due to start Memorial Day weekend and from being way ahead of schedule back in March I was now getting worried that I wouldn’t make opening night. We did what we could but really needed the car so that the new motor could be installed but that had to wait.

Marge, the new neighbor, turned out to be a life saver, stepping up to pitch in to help out at a moments notice. It took some ”doing“ but I was finally able to find out about what her husband did. The Town Council had made a somewhat secret zoning change that would allow a ”tank farm“ to be created. There were to be up to six giant petroleum storage tanks built to warehouse home heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel. Once the word was out the community was up in arms. Marvin, Marge’s husband, was there to oversee the construction of the tanks and was trying to keep as low a profile as possible. In spite of seeing more and more of Marge, I still had no real ”peeks” or clothes line views. Disappointing!

My grandfather had experienced a couple of “bad spells” and my father had decided that someone was needed to be with him during the day in addition to Jan at night. When told about the need, Cammy, my grandmother’s daytime nurse, said she could get her mother. The critical times were from 8am to noon and from 5pm to 9pm. I was aware that Jan and Brig were getting more and more serious. When she had first started she had expressed her willingness to be available seven nights a week. Having witnessed all the extra things she did for my grandfather firsthand I'd told my father that she should be entitled to some monetary compensation over and above the room. He resisted but I insisted. It made me feel good to “win” one over my father.

One of the many things I learned while working with Jo on the “lists” project was that Jay’s father had died. If you’ve read much of this blog you’ll remember that Jay was not one to share information on his personal life. After she told me she followed it up with an admonition not to say anything about it as he’d know she “spilled the beans“. Another thing I learned was that he and Jo were living together and her mother was having a ”fit“. Their plan to get married got put on hold because husbands and wives could not work together in the same department. The pay increases and Jo’s promotion were too good to walk away from so this was the best arrangement they could come up with. Jay had continued to find carpentry projects and stumbled onto one in which he’d been asked to convert a 2 1/2 car garage into an efficiency apartment. Jay did it and his ”pay“ was one year free rent. As Jo said, it wasn’t utopia but it would do for now. 

To be continued...