A HAPPY HOMEOWNER... maybe, maybe not (Part 114d)

A HAPPY HOMEOWNER... maybe, maybe not (Part 114d)

Rob’s less than graceful exit put a bit of a damper on the party, such as it was and by 10:30pm or so Pat (the PTA lady) and her husband decided to leave. If there was one saving grace to the party it was that she offered to put in a good word for Elle with the school secretary, the person who called to get substitute teachers when needed. Elle very much wanted to teach there as the school was less than five minutes away. Substituting at her old venues meant a half hour drive. The other couple hung around a little longer but by 11pm they were also gone.

Cleaning up afterwards I noticed that about a quarter of the bottle of bourbon was gone. It had been unopened at the start of the party. It was no wonder Rob had been so drunk when he left. Elle and I talked about the party and both of us felt that it had been worthwhile. Elle said that she’d gotten to talk with the other new lady, Nanci (with an i), about our girls joining the Brownies and was going over to her house to get the necessary information during the upcoming week.

Even though we were alone neither of us was interested in any ”romance“. Both of us had been ”uptight” getting ready for the party and were still “unwinding”. As we turned out the lights our plan for Sunday was to go to the early service at church. We’d only been there on Christmas eve and were feeling somewhat guilty. However, when we awoke the next morning our libidos were “in sync” and after some very enjoyable “morning delight” found it was too late to make that service. I was all for forgetting about church for the day but Elle insisted that we go and meet some of the parishioners. When I got up and looked out the window I was surprised to see it snowing. It wasn’t like the last time with a howling wind but was just gently falling. By the time we left for church there was probably about two inches on the ground. I didn’t take the time to shovel it figuring I could do it later, after it stopped.

We were a little early arriving so there weren’t many people in the pews. Being our first time I was a bit concerned that if we just sat down we’d be taking someones seats. Elle dragged me into the next to last row. In a few minutes the rows started to fill up and in the row right in front of us were two younger women with two very young boys. It didn’t take long to see that they were a handful. They were perpetual motion with the two women trying to keep them still. As they did i saw something to make my day... DP’s. Not one but two. As the women bent over to drag the kids back to their seats I got some very nice peeks. It was a nice introduction to the new church.

We ended up attending the “meet and greet“  after the service. I was actually surprised to see some people that I knew from back when I was a teen and worked at the local market and at the gas station. I was also pleased when I met the minister. He was, by far, the youngest minister in any of the churches that I’d attended. In his mid 30’s he was very happy to see Elle and I and made a point of introducing us to the the two women who’d sat right in front of us. It was another surprise to find that one of them was the sister in law of Bags, one of my racing competitor friends. By the time we left we had a bunch of new contacts.

There was at least four inches of snow as we headed for Elle’s parents house to fetch the kids. Thankfully, there was no wind to blow it into drifts. The kids were upset when we arrived in that Elle hadn’t packed any clothes for playing out in the snow. Knowing that the hill on our driveway would be a bit of a challenge we loaded them into the station wagon and headed home. As I made the turn into the driveway I could see our neighbor, Jon, on his tractor and pushing the snow around. I tried to thank him but he just waved me away. I remember asking Elle if she could think of anything we could do to thank him for his kindness and all she could do was shrug her shoulders. I wondered how did we get so lucky to have him as our neighbor.

Speaking of neighbors, the ones directly to the East were still pretty much a mystery to us. We’d see lights from the house at night but had seen little activity. It was about mid week when Elle heard a knock on the kitchen door. She didn’t recognize the person so didn’t open the door. It turned out to be the lady from next door. She was finally able to make Elle understand who she was. Their phone had died and she needed to call their doctor about her disabled husband. Elle let her use the phone and then briefly chatted with her for a few minutes. When Elle told me about their meeting she commented that the woman seemed quite normal and not "different" as John had indicated back when we first met he and his wife. Elle said she didn’t see anything different or abnormal about the woman. That was good news but I still wasn't so sure about them. I just hoped that Elle's observation was right.

That night as we were saying good night to the kids we heard a screech of tires and then a loud "whomp!" I went to the window, which faced the road, and could see headlights shining into the field opposite us. Something wasn't right. I ran downstairs, grabbed my coat, ran down the driveway and over to the car. I could see debris spread across the road leading to the car. It had stopped with the front end buried into a fence. I could read the license plate and recognized that it belonged to the family who did the bank's advertising and who lived just a little further down the road. I got to the drivers door and could see someone lying across the front seat. It took some tugging to get the door open and when I did saw it was Amy, the daughter of the ad agency's owner.

To be continued...