MOVING AHEAD... changes (Part 96c)


I think the funniest part of this whole episode was in watching the two policemen try to figure out what to do. The woman continued to run to and fro screaming that she’d been cheated and wasn’t going to leave until we proved that she had failed. Finally, the two policemen got her cornered. Someone had picked up her clothes and handed them to one of the policemen and they got her to cover herself.

What we’d witnessed was a person having a nervous breakdown. In spite of the voyeuristic part of it it was not a pretty sight. It took some doing but I found out that she was a ”temporary“ and that exam was her third and last chance to pass and to keep her job. Sad!

BTW:  At work Annette continued to show that she was worthy of added responsibility. I got a telephone call from her mother one night and she was most appreciative of me having had faith in her. She admitted that she hadn’t wanted her to take the job fearing that it wouldn’t work out and she'd be hurt from the experience. I hated hearing that. I thanked her for the call and reinforced the fact that Annette was really a special individual and was capable of a lot more. I also told her that she should encourage her to do so.

Time wise, I was coming up on my one year anniversary working in the Civil Service department. All full time county employees were on a grade and step program as far as pay increases were concerned. The only ”promotion“ one could get was to take an exam for the next higher position. I can’t deny that I’d analyzed my situation within the department and the only possible opening for me would require Marty to leave or to become a Principal Personnel Technician and that would require that Wilson leave. There was only a three year difference in all our ages and both of them liked what they were doing as well as being ”married“ to the geographic area. I was relatively happy and when Mrs K called me into her office I couldn’t imagine why. As you’ve read I admired her for her ability to handle difficult situations as well as to not stand on precedence. She started off by telling me that I’d been doing a very good job. That was nice to hear but the tone of her voice told me that there was more to come. In short what she went on to say was that she felt I was capable of much more challenging things than the department could offer. Nervous, my first thought was that I was being fired. However, what she was indicating was that if I were to find another job that was a challenge she wanted to let me know that she wouldn’t stand in my way. At that point I was thoroughly confused... I was doing a good job but I could leave if I wanted.


As the middle of June approached I knew I’d be getting a call from Rex, the guy who was, for all intents and purposes, the property manager at the sailing club. I was his unofficial assistant and hadn’t touched base with him all Winter. I had my excuses at the ready with Elle’s health and the new baby heading the list. The work weekend where the members would ready the clubhouse and grounds for the upcoming sailing season was upon us and he desperately needed my help. I didn’t really want to go knowing that I had plenty of things that needed to be done at home but I said I’d be there.

It had been a good Winter as far as damage to the facility was concerned so it wasn’t a hard day. However, I learned that a number of things happened during the Winter that affected or were going to affect our racing community. At best, Rex calculated that we would be down to only seven boats racing on a weekly basis. Buddy (and Carol), Jimbo (and Ruthie) Cat (and Bret), Willie and Frank wouldn’t be spending their Summer locally. But more important to me was that some of the parents of the junior sailing/racing program had gone on the record as saying they wouldn’t allow their kids to get a Comet class sailboat (the official class boat for the club) as they were ”dangerous“. The junior sailing program was the life blood for the club. These dissident parents had formed a committee to find a better choice. In my mind that news didn’t bode well for the future of the Comet class.

At home when I told Elle about the people who wouldn’t be racing and their reasons (babies for Carol, Ruthie and Frank) she wondered just how she, herself, was going to manage. That gave me the opening to mention that it wouldn’t be Bobbi who’d be crewing but her sister, Norma. Elle knew Norma but only from the fact that she like me, remembered her as a little girl. Since she didn't seem to object I let it go at that. I'd been putting off facing the fact that my boat trailer was unusable. For my birthday my parents (and grandfather) had purchased a new galvanized metal trailer to replace the old one. I’d been so involved with the race car I’d put off getting it ready to use and was now ”down to the wire“. After doing my good deed by taking my grandfather to the hospital I headed for my parents home to work on the new trailer.

I have to give some more "background" here... Some of my parents best friends were Summer residents of our community. One family had three kids and the youngest, a girl, had become my mother's "surrogate daughter". The mother ended up with lung cancer and had died in March. The father had a prominent position with a major news service (ie: Associated Press) and was required to be present at both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions and wasn't able to open up the family Summer cottage. The girl, Dolly, was devastated by her mother's death and, on top of that, was being denied being able to "go to the beach" as her father wouldn't let her stay alone at the age of 17. Upon hearing that my parents stepped up and offered to let her stay with them. I hadn't been informed of this when I arrived. 


As soon as I arrived I hitched the old trailer up and when I started to pull it out of the garage there was a loud ”crunch“. I got out and saw that, for all intents and purposes, the old trailer had collapsed with my boat resting against the wall of the garage. I knew I was in trouble. The boat would have to be lifted, by hand, off the old trailer and out of the garage and as far as I knew there was only me and my father. When I went across the street to fetch him I found Dolly in the kitchen. That was a surprise!

To be continued...