THE NEW JOB... & other things (Part 100e)

At 4pm on the third Wednesday of each month was the Board of Trustees meeting. Alvin had told me that the eight men that made up the Board would come in and, for all intents and purposes, "rubber stamp" all the loans that Artie had reviewed and approved. He told me that it was a farce and that they were so "old and decrepit" that some of them fell asleep during the meeting. When they arrived at about 3:45pm the only thing I could remember when seeing them was that they were ”old and decrepit“ and they were. The Board room was up a flight of stairs over the vault. Two of them had to be helped up the stairs. I already knew both Monty and John as they were at work each day but the other six were strangers to me. I had two questions in my mind as they walked by my desk... which one was Stasia’s grandfather and which one was John’s father in law?

I’d stopped running my numbers as they walked by and as soon as they disappeared from sight I went back to my task. At that point I knew it’d probably be around 6pm before I’d finish. Surprisingly, Alvin was still there. I guessed that he’d stayed around knowing the Board member were coming by. From where I was sitting I could see Stasia and I noticed that she kept looking at her watch. I knew she usually stayed late since the bus she rode every day didn’t come by until around 5:45pm so wondered why she was obsessed with the time. At about 4:45pm I saw her get up, put on her coat and head for the back door. It wasn’t any of my business so I continued to push numbered buttons. About 20 minutes later she reappeared and had a brown paper bag in her hands. As soon as she took off her coat I saw her head up the stairs to the Board room. Now I was really curious.

She came back down after a while and went back to her desk. She appeared to be busy but then started looking at her watch again. I looked at mine and saw it was after 5:30pm. A few minutes later she got up and started pacing beside her desk. At this point I had to go ask if everything was OK. She shook her head negatively but wouldn’t look at me. It wasn’t but a few more minutes before the board members started down the stairs. As soon as the last one made it down she ran up the stairs. Now I was completely confused.

John and Monty surprised me and said ”Good night“ as they walked past my desk. I looked at my watch again and saw it was just 5:45pm and that was about the time Stasia had to meet her bus for home. I’d only been upstairs once, the day I started to meet the ladies who worked with the mortgage loans. I wanted to make sure that Stasia knew it was time for her to go. Once in the room I saw her collecting spoons, bowls and napkins. I scared her when I spoke. I could see she was upset but asked her what she was doing anyway. Her answer just added to my ever growing thoughts that I was working for a highly dysfunctional organization. The look she gave me was one of exasperation. Then she said she'd never make her bus and sat down in one of the fancy chairs. I was standing at the edge of the table and I don't think I moved as she explained.

The Board members wanted ice cream and cookies at the halfway point of their meeting and she would go down to the drug store and get the ice cream. She had to dish it out, serve them and after they left, clean up the mess they made and wash out the bowls. I didn't want to believe what she was telling me. I think I asked who told her do the clean up. At this point she looked like she was about to cry and, for me, that was not a good thing. Before she answered I volunteered to help her. I gathered up the stuff on the opposite side of the table as she made her way to the small bathroom out in the hall. I pressed her for an answer and she finally blurted out ”Mona“.

By the time she’d finished washing and drying the spoons and bowls I’d learned that this had been Mona’s job up until she’d been made an officer of the bank. Then it became "beneath her her position". It was another small indictment of just what a bitch she was. I held the spoons as she squatted down to put the bowls in the bottom of a cabinet.  I was watching her as she ”ooched“ her way over a bit to pull out a small box. As she did I got a couple of small glimpses of white. It was the first time that I’d seen or actually even thought of panties in conjunction with her.

It was only for a second or two and when she stood up I remembered that I still had the last of the savings ledger cards to finish up with. But, before I could head for the stairs she, in a plaintive tone of voice, asked if I could do her a very big favor. I was expecting a "Thank you” for helping her but, what could I say? Having missed her bus she needed a way home. I thought it unusual that she would ask me. We’d spoken more words to each other over the last few minutes than we had since I was introduced to her but we certainly weren’t to a place in our relationship that would warrant a request like that. That was when I told her that I had to finish up the project I was working on. I thought that would deter her and she’d look for another way home... but it didn’t.

It took until almost 7pm and she ended up helping me, although without any idle conversation. In the car she directed me to go a different way than I’d expected. I was so tempted to ask why she hadn’t called her aunt and uncle to come and get her but I didn’t. It took about 15 minutes to get to her destination and as I started to pull in the driveway she told me to stop and let her out. I told her it was no trouble to take her to the house but before I was finished speaking she was already out of the car. I sat there and watched her walk away thinking of how strange the day had been.

To be continued...