SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127e)

SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127e)

Saturday was basically taken up with preparing for the so called party with the ”group“. Everybody had indicated that they were coming and that meant having to borrow some folding chairs. It was now up to eighteen people if everyone came. We could accommodate up to twelve with chairs we had so it meant tracking down six more. I was in the process of doing that when I got a call from ”Big B“ about the racecar. We were almost ready to put the motor in and he’d borrowed a chain hoist. He’d gone to the garage where we’d been working on it to see how to get it hung. When he did he was concerned that the beams wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of it and wondered what we were going to do. Neither of us had thought about that when putting the motor together. It was on a a dolly that we could roll around on the floor but that was it. It was just another thing to add to the list of problems. I told him that I couldn’t think about it at the moment as I was trying to locate chairs. ”How many? was his response. Within the hour I had eight folding chairs.

I was putting the liquor I'd borrowed from my father on the kitchen counter while Elle was getting dressed when the kitchen door opened. It was only a little after 7pm and the party wasn't to start until 7:30pm. In stumbled Rob, obviously drunk. I asked where his wife Lisa was and all he did was to shrug his shoulders. He made straight for the bourbon and I tried to intercept him. He was almost 100 pounds heavier than I was so that didn’t work. I pleaded with him to wait until the others got there hoping his brother Jon could control him. He promised that he’d only have one so I agreed. But that one was a high ball glass half filled with Jim Beam. I shuttled him into the den and into my recliner, turning on the TV and wondering what the rest of the night would be like.

Once everybody was there Pat took over and it became a full blown meeting and anything but a party. Fritz, who she’d been trying to recruit to run for the other school board position, was officially “off the hook” as Pat reported that a “local” had filed for it. When she announced who it was I shuddered. “Wally” was a plumber, in business with his father. I knew him because they’d done all the plumbing work for my father. Wally was one of the most negative people I’d ever met. No matter what position you took on a subject, he’d take the opposite one. But Pat proceeded to list all the reasons why he was going to be good for what we all wanted to accomplish. Her main points were that he had a son who was in the junior high school and had vocally made known that he was dissatisfied with his progress and he was a “local”. With Bob, from the “group“, already running and considered to be an ”outlander“, having Fritz run would just dilute our chances. She said two outsiders might be too much to overcome. There wasn’t much discussion (not that there ever was when she was talking) but she didn’t stop there.

The PTA needed to raise money. She'd come up with an idea and we, the ”group”, were the key to it. What she wanted to do was geared to getting kids from the school to promote a Parents versus Teacher event. She wanted us to come up with ideas for different types of competitions that could be used. In looking back on it now, the rest of the night proved to be pretty interesting. Although there were no "fun and games" as in the past, time flew by. Because the “group” had a total of 23 kids (20 of them girls) and none older than 10, baby sitters were always needed so 10:30pm became the “witching hour” to keep costs down. Rob had passed out in my recliner and we had all been happy to just leave him there. However, I wasn’t about to let him sleep it off there. Jon volunteered to drive him home but needed help in getting him out to his car and Johnnie volunteered to help.

I held the storm door open as the two of them struggled to get Rob out and down the two steps to the patio. As Jon passed me by he asked if I’d seen his wife, Ginger. When at a party with Ginger I always had an eye peeled for her as I’d usually glean a few “peeks”. The last I’d seen of her was just before they got Rob out of the chair and she was headed into the bathroom. The window for it was right there and I pointed to it and Jon acknowledged. It took some “doing” but the three of us managed to stuff Rob and his 200+ pounds into Jon's back seat. I remember asking Jon what he was going to do with him once he got to Rob’s house. I couldn’t see his face when he answered “Just dump him!” so I didn’t know if he was kidding or not.

Since neither Ginger or Sandy had followed us outside we all made our way back into the kitchen. I fully expected to see the three women waiting for us but no one was there. The door to the cellar was partially opened so I called down to see if, for some unknown reason, they’d gone down there. I saw there was a light on but no one answered. That left me to call upstairs. On the third try I saw Elle stick her head out from our bedroom door and heard her say that it’d only be a minute. I was puzzled. What were they doing in my (our) bedroom?

I waited at the foot of the stairs for all three to come down. For some reason Ginger looked a bit embarrassed as she walked past me. Good nights were said leaving Elle and I to pick up the residue from the party. That was the one thing  hated the most after hosting... the clean up. Elle insisted that it be done before going to bed as she didn’t want to face it in the morning. However, on this occasion I realized that it would give me the time to inquire about the women's visit to out bedroom. As usual, Elle didn’t want to go into detail trying to get out of answering by saying it was “girly stuff” or something like that. I wasn’t buying! I told her I wanted the whole story or she was going to face the clean up by herself. I got a pouty look in return but when I started to leave she called me back.

I don’t remember everything she told me and I’m not sure of the sequence but, basically, this is what had happened... Ginger, with four kids, one right after another was left with a bit of an incontinence problem, exacerbated by alcohol. She’d full out wet herself on our couch at the first “group” party we’d hosted. I’d seen other instances of it and had, from time to time talked with Elle about it. Then, if you’ve been reading more recent posts, you're probably aware of Sandy’s “dribble” problem and how, between Elle, Sandy and I, had created what, for lack of a better description, we called “dribble panties” for her (and for Elle). When all the other people were leaving Elle and Sandy had chatted a bit and Elle asked her if she’d gotten her medications straightened out (referring to her “situation” at the last basketball game). Not really thinking, (probably because of the alcohol) Sandy announced that her “dribble panties” had been sufficient that night. Ginger overheard her comment and wanted to know what she was referring to.

To be continued...