WAITING FOR SUMMER... with high hopes (Part 108e)

I’d mentioned in an earlier post that my mother had started a campaign to have my father clean up the boxes and junk in their garage.  When I discovered that I went into a panic when I thought that he might've trashed my “stash” of panties. Luckily, he hadn’t. I’d had it in mind to get them and to find another place to hide them but hadn’t been back to do it. It turned out that there were no family ties but when J J and my mother were in the process of discussing it I excused myself with the intention to go fetch the panties from the garage. When I told them where I was headed my father (at my mother’s urging) asked what I was going to do with the Sailfish sailboat that he’d bought for me at the end of the previous Summer. The truth of the matter was that I didn’t really know. Since I was no longer a member of the sailing club I couldn’t leave it there. Put on the spot I suggested that I could leave it on their beach and then it would be ready and available when I brought the family for a visit. That idea was greeted with a very loud “NO!” from my mother. That left only one choice... take it home with me.

Actually, I’d thought of that but didn’t know how to get the boat home. The new station wagon didn’t have roof racks and I wasn’t sure I could get it inside. Standing there I saw roof racks on J J’s VW van. The solution! It certainly pleased my mother. I gave a thought to calling Elle to explain why I wasn’t back home yet but didn’t follow through. Busy with strapping the boat on the van I wasn’t able to act on retrieving my stash of panties. I didn't want to have to explain what was in the box so decided to leave them for another day. 

As I drove up at home Elle was just finishing planting her flowers along the pathway. I saw her look up at me and then, with a disgusted look on her face, turn away. However, with J J right behind me with the Sailfish on the roof of his van, the look changed. I’ve told you that J J was Irish and also had a way with words (and females). The “blarney” he put forth to Elle to explain the lateness of my return was unbelievable. I knew if I’d used the same words that he did that Elle would’ve flat out called me a liar. The only place to put the boat was along side the unit in the kid’s play area. One of the things I remember J J saying before he left was that once he got settled in he wanted me to teach him how to sail. I doubted that it would ever happen.

Elle was excited to see the boat but wasn’t sure how we’d get to use it. Trying to stay on her “good side” I made it seem like it would be easy to take it to the nearby lake. She took some of the pressure off by saying that we’d have to wait until we had a spate of hot weather. That gave me a chance to come up with some way to move it easily.

The next day was Elle’s first day of her two week teaching assignment. Her mother was to care for the kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the lady up the street, Etta, would have them on the others. On the first day she had the kids she asked Elle if she’d come up with a suggestion for a helper for her for her proposed expanded child care service. Elle had forgotten about it and that night called Peggy. After some “telephone tag” Peggy agreed to come over to meet the woman. When she arrived I almost didn’t recognize her. She looked like she was going to a semi formal affair with her hair down, a frilly blouse and a grey sheath like skirt. She explained that her mother made her do it. I kept it to myself but she sure didn’t look like a teenager.

As expected, Peggy was nervous as she and Elle walked on up the street to meet the lady. The kids, always excited when they saw her, wanted to know why she wasn’t staying to “play”. It was hard to explain but told them that when they came back that Peggy might read a story to them. We were out by the playhouse when Elle and Peggy returned. She was clearly excited and kept thanking Elle for finding the job for her. I remember thinking to myself that it had been my suggestion but kept my mouth closed.

The girls pleaded with Peggy to play with them but, because of how she was dressed, she explained that she couldn’t. While we were standing there Peggy saw the Sailfish and wanted to know what it was. It was laying on it’s side so I lay it down and showed her the sail and explained how it worked. I was somewhat surprised at her interest and she had a number of good questions. Then she had “the big one”... and asked if we’d take her sailing sometime. I probably reacted a bit too fast and told her “anytime”. No date was set but, inwardly, was excited about the prospect of it.

At work I managed to get not only the job description project finished but also a preliminary salary range for each position. Hobie seemed impressed, especially with the the salary ranges. In creating it I made note of some, to me, obvious unfairness with the salaries of a couple of the women in the mortgage area. For example, the young girl, Lynne, who was recently hired as a file clerk, was making more than two women who had two years experience with the bank. He seemed somewhat surprised but I didn’t feel comfortable in asking how individual salaries were set. He told me that  I’d done a good job and that he’d make the information available to the president and Bert, the other vice president. I felt pretty good about what I’d done but wished I had a better idea of what was going to happen to it.

Elle’s last teaching day was the 16th of the month. It had gone well for her but she wanted to celebrate and to go out for dinner. The kids asked if we could get Peggy and she was more than willing, seeing that we’d gotten her a Summer job. I hadn’t foreseen any problem with being home by 5:30pm so was looking forward to seeing Peggy as well as having a night out. What I hadn’t expected was what happened at work.

To be continued...