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

I immediately went fishing for the light switch. Normally it would be found just inside the door but all I found was wall studs as they hadn’t finished off the walls. I walked further into the room and could see more panties including some that had to belong to Nan’s daughter’s. Then I saw a light bulb up in the floor beams and a pull cord. I had to duck under the clothesline and found there were actually three lines hung from wall to wall. I reached up to turn on the light and was surrounded by panties... mostly children’s though. Turning towards Nan’s panties I saw not only the red panties but also a pair of black one’s, probably the one’s I’d inspected earlier in the week and four other pair. There was no doubt they they were all made by Van Raalte. The huge crotch was really something to see especially with all of them hung side by side. However, I was somewhat taken by the number of children’s panties there as well. On the same line with Nan’s panties were about six, all the same size. Right behind me were at least a dozen more and as I looked at them could see that they were two different styles. Right in front of me were a batch of what appeared to be Carter’s cotton panties but right next to them were another batch but they looked different. I was still holding the baby so only had one hand free when I went to feel them. The first thing I noticed was that they didn’t have a distinct and noticeable waist elastic like the Carter’s and Lollipop panties (like my kids were wearing). The elastic was covered by the cotton material which was also different in that it was softer than other cotton panties. Another thing that I noticed right away was that they were thicker. I wanted to put the baby down to do a real inspection but I didn’t dare as the floor was concrete and probably cold. There was one more clothesline and I could see boxer shorts there as well as a few bras. But looking over to the far end I also saw a few plastic panties. It took a few seconds for the answer to come to me... Jessie, Nan’s oldest was a bed wetter.

It was just about then that I heard a strange sound from behind the plastic panties and it took a few seconds to realize it was the oil burner coming on. It reminded me that the reason I was downstairs was to check out the new things throughout the house. Leaving the thoughts of panties behind I ducked under the last clothesline and saw the source of the sound. The oil burner looked totally different from those of both Elle’s and my parents. It was very much smaller and was out of the way over in a corner rather than in the middle of the room. I made a mental note of that.

By then the baby was fussing and I was having a hard time holding her. I’d seen enough of the panties to keep my mind going for a while so headed back upstairs. There was a pad on the kitchen counter so made a few notes on what I’d seen (of the house). Once I’d started on that I decided to add some of the other features I’d seen the first time there. The baby was happy to just crawl around on the floor so I continued to write. As I did I remembered that Elle had asked if I’d looked at Nan’s clothing closet. When we stayed in her room the first time we were there I’d noticed that it took up one whole wall. I’d also noticed that the doors, three of them, were sliders and were louvered just like old fashioned window shutters ut hadn't looked inside. I picked up the baby and carried her into the bedroom. As I walked in I saw the night table with Nan’s panties and my thoughts immediately switched back to them. I put the baby down and turned on the light on the table. I pulled the drawer open and, knowing I had plenty of time, decided to pull them all out at once. I dumped them on the floor and started through them making sure I kept them in somewhat the same order. It was a good thing I did because the ones on the bottom had pretty much seen better days. I remember a couple that the stitching on the leg elastics had broken and a pair that the waist elastic had parted. But, they were all VanRaalte panties. I remember seeing another pair of red panties. The majority were mostly white or off white with a few pastel colors mixed in. The all had lace inserts or appliques on them. They were ”fancy panties“ for sure.

I was about to start putting them back in the drawer when I saw the baby had crawled over to the closet where one of the doors was partially open. I pulled her out and then took a peek in the closet. As I said, it ran the whole length of one side of the room. I was at an outside wall and what I saw was, for lack of a better way to describe it, a stack of cubby holes that ran from floor up to a shelf. Shoes were inside all but the top one and in that one I saw three small boxes. The boxes were aqua in color which is really what caught my attention. Back when I was racing horses the ”colors“ on my racing silks was aqua and white and my race car was also aqua and white. I reached in and pulled them out. It was almost like finding a gold mine.

The boxes held brand new VanRaalte panties. On the end of each was printed the number of panties in each (6), the size (5) and the color of the panties inside. The top box said the color was Ivory/Ecru. I had no idea what color ecru was but when I opened the box, under the tissue paper with the VanRaalte logo printed all over it was the answer. The body of the panties was ivory (off white) and the appliques were a light tan. (see the previous picture in Part 104g)) I counted the panties and there were only four in the box. I realized that the pair I'd taken had come from this box and I immediately became worried that Nan would notice they were missing. The next box held pink panties but there were only five in this box. I was pretty sure I’d seen one pair just like those in the box hanging on the clothes line downstairs. The last box held white panties and all six were still folded as if the box had never been opened. I carefully took out the top pair and as soon as I opened it up I knew I wanted them.

In all the panties I’d seen and handled in my life I’d never seen a pair as sheer as these. They had beautiful inserts on the front just over the leg openings. I wanted them. I swear I sat there on the floor trying to rationalize my taking them. I started to put them back and then stopped. I still had to put the panties from her panty drawer back so did that, dropping them back in the drawer one at a time so they would, hopefully, look like they had been before I pulled them out. I had to chase the baby a few times while doing all of this and glanced at the clock on the dresser. Elle and Nan had been gone for about an hour by then and I wasn’t sure when they’d be back. The three boxes were still on the floor and the one pair that I wanted was lying there with the price tag still pinned on it... $1.75. I grabbed them up and stuffed them in my pocket and put the three boxes back. When I picked the baby up I was out of breath. It was strange but that was the way I felt.

To be continued...