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

INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130f)
  
During the rest of the week I spent more time with one of the examiners than I’d expected. He wanted to know what our backup for the bookkeeping machine (computer?) was if it failed. I felt I was between a rock and a hard place. If I told him how I really felt (that it was a disaster waiting to happen) I’d put myself in jeopardy with the Board of Trustees. On the other hand if I told him that there was nothing in the works the bank would be subject to criticism. I finally told him that I’d started looking for alternatives. That was when he stated that the equipment that we had was obsolete and no longer available. He added that parts for it were scarce and sometimes hard to locate. The fact that he knew that (as I did, as well) impressed me. I decided to take a bit of a chance and told him that I’d visited a couple of service bureaus but I couldn’t get through to the Board. I knew I was going out on a limb when I asked if there was some way to ”push“ them a bit without implicating me as an instigator. I remember him smiling and saying that his comments could be ”couched“ in such a way as to leave me out of it.

An audit of this nature would usually take seven to ten days. The ”crew“ would check out of their hotel on Friday morning, work half a day and then disperse to their homes returning again Monday morning. Everyone at the bank was glad to see them leave as they filed out the back door around 1:00pm. Hobie left at lunch that day to go pick up his daughter from college. Bert, the president, was worn out with all the meetings he had have with the different staffers doing the audit so he left at about the same time. Basically, from an operational standpoint, that left me in charge. It was around 1:30pm or so when I got a call from the hotel where the people had stayed. The man on the phone wanted to know if any of them were still around as there were items that had been left behind. As the lady in charge of the audit was leaving she mentioned that some of the people who’d been there for the week wouldn’t be back and that those who did return wouldn’t be staying at the hotel. She let it be known that it was a ”dump”. When I told the man on the phone that they’d already left he asked if someone could come pick their things up. Normally, I would’ve sent Hank, the messenger custodian, but he was nursing a sore foot or toe so I decided to go get them myself.

It’d been about two years since I’d been inside the main part of the hotel. I’d been to the restaurant, which was still doing well, a few times but the interior of the hotel itself was sad. The lighting was poor which made it seem more dingy than it probably was. The clerk behind the check in desk looked like he was about 90 years old. I identified myself and he pulled a small box out from behind the counter. A cursory look showed there wasn’t much in it... a box of yellow pencils, a small adding machine, a few  lined accounting pads and, under that, some sort clothing. I thanked him and headed back to the bank. I ended up putting the box under the kneehole space of my desk so that I’d be reminded that it was there on Monday morning. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to help straighten out the files the auditors had been working with. My intention was to leave at 6pm but a phone call changed that.

One of our PITA (pain in the ass) customers was claiming that we’d made a mistake in one of her accounts. She was one of those nasty people who liked to let you know she knew “the right people” and used it as a threat. I was listeninging to her and looking at my watch. It read 5:50pm which meant the doors would be locked in ten minutes. I sucked it in and told her to come on down and that I’d be at the back door to meet her. At 6:15 she finally showed up. Annoyed was a calm description of my demeanor as I ushered her in. I don’t have to tell you that she was wrong and it wasn’t until 6:30pm that she finally left. I’d called Elle earlier to tell her I would be late but I was so hungry decided to call to tell her I was leaving hoping that she’d have something for me to eat when I walked in the door. I was siting at my desk and talking with her when my curiosity got the best of me. I pulled the box out to see what was under the pads. The first thing I recognized was a nylon slip. When I pulled it out I saw that it was a full slip and that as it unfolded I saw a couple of panties fall back into the box. That discovery changed my negative feeling to positive. I reached back into the box and pulled out two pair of plain white cotton panties. The first thing I saw was that they both had small yellow stains in the crotch. Turning them inside out I saw a bit of what looked like cheese in one. I then looked for the labels but couldn’t find any. I held them up under the kneehole space and they didn’t look all that big. Since there was only one female among the examiners I knew who they belonged to. I tried to remember exactly what she looked like but couldn't. The next thing I pulled out was a batch of nylon stockings with a garter belt attached to one of them. Another reach into the box brought out two bras and a pair of nylon satin panties. These were fancy panties with a lace applique above both leg openings on the front. This was a real “find”! There were a number of overlapping yellow stains with the biggest about the size of a silver dollar. Upon inspecting the inside I didn’t find any “cheese”. I hesitated for a second or so and then held the crotch up to my nose. She must’ve had some cologne in or around her “privates” as that was all I could smell. The next thing was the label and I recognized it right away... "Kayser“... a quality panty.

I was concentrating so much on the panties that I hadn’t seen the cleaning people enter the lobby. I was sitting in my chair and leaning under the knee hole space of my desk when I heard a sound by Trish’s desk. Instinctively, I pulled my head up only to bang the back of it into the center drawer. Now sitting up, I still had the Kayser panties in one of my hands when, again, instinctively, went to rub my head. It only took a few seconds to realize it but when I looked at the woman standing by Trish’s desk the look on her face told me that she’d seen something that wasn’t quite right. I honestly don’t remember if I said anything at that moment but I quickly dropped the panties into my lap. I guess you could say I was in a bit of a panic as I stuffed them back into the box. By then my soft bulge had dissipated so that when I stood up it wasn’t all that noticeable.

Realizing that the cleaning woman had seen me fumbling around under the desk I decided that I’d have to take it with me as I left. As I moved towards the door to leave I could see her eyes following me. The only good thing was that I’d never seen her before. Once at the car my problem was in what to do with the box as the trunk would be filled with things for the race track the next day. Then, on top of that, I wondered how I'd present it to the examiners on Monday. Since I didn’t have any answers I decided to concentrate on the female bank examiner and what she looked like. I’d only been in close proximity to her a few times during the week and I was having a hard time remembering that much about her an realized I'd have to take a good look on Monday

To be continued...