NEW GROUND...  with some shocks (Part 99f)


By the time I got back to Elle's mother's house it was late afternoon. Elle's mother had persuaded he to stay and have supper so her father could see the kids. I wasn't particularly pleased with that but I knew I had to "give" some because my mother had been all over me about seeing the kids as well and Elle would have to "give" some as well. Before we headed home I got her to commit to Thursday and passed it on to my mother. Of course I didn't mention anything about sailing with Bobbi that day.

On our way home Elle questioned me about what it was that I'd been doing all afternoon. I didn't want to mention anything about the money my father had agreed to pay me as I wanted it to help pay for the new race car that I hadn't yet told her about. I'd told her about my father's wrist way back on Saturday so when I said I was helping him finish the job up I wasn't lying. But, when I said I'd committed to doing more she gave me one of "those" looks. It became pretty quiet the rest of the way home. Neither of us mentioned it the rest of the night. It became painfully clear that she was upset when it came time for bed. As warm and cuddly as she'd been when we got up in the morning she was as cold as ice in bed even though it was still quite warm outside.

By the next morning she'd calmed down a bit and I offered to do the grocery shopping for her to help the situation. I'd wanted to get to my parents house early enough to be able to finish two windows but knew that wouldn't be possible and still be home for in time for supper. When I arrived I was greeted by Edith, my grandfather's daytime nurse/caregiver who was out on the beach with her daughter Sally. She quickly explained that my parents had told her she was welcome to use the beach whenever she could. Seldom having time off during the day she hadn’t been there but with the switch she’d made to cover for Jan giving her the day time free decided to take advantage of it. Sally immediately asked where my girls were. I felt badly that they weren’t with me as she seemed sincere in her disappointment.

Starting in on the windows I kept glancing at the visitors on the beach. Sally was in a bathing suit and it was obvious to me that in just a short time she'd be filling it out nicely. Edith was still in her clothes and I wondered why. About noon time my mother appeared and offered to make lunch for all of us. Edith started to decline saying that it wasn’t necessary since she only lived minutes away and that she wanted to go home to change into her bathing suit. My mother insisted and eventually gleaned the fact that Edith actually had her suit in her beach bag. In earlier posts I explained that houses built near the water in the 30’s had ”changing rooms“ built into their exterior. After lunch my mother showed her where they were. As they walked away my devious mind went to work.

I figured it was an even chance that Edith would leave her clothes in one of those rooms and I needed to manufacture a reason to go back there before she decided to leave. I didn’t have to worry about my father as he was working but my mother was always flitting about, going from place to place so I had to be concerned about her. I was almost through with the window I was working on and was planning on leaving when I was done. Just as I was picking up my mother came outside and went down to the beach and sat down with Edith. I remember looking skyward and thinking ”Thank you, Lord!“.

My father kept a box with all the components for doing the window work on the back porch where the changing rooms were located. It took me less than a minute to get from the front of the house to the porch and the changing rooms. It took less than 15 second for me to be peeking inside. One of the rooms was used for all the beach gear like folding chairs, beach umbrellas and toys for the kids so I opened the door for the other. The rooms were tiny, no more than 4’ x 4’ with a small bench and some hooks to hang clothes. Right in front of me were Edith’s neatly folded brown shorts with her panties resting on top of them. I knew I didn’t have much time but I also knew I had to be careful to fold and put the panties back exactly as I found them. As I reached for them I could see they were nylon and had a wisp of lace showing. I picked them up and flipped them open to see that they were fancy panties with lace inserts down the sides. Excited, I quickly peered inside to find the label. I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw a very familiar name... Carter’s. Over the many years I’d been interested in panties and had seen, handled or purchased them I’d  never seen Carter’s in anything but cotton. This truly was a ”find“. I can tell you that I really, really wanted to know where she’d gotten them... but quickly realized it was hardly possible. As I folded them up and put them back on top of her shorts my thoughts quickly shifted to how I could get a pair of hers.

To be continued...