A BIG STEP... wise or not (Part 113f)
By Friday the
”busy period“ was winding down. Lobby traffic was moderate and Bret and
I actually were able to get a break. The help wanted ad generated a few phone calls
and I set up interviews for the following week. I’d again noticed Mala
leaving her window a few times that weren’t in her assigned break
schedule. I decided I’d speak to her before she left for the day. The
only thing was... she beat me to it. When she came to my desk she asked
if we could find a non public place. With the change in officers due to
the old president retiring there was one available upstairs. Mala
requested that we take the elevator noting that there was a definite
change in her body configuration. We ended up in the vacant office and I
chose not to sit behind the desk but took a chair next to the one she
sat in. It was very obvious that she was nervous as she made a couple a
stabs at trying to tell me why she wanted to meet with me. Finally she
just blurted it out. She wanted to be considered for Willa’s job.
That
caught me totally by surprise. My first reaction (not spoken) was here was my
best teller wanting to go into a position in which she had no
experience... and it was a negative one. However, for once in my life I
didn’t jump the gun and kept my mouth shut. Mala went on to say that she
was experiencing some difficulty with her pregnancy and that standing
up for six to seven hours a day had become a problem. She was hoping
that in Willa’s position that she’d be sitting most of the day. I
remember looking at her without speaking and that made her more
uncomfortable. I finally told her that I’d have to think about it. She
told me that she didn’t expect I’d give her an answer straight away.
When she started to make an effort to get up to leave I told her I had a
question for her. That put a puzzled look on her face that turned to
embarrassment when I asked why she'd been leaving her tellers station with
customers still waiting in line.
The redness of her
cheeks gave away her embarrassment. It took a few seconds for her to
answer and I didn’t fully understand it at first. She told me that it
was the underlying reason why she wanted to get away from the window. I
didn’t pick up on it right away. Finally she asked if I remembered a
conversation we’d had in the parking lot a few months back. It took a
bit of thought and the only time I could remember was after one of her
”melt-downs“ with a customer. That was all it took and then I was the
one embarrassed as it was when I’d told her about Elle’s incontinence and how she
handled it. Once I realized that was what she was referring to I didn’t
know how to gracefully answer her question. But she was sharp enough to
recognize that I’d remembered so she went on to say that standing long
periods of time caused her that same problem. All tellers stations had
permanent stools and, me not thinking, suggested that she make more use
of hers. I can still remember the ”look“ she gave me when she said that
in her condition she couldn’t get up onto the stool. Being only 5’4” and
showing as much as she did it was pretty much an impossibility. I
apologized and repeated that I’d think about her request and get back to
her. At that point I think the two of us were ready for the
conversation to end.
However, it wasn’t the end. As Mala got up and bent ever so slightly to push the
chair back in place I saw a very evident “smile” on the back of her
skirt. I knew immediately what it was having seen it many, many times on
Elle’s rear end. I deduced that she’d been wearing a pair of sanitary panties, ones with the
large plastic crotch, and had wet whatever she was wearing under them.
The shape of the wetness indicated they'd leaked around the leg
openings. As she walked towards the elevator I was debating with myself
weather to tell her or to just let her go. I chose the latter as she’d
been embarrassed in front of me for well over a half hour.
By
then Elle and I had bought a dinette set so that we had a regular place to eat. I’d
also installed shades on the bedroom windows and ordered curtains for
the living room. That pretty much took care of the Christmas money. We’d
moved in without changing any of the room colors or wallpaper that the
previous owners had put up. After a month in the house there were two
rooms that were driving us crazy. One was our bedroom. The color was
watermelon pink... and it was hideous. The other room was the living
room which was wallpapered. The print was an enlarged ivy print that
made you feel like you were in a jungle. After just a little time in the
room you had a feeling that there were bugs crawling on you. So, with
what little money we had left we set about changing both rooms. Our room was
relatively easy... two coats of light blue paint. I did it in one day.
The living room was going to be a challenge as I'd been told to steam the old paper off.
Never having worked with wallpaper I wasn't looking forward to it.
The
girls had adapted to the new school and quite quickly had made some
friends. Jean wanted to invite one over and Elle said it was OK.
However, the mother of the girl wanted to meet Elle first. The woman’s
name was Ginger and after Elle had passed muster she brought her
daughter over. I got to meet her as well. I’ve put some thought in how
to describe her in a single word and I really can’t come up with a good
one. One (unkind) way would be to call her “frumpy” because, from a
fashion standpoint, she was. She was probably ten pounds overweight and
her hair was all helter skelter. I was polite when Elle introduced us.
It wasn’t until she pulled out of the driveway and I had made some sort
of disparaging comment about her that she told me that she’d had four
kids (all girls) in just four and a half years. That helped to explain
her look. Getting past that look, I felt that as a girl/young woman
she’d probably been attractive. In thinking about it I felt that if she
made a half hearted attempt that she could be again. As Elle and I
walked into the house she told me that Ginger was going to have a party
to introduce us to some of her friends. It sounded good to me.
To be continued...
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