WINDING DOWN... Summer (part 140d)

WINDING DOWN... Summer (Part 140d)

I stopped at ”B’s“ house on the way home to pick up the needed things to use his boat. He still lived with his parents so I knew I’d have to make conversation with them before getting away. By the time I loaded all the gear and pulled out of the driveway it was around 7:30pm. Elle knew I was working until 6pm which usually got me home by 6:45pm. She’d be done feeding both the kids and herself and would then warm up my dinner after I arrived. As I’ve written numerous times before she wanted me to call if I was going to be really late and I didn’t. (No cell phones in those days!) Pulling in the driveway I came to the conclusion that this wasn’t a good way to start off my vacation.

With Labor Day on Monday (and the end of Summer as we knew it), that Friday was the last day of activity for the junior sailing program. Traditionally, the sailing instructors didn’t do any teaching but made it one big day of fun. Parents of the kids, all women, would help organize games and feed them. Elle, because she’d spent almost every day our kids had lessons at the club, even though only required to be there once about every two weeks, had become ‘part of the woodwork’ and was considered to be like one of the instructors. That meant that she was involved all that day... and by the time she got home was worn out. I paid the price for it.

She was out on the screened porch when I found her. I said ”Hi“ and was pretty much ignored. I knew I’d find my supper in the oven waiting to be warmed up and, after so doing, found my pork chops were dried out and basically unable to be cut. The veggies were also dried out but still edible. Thankfully, there were some ‘goodies’ from the club party to nibble on. Having experienced this type of behavior from Elle before I knew to keep my distance and mouth shut. I waited until the kids were in bed and then, casually, told her that ”Big B“ was off to Nantucket and we had the use of his boat immediately.  That news piqued her interest and she backed off from the silent treatment a bit and wanted to know more.

We’d planned to take the kids on a sailing excursion, complete with a picnic, on Labor Day. However, that was contingent on the weather co-operating. With Elle’s softened approach I threw out the suggestion that with the perfect weather expected the next day that we could accelerate our plans. I really wasn’t expecting a wholehearted acceptance figuring there would be some ‘give and take’. However, she got right up and started getting things ready in the kitchen. By the time we headed off for bed everything was ready except for making up the sandwiches. Salads had been prepared as well as a jug of homemade lemonade that I made up. I always put more sugar in than she did but she didn’t say a word. I was just thankful that the situation had improved so much since my arrival home.

It wasn’t all ‘peaches and cream’ though. Undressing, she started telling me about the play day at the sailing club and how some of the other mothers had put together the idea of an informal gathering at one of their homes on Saturday night. Most of the them were Summer only people and this would be the only time to be together, in a social way, until the following year. I listened without saying a word but my thoughts were definitely negative towards the idea. If I’d met any of the people it had only been for a brief few minutes. It was my (silent) position that I didn’t need to spend time with people I’d never really get to know or spend time with. However, I pretty much knew if I spoke out against it that Elle’s mood would quickly change. End result... I said OK but put a time limit on our stay as Sunday would be an incredibly busy day.

Besides church, it was the last day of sailboat racing and it would decide who would garner the trophies. Then, immediately after that, it was the dual birthday celebration party for both Elle’s and my father, something we’d done every year since I quit racing the horses. This year it was being hosted by Elle’s mother which meant we, thankfully, weren’t involved in the preparation. All we had to do was show up and spend a couple of hours with them. From there it was back to the sailing club for the season ending meeting where the awards and trophies were handed out. It was going to be a long day!

In the morning when Elle told the girls about our plans they were really excited, especially Anne who announce that she was going to be the skipper. I was proud of her enthusiasm but tempered it a bit by saying that everybody would get a turn. While Elle was getting breakfast Anne asked if we could invite Barbara to come along. I remember thinking ‘where did that come from?’. I looked over at Elle and she responded by explaining that when Barbara was first getting to know the girls she’d asked about their favorite thing to do. When Both Jean and Anne responded ”Sailing“, Barbara told them that she’d never been sailing and asked if they’d take her someday. Obviously, Anne remembered.

Elle and I had a brief discussion on the possibility of doing it and I told her the boat was certainly big enough to bring her along. She then added she could re-do the food to make it happen. Anne wanted to be the one to run next door to ask Barbara but I jumped in and said that I’d go with her and suggested that they all go with me. I wanted to be sure that Barbara knew that the offer was from our whole family.

We could see the back door was open through the screen door but after calling inside and with no response I turned and looked around. The car that the mother, Phyllis, usually drove wasn’t in the driveway so I looked out towards the back yard and the farm. I saw their new clothes line was in use and then saw some legs moving under a sheet that had been hung. I pointed the girls in that direction and watched as they ran off. Halfway to the garage I could see what appeared to be mostly underwear, male and female both adult and kids, hanging on the line and that brought a smile to my face. There was the one sheet and whoever was hanging wash was behind it. The girls were yelling as they approached and suddenly Barbara ducked out from behind the sheet. Anne ran up to her and told her we were going sailing and they wanted her to go with us. By then Barbara saw me and looked my way for some sort of confirmation.

As an adult I could see Barbara’s hesitation in responding positively. I had to temper the girl’s excitement to explain just what had been offered. She was wearing what Elle called a playsuit... shorts with an attached bib with shoulder straps. Under it she was wearing a sleeveless top. She had a sort of embarrassed smile when she said she appreciated the offer but was going to decline. The girls, in unison, asked why. Looking straight at me she admitted that she didn’t know how to swim and was frightened to go out on a boat.

To be continued...