A CHANGE OF PACE... some time off (Part 136e)
It wasn’t that I
was anti-social that I didn’t want to go. I don't enjoy making 'small
talk' with people that I don't really know and I'd rather be around
people that I like. Probably 80% or more of those who would be at this
affair were what we ‘locals’ called Summer transients. Many of them
looked ‘down their noses’ at us locals and that sort of pissed me off.
In any case, we went. Elle had confirmed that both Bob and Fritz would be
there and if I (we) could catch up with them it might be a tolerable evening.
My
mother had given Elle a dress the previous year that she didn’t
particularly like but I did. When she was deciding what to wear I pulled
it out of the closet. She looked at it as I held it up and without me
having to make a ‘pitch’ to get her to wear it she nodded affirmatively.
To me it was very sexy... tight in all the right places... especially
across her rear. With the right panties on it was possible to see a bit
of a VPL without her having to bend over (and, for the occasion, I
chose two pair of the Van Raalte). Her problem was that she felt it
exposed a little too much cleavage. As she slipped it on I could feel a
bit of a bulge starting.
The party didn’t begin until around
7:30pm so that all the socialites (in their minds) could go out to
dinner first. The time worked out perfectly for us in that we could eat
with the kids and then deliver them to Elle’s mother almost ready for
bed. The wind would usually drop with the sun going down which, with the
clubhouse actually located on the beach, made it an ideal place to have
a party. We arrived around 8pm and, luckily, at the same time that Bob
and Phyl did. That made it easier because we had the new school
principal to talk about. Being the middle of July, it remained light
past 9pm so much of the socializing took place on the beach itself.
Fritz and Nanci found us and we staked out a place along the wooden
jetty. Having grown up on the bay I was attuned to hearing the first
vestiges of a thunder storm. Looking to the East I could see a dark
cloud and after pointing it out to the others we could see some
lightning. It was easily five or more miles away but it was headed in
our direction.
At this point I have to bring up the fact that
Elle’s mother was deathly afraid of thunder storms. Regardless of when
one would pop up... day or night... she would climb into her bed and
pile pillows over her head. As with most kids, ours didn’t like them
either and if one came along during the night we allowed them to climb
on our bed. Elle and I would talk calmly with them about the storm and would
try to keep them from being too afraid. We’d all hold hands and wait
out the thunder and lightning, putting them back to bed when it was
over. However, when at Elle’s parents house they had no one to comfort
them soooooo...
Elle grabbed my hand and started pulling me
towards the parking lot. She wanted to be with the kids when the storm
hit. Because of the heat we’d left all the bedroom windows open at home and,
with the location of a couple of beds there was a good probability they'd get wet. After
leaving Elle off at her mother’s I made a flying trip home. As I
approached the house I could see the flashes of lightning coming quicker
and quicker with the thunder following almost immediately after each
one. My father (the amateur weather man) had taught me to count the
seconds from the flash to the ‘boom’ to know how close the storm
actually was and these were close. The first rain drops started falling as I pulled the car
up the driveway. I made a mad dash to get to the kitchen door and just
as I did I watched the lights we’d left on out on the patio go out.
I always kept
a flashlight on the shelf in the coat closet. The flashes were
coming so quickly now it was like the lights were still on. Knowing that
the bedrooms were the most at risk I started up the stairs. I’d only
made it up a couple of them when I heard something I can only describe
as an explosion. The flash, probably as bright a one as I’d ever (or
since) seen, was absolutely simultaneous with the sound. I had my hand
on the stair rail and I swear I felt it move. It scared the hell out of
me. The quick flashes and thunder continued but nothing like that one.
My heart was beating hard enough for me to put my hand on my chest and to
feel it. I don’t know how long I stood there, frozen in place, before I
remembered the rain and the windows.
One of the beds got a
little damp and the kitchen counters were wet but that was all the
‘damage’. By the time I’d closed everything up the wind was really
whipping and I could hear twigs and leaves hitting the windows. I was
going to go out onto the covered patio to observe but when I opened the door I could
feel a bit of the rain even though the roof over the patio was around 12 feet from
the door. That told me just how bad it was out there. I
certainly wasn’t going out until it let up a bit so took a seat at the
kitchen table and watched the lightning bolts dance across the farm field. I
swore that some of them actually touched down on the ground.
Most
Summer thunder storms last around a half hour and this was no different. By then the strong wind had abated but it was still raining lightly. I went to call Elle but found
the phone was dead as the electric power. I tried to remember
that ever happening before but I couldn’t. Then I headed for the car and
to go get Elle. I noticed there were a lot of twigs and a few small branches down
in the yard and driveway. That didn’t make me happy as I had to mow the
lawn the next day and it looked like I’d have to rake the yard first.
The
road to both Elle’s and my parents wound through a heavily treed area
and I could see a fair amount of small tree limbs down. Not enough to
completely block the road but enough to slow me down quite a bit. By the
time I made the turn towards Elle’s house I could see candles
flickering through some windows. When I pulled in the driveway Elle
turned on a flashlight to let me know she’d seen me. Inside, even though
the thunder and lightning had ceased for about a half hour, Elle’s
mother was still in her bed and covered with pillows. It was funny but also sad. Elle, her father
and the girls had gathered around the dining room table, all holding
hands throughout the whole thing. What I remember most about that was
Kaye, our youngest, running up to me and announcing that she hadn’t
cried... at all.
By the time we got home it wasn’t even 11pm.
That was very late for the girls but even if we’d tried putting them to
bed much earlier I’m not sure they would’ve slept anyway. The rain had completely
stopped by then and as I stepped out of the car I smelled something
funny. It wasn’t a smell I could readily identify. With no lights on in
the house I’d turned the car towards the house and left the headlights
on until Elle and the girls were inside. After turning them off I headed
towards the house. As I did I saw two ghost-like forms headed towards
me.
To be continued...
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