WINDING DOWN SUMMER... into Autumn (Part 121g)
Actually,
to be truthful, at that point in time I was more interested in eating
than in Sophie. After Elle got supper on the table I told her that Celia
didn’t actually ”tell“ her not to let Sophie in the house but just
”advised“ her that it wasn’t a good idea. I told her to take a deep
breath and to use common sense. She wasn’t happy hearing me talk to her
like that but, to me, the solution was rather simple... make up a
”package“ with heavy cotton panties, sanitary pads and full plastic
panties for her. However, I wasn’t sure just how to present the idea to
her. My priority was to find out what happened to Celia.
I headed
for the phone and as I did I kind of threw the ”package“ idea at her. I
tried to make the suggestion a casual one. I was dialing the hospital
when she came up to me and asked if I thought Sophie would go along with
it. I had no idea as I really had very little contact with her. All I
could say was to give it a try. The operator at the hospital was one of
those ”by the book“ types and, since I’d been honest when I’d asked for
Frank (I think that was his name... I’d only met him once)and she asked
if I was a relative, was told that no information could be given out.
What I really wanted was to be able to get a message to Celia. ”Oh, no!“
was her emphatic response and that was it as far as dialog was
concerned.
By the time I hung up the phone Elle had brought
Sophie inside and was trying to explain what she wanted her to do. It
was incredibly hard for me to watch and listen to Elle talking with what
appeared to be an adult and to be using childlike persuasion on her. It
took some persuasion but Sophie finally nodded that she’d do it. Elle
sent me upstairs to get a couple of pair of her heavy cotton panties,
pads and plastic panties. While I was there she called up to have me
bring down an old pair of her cotton slacks and a blouse. It made sense
as Sophie was about the same size as Elle. When I got back downstairs
Elle had Sophie in the bathroom. I left the things on the floor right
outside the door and herded my kids into the den area. It was cooling
off fast so coming inside made sense.
Simple board games managed
to keep Sophie’s interest until around 8pm. Elle was bent on getting the
kids to bed at eight on a daily basis now that school was in session so
they all headed upstairs. There still hadn’t been any word from Celia
so Elle had me ready the bed in the spare bedroom with a rubber sheet
for her. When Elle suggested that Sophie go to bed as well she pointed
outside indicating that it was still light out. I have no idea where
Elle came up with it but suggested that Sophie take a nap. She went for
it and I think the reason was that she’d be lying down with her clothes
still on and without a sheet or blanket over her. I just watched, not
saying a word.
There was no doubt that we were both troubled
about the failure of Celia to contact us. We stayed up until after the
late TV news and then, in bed, neither of us could fall asleep. Elle was
able to get the slacks off Sophie and had covered her with a light
blanket. There was no chance for Elle to use her own ”package“ as she
was up checking on Sophie about every hour on the hour. I was asleep
when I heard a loud ”I’m hungry!“ I sat bolt upright and saw Sophie
standing in the doorway to our bedroom. It was just starting to get
light out and just as I was about to speak to her she, again, shouted
”I’m hungry!“ That woke Elle. Even though there wasn’t much light I
could see the plastic panties under the hem of the blouse she was still
wearing. Elle jumped out of bed and went to her telling her that she had
to be quite so she didn’t wake the other girls. She had her started
down the stairs when I heard her repeat ”I'm hungry!“ once again. As I
watched Elle disappear I remember thinking how strange to was to see two
adult sized people wearing a ”package“. I knew Elle would get upset if I
followed them downstairs but I did it anyway.
It was about 9am
when Celia finally called. Her husband was in a coma and the priest from
her church had given him ”last rights” the night before. She'd stayed
in the room with him the whole night in case he passed. Elle assured her
that Sophie was OK but did ask why she hadn’t called us. When they got
to the hospital she left her pocket book in the ambulance. Since he was
in ICU there were no phones and the only way they would let people make
calls from there was via a pay phone. I know it sounds absurd (you would
have to have known Celia) but she didn’t want to trouble anyone to
borrow some change to make a call. In any case, she asked Elle if she
would do her a big favor and that was to go over to her house and get
her some clean clothes. Elle, like me, didn’t know how to say “No” and
told her she would and that I’d bring them to the hospital for her. I
didn’t really appreciate being volunteered for the trip.
Celia
had given Elle a description of just what she wanted and where the
things could be found. I thought Elle was going to do it but just as she
was about to go out the door, Kaye, our youngest, started crying. Elle
gave me the list and sent me over to retrieve them. I’d only been
through their back (kitchen) door once and that was only for a step or
two. I noticed that most of the windows had been left open in the haste
to leave. Even with fresh air blowing through them I could smell stale
cigarette smoke. The kitchen was on the right with a sink, toilet and
washing machine in a small room to the left. Knowing that the house had
been built around the same time as mine and Elle’s parents, I was pretty
sure that it had originally been a pantry. Moving towards the front of
the house there was a room to the right with a hospital bed and some
kind of medical paraphernalia on a table next to it. There was also a
wheel chair and an open metal clothes rack. It was obvious that this was
where Celia’s husband stayed. Across the foyer was the living room. It
was large but had very little furniture.
I headed up the stairs
and was pretty sure the room on the right was Celia’s. The bed was
unmade and the clothes closet door was open. I had the description of
the dress that she wanted and after a cursory look, took the one I
thought she wanted. She also wanted clean underwear so I went to the
chest of drawers and opened the top one. There were a couple of
girdles/corsets, bras and slips. There were no specifics on the list
Elle had given me so I took one of each. I was about to leave when I
remembered that I’d seen large panties on their wash line that I knew
couldn’t belong to Sophie. So, I backtracked and opened the next drawer
down. There they were. There was a pile of peach colored, flare legged
panties neatly stacked on one side. I picked up the top pair and the
feel was just a bit different. I looked for the label and saw the
reason... rayon. Celia was a “solid” woman. She wasn’t fat but the
nicest way to describe her was “big boned”. I held the panties up and
you could’ve made two pair that would fit Elle from them. I returned the
girdle/corset and again started to leave. Right across the hall had to
have been Sophie’s room. Pink, with the furniture painted white and a
pile of stuffed animals on the floor by the bed. I stepped in and, even
with the windows open, could smell stale urine. Once inside the room I
looked towards the chest of drawers. I opened the top one and saw two
piles of panties. I picked one up and recognized it as being just like
the ones I’d picked up from the ground under their wash line back in the
Spring. The word “irregular” was stamped on the inside of the waist
elastic. I checked on a couple of others and found the same thing. I
decided against taking another pair. If I’d seen something a bit
different I might’ve.
To be continued...
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