THE HOME LIFE... & other stuff (Part 101d)

With my mother involved I knew it best to just step back and let the situation evolve. I knew Elle or I would be getting more phone calls as the week progressed. It was at the end of the week and by then I was looking forward to a few days of normalcy. Work was becoming more and more of chore and any day I had away from there was a good day. I answered the phone and it was Edith. The first reaction was that something had happened to my grandfather. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was around 8pm, long after she would have left for home. She wanted to talk with Elle and although I was curious as to the reason kept my mouth shut. I went back to watching TV but kept an eye on Elle. I could see she was more animated than usual which got my attention. When she finally got off the phone she was almost laughing.

Edith found out that Jan wasn’t going to get married in a wedding dress. Jan’s mother had told her that ”under the circumstances“ it wasn't proper. Her parents would put some money up for a reception but wouldn’t buy a dress. That bothered Edith and she’d made some calls to her friends and had come up with a prom dress that could be altered. The call to Elle was to enlist her help in doing the alterations. In a conversation Elle had mentioned that she had made some of her own clothes and Edith thought of her to help out.

I’m sure that if Elle had been getting calls to teach she would’ve begged off. However, she wasn't and the four walls were ”closing in“ on her and this was something different. She actually was excited. She told me that I was going to have to step up because she and Edith would be doing the work over at my grandfather’s house. They would meet at around 7pm and work for a couple of hours and I'd have to put the kids to bed. I didn’t mind that but had to ask what they were going to use for a sewing machine. When needed Elle had used the machine of one of our first neighbors but the lady had recently moved.

Not too long ago I mentioned that I’d seen Elle going through the mail order catalogs and it turned out that sewing machines was one of the things that she was looking at. A machine had been on her ”want/need“ list but hadn’t moved off the “want’ column since it was entered. While she was telling me about the plan for the dress she sidled up to me and spread her legs just a bit. An invitation for sure. Let’s just say what followed was pleasing to me. With a little verbal cajoling on top of that she had me saying that if she could have a new machine it would be her Christmas present. As it turned out there was still time to get down town to the Sears store. They told me it would be there on Monday which was still enough time to get the dress done. BTW: I had a very enjoyable rest of the evening upon my return from the store.

I picked the machine up on my way home Monday night. Although stores back then typically closed no later than 6pm, the hours for the Sears store were extended (for some unknown reason) on Monday nights. It worked for me (and Elle). She spent the time after supper getting familiar with the operation of the machine and, when satisfied, called Edith and Jan and set up their first meeting. The kids, especially Jean, the oldest, were really interested in hearing that Elle was going to be working on a real wedding dress. One of the books that they liked was about a princess that got married and were hung up on the dress. For a birthday or Christmas my mother had bought some doll clothes for the girls that included a wedding dress which they sometimes fought over.

When Elle left to go meet with Jan and Edith Jean wanted to go too. I had an upset 5 year old to handle as she drove away. To calm her down I promised that we’d go over to see the dress after it was finished. That helped but she still wasn’t very happy. When Elle got home she seemed very pleased with herself. Between the three women they had decided to make some major modifications. Elle told me the dress was an off white long gown and they were shortening it. It wasn’t Jan’s size so they were working on that as well. The target was to have it done on Thursday night. I told Elle about the hissy fit that Jean had thrown and about my promise to take her over to see it. She didn’t seem too receptive to the idea but didn’t say ”No.“

On Wednesday night Elle had told me the plan was to do most of the sewing. Edith had family plans and Jan was spending time with Buddah so she was going to be alone with my grandfather and ”Jaa“, the lady who followed Edith and looked after him until Jan would get there. I asked if she wanted me to join her but she really didn’t want the kids to be a distraction. I’d gotten the older girls into their pajamas and had herded them down to the bathroom to brush their teeth when the phone rang. It was Elle. She’d broken the two needles that had come with the machine and needed the extra package that was on the kitchen counter. I wasn’t all that happy about it because it meant waking the baby and bundling her all up. The other two were happy, especially Jean because now she’d see the dress.

I thought I saw Jan’s car parked down at the carriage house when I pulled into the driveway. Elle had told me that she would be working alone so that was obviously a change in plans. I told the girls to follow me into the house and to be very quiet in case my grandfather was asleep. Carrying the baby I sort of tip toed to the dining room door. The lights were all on but I didn’t see either Elle or Jan. As I stepped into the room I got a sight that I could’ve only dreamed about. Over in a corner was Jan in just her bra and panties and stepping out of the gown. Elle was on her knees helping her. Neither of them saw me so I got a pretty good eye full. I think it was Jean who called out to Elle and that broke the ”spell“. It was good while it lasted!

Elle wasn’t happy about me seeing Jan in that state but didn’t say anything. However, I could read her eyes and knew she disapproved. Jan immediately squatted down behind the dining room table and I saw Elle throw her clothes to her. I could see her sort of wiggling as she tried to get her legs into her pants. If she was embarrassed it wasn’t evident when she stood up. Elle held up the dress so that the kids could see it and I remember their wide eyes as they stared at it. As they were looking Jan commented that it looked a lot better when she was wearing it. That told me that she was in good spirits and the ”funk“ of Thanksgiving was long past.

Elle soon sent us off back home telling the girls, focusing on Jean, that they were late for bed. After getting them all settled in I had a few minutes to reflect on my good fortune. After having only seen little snippets of Jan in her panties (mostly VPL’s) this was definitely the ”jackpot".

To be continued...