WINDING DOWN SUMMER... into Autumn (Part 121f)

WINDING DOWN SUMMER... into Autumn (Part 121f)

Lunch turned out to be a bit disturbing. I’ve not mentioned Laura in a while because everything was going well for her. Living with Trish’s family during the week had been working and she’d been faithfully repaying the money we’d loaned her for clothes. But... in listening to Trish, it was about to end. The room she’d been sleeping/living in belonged to Trish’s brother. He was in the Navy but had decided not to re-up and was coming home in mid October. The father of one of his high school friends had a supposedly offered him a good job. Trish wasn’t happy about what it meant for Laura but was glad her brother would be back at home. What she wanted from me was to know if it would be OK for Laura to hold off paying us back until she got settled in a new place. Trish said her mother had a church friend that might be willing to let her stay with her but there were some "strings” attached. She didn’t say what they were but she wanted Laura to have some extra cash for the transition. Trish said her mother didn’t charge her anything for the room and food but she did do some housekeeping and the laundry instead. Laura was going to have to pay rent if the lady agreed to the arrangement.

To be truthful, the $5 every two weeks didn’t mean all that much. It paid for a couple of lunches and not much else so the loss of it for a while wouldn't have a big effect. I’d watched Laura’s personality “grow” over the few months she’d been at the bank but I also felt that Trish had been sheltering her too much. I didn’t immediately respond to Trish’s request and when I spoke I told her that, in principle, I had no problem with the suggestion but that I felt the request should actually come from Laura. I could tell that Trish was a bit puzzled by my request so explained it to her. I could tell she didn’t agree (she had a way of communicating her displeasure with things in a non verbal way) but, sensing that she wasn’t going to sway me, gave in.

It took a day or two for Laura to approach me. I didn’t want our little talk to be in the “public domain” so had suggested we have it Friday after the majority of the staff had left for the day and that we'd do it sometime between 5pm and 6pm when lobby traffic was slow. Normally, the Audit department didn’t stay late on Friday nights but, since Laura would go back home for weekends and didn’t have a car, her mother would come in to town, do her grocery shopping and then stop by and pick Laura up. There would only be three tellers working and we’d have a bit of privacy. I sort of kept my eye on Laura during the day and caught her looking my way far more than usual so I knew she was nervous. I’d made sure that Trish wouldn’t be around so it meant Laura was really on her own.

It was probably because I’d been involved in helping her out right after she was hired that she’d make a point of saying “hello” or “good morning if we made eye contact before the doors opened to the public. She’d showed very little shyness to me so it was a bit strange to see her revert back to it that night. She sat am my desk staring at her lap. I was determined not to ”lead“ her so it took a few minutes for her to get to the point. When she finally did, of course I told her I had no problem with it. However, I did ask her to keep me posted with the progress on finding a new place and gave a piece of advice telling her to be actively involved in the process. I reminded her that she was the one who was going to have to live there so the decision was hers to make... not her aunt’s. She nodded in agreement but I wasn’t sure she’d follow through.

Labor Day pretty much ended the Summer season for our area. Boating, especially, sailing, pretty much came to an end. Sandy had played tennis with Elle on Friday and reminded her that her husband was available to help me with my tennis. As I’ve written any number of times, tennis, other than for the panty peeks, was not high on my priorities. But, with Elle’s ever increasing interest, it behooved me to at least make an effort. I made a half hearted attempt to put it off but Elle made it clear she wasn’t happy. So, I called Johnnie and he seemed glad to hear from me. He said he was free but since Sandy had their car I’d have to pick him up.

At his house I found him in the driveway shooting baskets. I hadn’t had my hands on a basketball since my freshman year in college so got out and had him pass me the ball. We never made it to the tennis courts. I remember being exhausted when Sandy drove into the driveway and thankful that she had. Needless to say Elle was mad and stayed mad at me the rest of the day. I’m pretty sure that it was the next afternoon that Johnnie called and asked if I’d be interested in joining him in starting a town team basketball group. I remember standing by the phone with my whole body aching. I told him I would and was relieved that he said he’d be back to me in a week or so. That would give me time to "prep" Elle for my decision. I certainly didn’t want to tell Elle at that time. She was up to her eyeballs with the new Brownie scout troop she and Pat (the PTA lady) had started. They’d managed to get the required number of kids to join and their first meeting was to be later that week and it was to be at out house. I’d gotten back in her good graces by helping to prepare for the upcoming meeting and I knew that news of my intended basketball participation would certainly change that.

The catalog(s) from Willie arrived that week. He’d attached a hand written note to say that once he was in place at the company he’d open up an account for me. Since I didn’t want Elle to see the catalogs and I picked up the mail on my way home I didn’t get a chance to get a good look at them. I remember looking through the first pages of one of them and immediately thinking of Pat and her desire to open a bridal business. There were all kinds of lacy things that I thought might be appropriate for her to offer if she did get it up and running. I ended up stuffing the catalogs into my briefcase and... if you can believe it, forgetting about them.

Arriving at home and walking up to the patio I was surprised to see Sophie seated at the picnic table and eating. The older girls were eating with her which was another surprise. Once inside I asked Elle what was going on. Long story short (yet again!); Sophie’s father had some sort of seizure and had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. Celia, her mother, had gone as well. Celia, in a panic, had called and asked if Elle could look after her until she got back. That had been over fours hours ago and Elle had not heard any news. It had gotten close to 6pm and Sophie had expressed that she was hungry. Back when we were getting to know Sophie, Celia had told Elle not to let her in the house. Because of her disability, she could/would wet herself at any time and that was why she was eating outside. Elle was worried because it would cool off quickly as the sun set and if Celia didn’t get back she wouldn’t want Sophie to stay outside.

To be continued...