WINDING DOWN... Summer (Part 140k)

WINDING DOWN... Summer (Part 140k)

The bad weather my father had predicted exceeded his expectations. Even though Elle and I were prepared to get up early on Tuesday, as it was the first day of the new school year, the phone woke me up. It was my father telling me that the water was up over his dock and high tide wasn’t for another two hours. Having lived in that house through a couple of hurricanes I knew what that meant. Water from the creek to the North of there would soon be flooding the road and when it did that the marina where “B’s” boat was would be pretty much under water. As added information he said that since the rain had started there was over two inches in his measuring device. I had to get to the marina to not only check on the boat but to also get it pumped out while I still could. I was on my way before Elle was out of bed.

“B’s” mooring slip was one of the protected ones so the boat was OK except for the rain water. It was over the floor boards. There was a hand pump but it was inadequate for the amount of water in the boat and it was continuing to rain. I thought my arm would fall off by the time I got the level below the floor boards. I might as well not worn the rain slicker as I was soaked from perspiration. Driving out of the marina I had to go through almost a foot of water and the tide still had an hour to rise.

I’d become so focused on “B’s” boat I completely forgot about our Sunfish still at the sailing club. I was almost home when I remembered. The clubhouse was built right out on the beach but up on four foot high cement piers. The second year of it’s existence one of the two hurricanes that hit our area picked it up and dumped it in the marshland out behind it. As I headed in that direction I could still picture the building, all askew and partially buried. Water pretty much covered the parking lot but I spied two cars over by the clubhouse. I recognized Rex, the building manager, and he and  another guy were carrying a Sunfish towards the cars. Both cars had a roof racks and they indicated that help would be appreciated. He explained that he was taking the remaining boats up to his yard and they’d already moved two of them. I looked over to the beach racks and saw mine was gone. As he strapped the boat to the car he told me that mine was already at his house. He only lived minutes away but in the short time it took the three of us to get there and back the tide had risen perceptibly. We decided to get the last two boats and float them out to the road and load them up out there. By the time we got the last one taken care of the bay water had climbed up to the third step on the clubhouse. Not a good sign.

For reasons that I didn’t understand then (or now) the first day of school was for only a half day. Jean and Anne were already home by the time I finally got there. I’d not eaten and I was starved. Elle fixed my lunch while I showered. While eating I saw a small limb and a bunch of green leaves go flying by the window. With the wind blowing from the East it had to have come from that direction... and we didn’t have a tree over in that area. I ran up to Kaye’s room and looked out towards the neighbors house. It was hard see with the rain pelting the windows but it looked like a tree had partially fallen in their back yard. I knew what that meant... they had no electricity as the service from the road went to their garage and then back to the house. It was a hold-over from when the garage had been a machine shop. I wondered how long it would be before we heard a knock on the back door.

I had no gripe with the new principal... just his wife. I knew I should go over to make sure they were OK knowing the principal was probably still at school, especially with this being his first day with classes. I’d just gotten comfortable with dry clothes and a nice bowl of soup in my tummy so I debated with myself for probably ten minutes before I got up and headed on over. There’s an old saying that “Nice guys finish last”. Well, I wasn’t in a race of any kind but when I got through the hedge I found the tree pretty much blocking my path. The leaves were all wet and as I pushed my way through, so was I, again. To make matters worse there was a big limb of the tree right across the back stoop blocking their kitchen door. I’d only put a light jacket on thinking I'd only be outside for a minute or so. By then the jacket was soaked through. I'd gone thatfar so decided to continue and walk around to the front door. Once there I found myself partially shielded from the wind and rain. However, after numerous knocks on the door, no one answered. That’s when it came to me that Phyllis, the principal’s wife, was still off running her day care. I felt like a fool... a wet one to boot. I started to walk back home when I saw someone in the window as I was passing. It was Barbara.

She motioned towards the door and I retraced my steps getting there as the door opened. I have no idea what I must’ve looked like but more importantly I almost didn’t recognize her. The ever present smile and outgoing personality were missing. The look on her face told me she’d been asleep. She wanted to know what I was doing out in the storm. When I told her she didn’t even know the tree had fallen or that they had no electricity. It was about then that I noticed that she was only wearing a shortie nightgown that went to just above her knees. I asked her if she was OK and she explained that whenever the weather turned bad and the barometric pressure fell suddenly, like it had the previous day, she ended up with a migraine headache. I could see her waking up as she talked and I suggested that she take a look out back. Walking down the hall we could see leaves from the fallen tree right up against the kitchen door window. To see the back yard we had to go over to the window over the kitchen sink. But Barbara, being so short, couldn’t really see all that much. I dragged a chair over and helped her up. As I did I could see a definite stain on the back of her nightie. Even though it was fairly dark in the kitchen without sunshine or lights I was almost positive of it. Before I could do much thinking about it she was asking what could be done about the tree and if the driveway was clear. While she was still on the chair I moved in along side her to see if I could see anything to answer her question. As I did I thought I got a whiff of pee. The driveway appeared to be clear so I helped her down. As far as the tree was concerned I told I knew a friend who had a chain saw and told her that I could probably borrow it if her father was interested. It was about then that she realized how she was dressed and kind of tried to cover herself up with her arms and started backing away from me. That was a clue for me to leave. She apologized as I made my way back down the hall to the door.

To be continued...