INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130d)

INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130d)

We must’ve stayed in the corner for 15 minutes. I saw Bret looking over at us a few times with a puzzled look on his face. I, like just about everybody in our town, knew of ”Polak Joe“ but I’d never met him in person. What I knew about him was from what I’d picked up in idle conversations.

He’d graduated from the same high school as Elle about seven or eight years before she did. The son of a farmer, he’d achieved local fame for his athletic ability. That ability opened the doors for a college education. Upon his return home he eschewed the farm life, met and married a girl from a ”monied“ family and worked in her father’s business. Along the way I’d learned that he was the one that started the town’s first housing development. I had to laugh when I’d first heard it because that was where Elle and I, when dating, had gone ”parking“. It was also where Bob and Phyl as well as Johnnie and Sandy lived.

J J was clearly concerned about the prospect of him becoming a member of the Board. J J had become active in his church right after he’d moved to the area. He said he found dissension among the member of the governing body of the parish and the fingers seemed to point to ”Polak Joe“. Although he wasn’t a member of any of the active committees he had relatives who were very much involved. J J’s ”take“ on him was that he was a somewhat of a control freak but not wanting to be public about it. Both J J and I had, at times, discussed the seeming lack of common sense displayed by our Board. J J’s position was that if what he’d seen and heard about ”Polak Joe“ was true and he was added to the Board it would not be good. All I could do was to stand and listen to him, hoping that it wasn’t true.

After J J returned upstairs I collected the proof sheets that Liz had shown me concerning Jerene’s poor performance. At my desk, when confronted with the evidence, there wasn’t much she could say. I remember getting a dose of batted eyelashes and the half smile... and a promise to do better. What concerned me was that she’d had one of the best records when it came time to proving up at the end of the day. But, my mind wasn’t so much on her as it was on what was happening in the Board meeting. As she started walking away she turned and, with a slight indication of a finger pointed to her hip, mouthed ”They’re nylon“.

I stayed late with the intention to find out if J J was right about the two men I’d seen earlier in the lobby. When Hobie returned to his desk I’d hoped that he would volunteer information without me having to ask... but he didn’t. When I pressed him for anything new he told me that there was to be an announcement in the morning and then he left. It was just one more thing to complicate my life.

Hobie had been right. When I walked in the next morning there was already a gathering of employees in the lobby. Bert, the president, was standing on the stairs with Hobie a step below him. At about 8:55am Bert started in. The Board had, indeed, added two new members. The first named was unknown to me, an attorney from the western part of the county. The second was ”Polak Joe“ as J J had thought. The business he was with was located just down Main Street. I was standing next to Bret when the announcement was made and asked him if he’d ever seen the man in the bank. He shook his head in a negative way and, as soon as the meeting broke up, went right to the signature cards. I followed and watched as he flipped through them and couldn’t find his name. That just didn’t make any sense to me at all. Why would they choose someone who didn't do business with the bank? Walking back to our desks Bret offered up that he’d heard about the man from his father and it wasn’t all that complimentary.

I called Pete up Friday evening and asked if he wanted to go check the racecar over with me. Although he was not mechanically inclined he was willing to do the ”dirty jobs“. I really didn’t know that much about his background and had met him through my brother. He worked for his father in the insurance business and that’s what I’d been told ”Polak Joe“ was involved in. I ran his name by Pete and the look on his face when he heard it told me a lot.

The word I remember from that conversation was ”unscrupulous“. I also remember him saying that he hoped that I didn’t get my insurance from him. Hearing that I asked him to explain. It was clear that Pete didn’t like him not only on a personal level but also from a business standpoint. He wouldn’t go into the details it was clear that his feelings ran deep.

Saturday turned out to be a rainy day. I’d hoped to get ”B“ back on the track and to give him some specific things to do to get him comfortable. But it wasn’t happening. There was a "group" meeting at Bob and Phyl’s house that night to finalize Bob’s campaign for the school board. As I’d written in earlier posts Nanci was now working for the school district and we’d been relying on her for ”inside“ information as it might apply to the election. She and Jon, (the milkman) who was on the board, had been able to identify some of the influential people who had some ties to the incumbent that Bob was running against. As we strategized that night and their names were tossed about I thought I heard one that was now becoming somewhat familiar. It wasn’t ”Polak Joe“ but his full given name. As soon as I heard it I polled them all about what they knew of him. There wasn’t anything specific but just that he had ties to a lot of people in the community and some were very influential. That information on top of what J J had told me was of great concern to me as far as work was concerned. But, at the moment, we were trying to get Bob on the school board.

By the time we all headed home we had a pretty solid plan ready to implement. The kick off would be the first weekend in June. With the election scheduled for the second Wednesday that would give us twelve days. Jon had volunteered to get permission to have a ”Meet the candidates night“ at the school the Monday night before the election. Bob was going to set up a table in front of the post office on both Fridays and Saturdays the two weeks prior to the vote to shake hands with the townspeople. My sign would go up on the corner as cars would turn off the main road and into the village. Flyers would be distributed at the local strip mall on the same Fridays and Saturdays that Bob would be at the post office. I, for one, had a good feeling. The only negative was that, for the first time since I’d been a part of the ”group“, and had been at a meeting/party I’d not seen an upskirt or DP.

To be continued...