A BIG STEP... wise or not (Part 113a)

A BIG STEP... wise or not (Part 113a)

Vic was a big man with an always present smile. I have to say that I wasn’t expecting to see him. Having stopped at his office on Friday I thought I might get a phone call but not a visit. His first words, while still out on the top step, were “Good news!”. I invited him in and before I even finished he blurted out that the owner of the house he’d shown me had dropped the asking price by almost 10%. That was quite a drop as I knew he’d come down in the asking price once before. I asked him if he knew why and now Vic was really smiling. The property tax bills had been mailed out that week and when the people who owned the house added that to the bill for their new house he knew he had to take a “hit”. Elle was in the bathroom so didn’t hear any of the conversation which was good. I asked Vic what was the least the owner would take and it was still more than I figured we could pay. Then he asked what was the absolute best I could offer. Under the pressure from Elle since I’d showed her the house I answered $25,000 even though that would be a “stretch“. Vic was out the door before Elle returned. She wanted to know what was up and I, truthfully, didn’t know.

Vic was back in less than half an hour. In his hand he had some papers. He’d talked with the owner and he’d agreed to my offer. In the next few minutes Elle and I committed to buy a house. Life, as we knew it, would never be the same.

Even though I worked for a bank that primarily made mortgage loans I was unbelievably naive when it came to knowing all the procedures. I turned to J J for help. He probably spent an hour on the phone with me. When I hung the phone up my head was spinning. Elle, having seen the good shape the house was in was ready to start moving right away. When I explained all the things that had to be done prior to that happening, she didn’t believe me. J J’s best guess was about five to six weeks.

The biggest decision was on where to get the mortgage. Banking laws prevented getting one from your employer so my first choice was to go see Artie at the bank I’d first worked for. I was able to get a quarter percent break and when I was at Artie’s desk filling out some of the paperwork, Monte, the bank’s chairman, stopped to say hello. I’d brought the plans for the house with me and he reached over my shoulder to take a look at them. After just a quick look he put his hand on my shoulder and said “You’ll have fun when it snows.” I had no idea what he was talking about so turned to look up at him. He had a big smile and then said the house had been built by his wife and her sister before he married her. He went on to say that back when he was “courting“ her there when a snow storm hit and he got snowed in because of the ‘cut” into the hill for the driveway. Snow just filled it in and he was stuck for a day.

I’d taken an afternoon off to go submit the loan forms. By the time I got finished there was no way to get back to work and get anything done so I decided to stop in at Judith’s boutique and catch up with how she and the store was doing. I shake my head every time I think of that store. She had so much stuff packed in you could hardly make your way from the front to the back. In any case, she was unpacking things behind the counter when I approached. There were a couple of thin, aqua colored, flat boxes on top and she was in the process of emptying them into a clear plastic bin. I could read the words VanRaalte written in script across the top. It took a few seconds for me to realize that was the name in the panties I’d “borrowed” from Nan, Elle’s high school friend when we’d visited back in the spring. (see Part 104g on 1/21/13 and Part 104m on 2/5/13)

Seeing me, she stopped for a few seconds and after the “pleasantries” she went back to emptying the aqua boxes. While she did I could see that what she had in her hand were panties. I don’t remember my exact words but I asked if she was a VanRaalte “dealer”. I know I didn’t use the word dealer but she acknowledged that she’d just started handling their products. She surprised me when she asked why I wanted to know. I wasn’t expecting that and I surely don’t know how I came up with the line “My wife loves their things.”

I also wasn’t expecting her to say “What size?”  and when I said “five” she reached behind her and pulled down one of the plastic bins lined up on the shelf. She told me to find something that I thought she’d like. It was a panty lovers delight. I have no idea how many panties were in the bin but she told me that the VanRaalte panties were right on top. Not wanting to embarrass myself I took the pair right off the top.
She took them from me and put them in a little bag and handed them back saying something about “For old times sake”. In spite of my efforts to pay she wouldn’t accept anything, extracting a promise that when it came time for gifts for my wife that I’d be back. The most important thing was that I now had a source for Van Raalte panties. They had, by far, the largest crotch panel I’d ever seen, even bigger than the ones on the panties I’d just gotten from my friend Willy’s company. Having seen Elle’s friend Nan’s VPL’s back in the Spring I couldn’t wait to get some on Elle. Even though I had the two pair that I’d “borrowed” from Nan I hadn’t had the nerve to have Elle wear them. I was afraid she’d ask where they came from. Now I could pull them out and if she did ask I had an answer. I couldn’t wait for the weekend.

To be continued...