CONTINUING... surprises & changes (Part 139t)

CONTINUING... surprises & changes (Part 139t)

When I opened the envelope I found a card with a big “THANK YOU!” printed on the face. Inside was a short note which basically said she’d been hired and was to start the first week in December. Under her name she had written “I owe you... big time!”. I was glad to get the news of her working it out with the other bank. It took one thing off my mind but I didn’t know what to make of her added note though.

August was the slowest month of the year as far as lobby traffic, especially towards the end of it. People were taking advantage of the last days of Summer and coming in to town wasn’t a high priority. Hank, the messenger custodian, had been after me for a few days about a problem he was having with non customers parking in our lot. I finally agreed to go take a look with him. His main complaint was a big white Cadillac convertible that was in the last spot before the exit. He pointed out that the car was out into the flow of cars exiting the lot and it created a log-jam. He added that it was there a couple of times a week. I was pretty sure I knew who the owner was... the wife of the owner of the local radio station. Standing there looking at it I knew there wasn’t going to be an easy solution. The bank did a fair amount of advertising with the station at a very favorable rate. However, the woman herself was, to put it mildly, difficult. The parking lot was for depositors while doing business in the bank and, in her case, she nor her husband even maintained accounts with us. While we were discussing the situation I could see the sky darkening off to the East. It was the sign of an impending thunderstorm. I told Hank that I’d try to come up with a solution to the car problem as we walked back into the bank.

Joanie had a message for me when I got back to my desk. Elle had called to say there was violent thunder storm headed West towards the bank. At first I thought it strange that she’d call with that sort of news but then came to the conclusion that it must be bad for her to have done it. Hank was still in the lobby so I flagged him down and told him to pass the word to J J and Bert upstairs to let people know that they should make sure their car windows were shut. Bret and I got the word out the people on the first floor. When Joanie heard it her face quickly turned very serious. I asked what was wrong especially knowing she didn’t have a car. She looked up at me and said she had wash out on the line and most of her windows were open. I stood there for a few seconds and then decided that I’d offer to drive her home. It was only five or six minutes away.

By the time we got to my car there was no more sun and I could feel the cool gusts of wind that usually preceded this type of storm. The first raindrops appeared on the windshield as I made the turn into her driveway. I pulled all the way back and up to the garage. As soon as the car stopped Joanie exited and ran to the back porch. From where I was I could see clothes on the wash line blowing wildly right above me. I got out and could readily see that at 6“ 1” I could reach the line so started popping clothes pins and sweeping the things right in front of me into my other arm. I honestly never gave a thought to scanning what was on the line as we pulled in. But, after I’d gotten some things off I looked over to the porch and Joanie. It was a pulley type clothes line and she'd managed to get a towel wrapped into the wheel of the pulley and jammed the whole thing. I ran up onto the porch and dropped the clothes I’d removed from the line into the wash basket by her feet. A hard yank and the pulley was free but by now it was really starting to rain. There was only a few items left on the line so I told her I’d take care of them and suggested she go close the windows in the house. I made a couple of pulls on the line and quickly had all but a few items in the crook of my arm. I dropped them into the basket and turned to get the last of the wash and realized I was looking at three panties and two bras. I recognized one. a light blue pair,  as being part of a set. There was an embroidered word on the front... Wednesday and those days of the week panties had been very popular for a while. I also knew they were cheaply made as I’d seen and handled some in the past.

I had no idea where Joanie was located inside the house but took a chance anyway. I swept the last items into my hand and carefully laid them out on the top of the pile of clothes trying to inspect them as best I could. As I did I could see that another pair was in poor shape with the front panel starting to detach from the crotch and the waist elastic seemed stretched out. Even though there was a porch roof over my head the wind was whipping the rain so hard that it was getting to me and the clothes in wash basket. I picked it up and went inside hoping to be able to continue my ‘inspection’. The kitchen was small but had a table so I put the basket on it. Before I could get back to the panties Joanie was there in the doorway. She took a few steps towards me and the table when I heard her utter a sound indicating being shocked... “Unhhh”. The look on her face confirmed it. She was staring at the panties on the top of the pile of clothes. After a few seconds she looked at me and I could see her face was flushed.

For those of you have endured this saga for a while know that I’ve never understood the reasoning behind the convoluted female way of thinking when it comes to undergarments. In my mind, what difference does it make weather a piece of cloth is called an undergarment (pantie or bra) or a bathing suit. There is one layer of cloth covering the ‘sensitive’ areas of the female torso in both cases. A male knows just what lies underneath regardless of what it is called. In any case...

Joanie wasn’t a candidate for that argument right at that time so I made a weak attempt to address her embarrassment. I apologized but didn’t really know why. She just stood there with a funny look on her face. I don’t know or remember why but at that point I said something about having three daughters. It made no sense but it made her smile a bit. That was good enough to take some pressure off me. At that point I suggested that we get back to the bank.

By then the wind was really blowing and the rain was coming down in sheets. When Joanie opened the door we could immediately feel the rain. I made the decision that work could wait. My experience with these kind of storms was that they quickly passed. It was just about 3pm so I called Bret to let him know. Then I suggested to Joanie that it would be a good idea to spread all the clothes out because it was raining when we were taking them down. I couldn’t help but see Joanie look right at the panties and then hesitate. I smiled. She then took them off and put them in a drawer. I continued to smile... and she saw it. When she started to blush again I had to speak up.

To be continued...