WINTER DOLDRUMS ... February (Part 126b)

WINTER DOLDRUMS... February (Part 126b)

It was early in the month when Elle got a phone call from Liz, the wife of my boarding school friend, Fred. They’d corresponded a few times since they moved to Connecticut where Fred had started up a new business. The call was to offer us the opportunity to attend a tennis clinic at the new tennis academy that her sister managed. We’d attended the grand opening and, actually, it was the last time we’d seen Liz and Fred. The clinic was being conducted by the two Australian girls we’d met at the opening and who were training at the facility. There was no hesitation by Elle to accept but she did something that was a bit bold for her. She asked if she/we could bring friends. She didn’t realize that it was a fund raising affair and that you had to pay to attend. With Shelly being Liz’s sister, Liz and Fred had been invited as guests and were passing that on to Elle and I. After a “pregnant pause”, Liz said that she’d try to make arrangements.

Naturally, Elle was excited as just about anything to do with tennis did. However, she never even thought about getting the pertinent information like the date and time that the clinic was to be held. It wasn’t too much later when the phone rang and this time it was Shelly, Liz’s sister. She explained the protocol and said that if we could make a “donation“ she’d arrange it. Elle had answered the phone and with the excitement of getting good news about Sandy and Johnnie being able to be a part of it she almost hung up without getting the date and time, again. I was able to grab the phone before she did and talked with Shelly myself. The date was President’s day which meant that the banks and schools would be closed so it meant we could go without taking time off. But, what was even more important was that the girls would be giving three separate clinics with three different start times. The first was at 9am and, because we were late in getting the reservation, we’d have to be in that one. I also found out that the girls would play a 45 minute exhibition match after that first clinic. Elle had gotten none of that information. After I hung up Elle called Sandy with the news. As I remember it,  Presidents' day was still two weeks away so there was some time to wait.

By the first of February, Big ”B“ had Jon’s (the milkman) parents Summer home garage all fitted out with a pot bellied stove so we could work on the racecar and have a little warmth. To get permission to use it he’d agreed to be sort of a caretaker for the property by walking around both the outside and inside of the house once a week. Sunday afternoons worked for everybody, Elle included as I promised to be home by 6pm. By mid February we were ready to put the motor back together. ”B“ was anxious to get it done and into the car so he could hear it run. However, putting a motor together takes far longer than tearing one down. I don’t remember exactly why but I didn’t want to work on the motor that one day. ”B“ asked if I’d ever been inside the house and when I said I hadn’t he told me to follow him as he did his rounds. It was a big house, especially for a Summer home. As I remember it there were five bedrooms. It had no heat and the water was turned off for the Winter. Walking around, it had a musty smell. ”B“ told me that the previous Winter there had been signs that an intruder had been inside even though there was no obvious indications of a break-in. All in all, it was pretty spartan. ”B“ explained that even though Jon’s parents owned it, all sorts of relatives used it, coming and going all Summer. I have to admit, it was rather "creepy” walking through an empty, cold house with white sheets covering all the furniture. I was glad to leave.

At work, preparation were being made for Cassie’s leaving. Her wedding was in early March and she wanted a week off to prepare. I ended up interviewing three people to fill the opening and was impressed with all three. I wanted Cassie’s replacement to have at least two weeks of training so that her leaving would prove to be seamless. I ended up hiring Donna, a tall, fairly good looking girl who had a personality that I thought would be perfect for the teller line. The bank had been lucky in that the turn-over of tellers was below the industry average. Donna did a good job of “selling” me on her intention of staying so I was looking forward to her getting started. The sad part was telling the other two they hadn’t been selected.

Early in the month I attended two presentations for using a service bureau to do our transaction processing. It was hard to grasp the concept of information being carried over the telephone lines. I saw two separate demonstrations and it truly was impressive. When I reported back to Hobie with not only my observations but also the cost I thought he was going to choke. We would have to buy all new, special, teller machines to be able to transmit the information and they weren’t cheap. Plus we’d be charged a small fee for each account and each transmission. I remember thinking that it was only a matter of time before our bookkeeping machine was going to quit for good and that would truly be a disaster. We had no back-up or contingency plan and had lucked out the last time it conked out. But all I was was the messenger.

I, reluctantly, attended the monthly “group” party. They had decided to skip January what with all the seasonal parties that had taken place and felt we needed a rest. Pat, the PTA lady, was in good form, trying to rally the group to take advantage of the new adult education courses that she’d been instrumental in getting approval for. They were being offered two nights a week at the school. She’d planted the “seed” in Jon’s head and he’d been able to get the concept approved by the school board. Now, what was needed was to have the public take advantage of them. By the time she was through she had seven of us promise to participate once they started. Actually, it was more of a meeting than a party. The only “exciting” thing, for me, was to get a couple of really good looks up Ginger’s skirt. She was always good for at least one good “peek”. What I remember most was that she’d lost some weight and actually looked pretty. Before the party/meeting broke up Elle and I'd been “selected“ to host the next gathering, not something I was looking forward to.

So... as you can see, things were pretty slow... a typical February. The only thing to look forward to was the tennis clinic on Presidents’ day... and, to me, that wasn’t all that exciting.

To be continued...