BIG CHANGES... better times (Part 104h)

 I collected Elle over the protests of Maggie who wanted us to stay for lunch. Their unit wasn’t all that big and I could see the kids were definitely restless when I returned. We said our goodbyes with the usual promises to keep in touch. The talk of lunch got the kids interest but the little town of Pinehurst was strictly upscale and there were really no places to just grab an inexpensive bite to eat. I remembered back when I was working for AJ and he had an owner visiting that he’d drive back to Southern Pines to a small diner on the fringe of the business district. I knew exactly where it was. Elle reminded me we needed baby food and my memory was that there was a food market called Piggly Wiggly in the same area so we headed there.

As we drove the 5 or 6 miles I got to thinking that when we finished lunch it might not be a bad idea to pack up all our things and get a head start on heading home. I didn’t bring it up with Elle though. The market was pretty much where I remembered it. Elle ran in and got what she felt she needed for the rest of the trip. I found the diner and also that it had very little parking. That meant I had to drive around the block to find a place. My last recollection of the diner was that it was the last retail establishment on the South end of town but it wasn't any longer. Right behind the row of new stores was the town park and one block above that was The Hollywood where we were staying. We could see the park and the playground within it as we walked to the diner. Elle suggested that we should take the girls there after we ate to let then get some exercise and burn some of their pent up energy. On that point I couldn’t disagree even though they’d been surprisingly good the whole trip.

For the girls it was macanoonies and cheese. When Jean was first learning to talk she could never get macaroni right. Even after she could we continued to call it macanooni. I’m not sure what Elle and I had but I was still mulling over packing up and leaving in my mind. By the time we left the Northbound train came through. It scared the girls at first as they’d never really seen a train like that before. Even though they were girls they wanted to stand and watch it. When we finally got started for the park I saw that Elle looking in a store window.

The attraction for the whole area was golf. There were seven championship quality golf courses within a ten mile area. Back in those days it was primarily the rich who played golf as most courses were located at country clubs and there were few if any, public courses. So, it was the rich who populated the area in the Winter and the stores catered to them. The store Elle was in front of was a women’s boutique. I waited for a minute and then she waved for me to come to her. She pointed to a robins egg blue dress on a mannequin. There was no doubt that it was in style with the hem about three inches above the knee. Elle pointed to the treatment around both the neck and sleeves and even to my male eyes it was attractive. Then she said she wanted to go ask about it. Believe me when I say I had an idea what was coming next.

She asked the saleswoman for the dress in the window in a size 12. She’d discovered that sizing was an imperfect science when it came to women’s clothes so always asked for a size larger than she usually wore just to be sure. The lady, almost looking down her nose at Elle, said the only one left in the store was the one in the window. The woman made no effort to offer to go check the size of the dress which made Elle mad. I was smiling when she asked/told the woman to go "PLEASE" go check it. Reluctantly, the woman dragged the mannequin into the store and started undressing it. It was almost as if she’d won the war when she, haughtily, announced that it was a size 10. Elle, now clearly mad, said she’d try it on. After a few minutes struggling to dismember the mannequin the clerk gave Elle the dress and pointed her towards the changing booth. It only had a curtain for privacy and I could see her moving about getting peeks of her bra and panties as she undressed. When she came out the look was terrific. The dress looked like it was made for her without a wrinkle anywhere. Of course, one of the things I noticed (and liked) was that I could see right through it. The material was synthetic, much like a nylon or rayon, and without a slip on I could see through it to both her bra and panties. When she turned around I couldn’t believe how snugly it fit her bottom and I immediately thought of the VanRaalte panties and what a great VPL it would be if she were wearing a pair.

The next step was to ask the price... over $40. I don’t know what the expression on my face was but I do know I had to take a deep breath. I knew I still had to pay for the hotel and the food we’d consumed plus a motel on our way home. There was also gas, tolls and food to be added to that. I really felt it would be taking a big chance so ended up looking at Elle with one of those ”can we really afford it“ looks. Then she hit me with ”I’ll do anything!“ plus some typical female persuasive looks. The ”anything“ was what got to me. It’d been quite a while since I’d had anything in my ”pay for play“ bank and this would add a good amount to the account.

Right about then this heavy set woman with way too much makeup on came in, gushing about how nice it was for us to stop by her store. She saw the dress on Elle and continued to ”gush” saying that Elle must’ve been the model for it as it fit so well. Then, without me saying a word, she said that her annual Spring sale was just over two weeks away and that since this was the last dress in that style left we could have it for 20% off. I remember smiling at her but not committing. I nodded to Elle to go get changed. Elle hesitated and disappeared behind the curtain with a pout on her face. While she was changing I saw a pair of white shorts on a table marked “clearance“.  I picked them up and saw they were also size 10. I could also see the price tag had an original price of $20 but it had been crossed out and reduced to $15 and then to $10 and then, in red, to $7.50. The owner came up and took them from me showing me the reason for the reduction. On the inside of the waistband there was a black mark about a half inch wide. She said that a woman had some tar on her shoe when she tried them on and then didn’t say anything. She looked right at me and said that if they fit Elle she’d throw them in as well. I think my exact words were "We've got a deal!"

To be continued...