AUTUMN... preparing for changes (Part 142l)

AUTUMN... preparing for changes (Part 142l)

Because that Friday night was within the ‘busy period’, everyone of the tellers had to work to 6pm. I’d warned Elle that I’d be late because of the ‘busy period’ so it gave me a little window of time to try and meet up with James. I called and asked if he could stay at the station for a period of time after 6pm and he agreed to it. On my way up there I rehearsed my little ‘pitch’. For all intents and purposes it was a delaying tactic as far as Peggy was concerned but, for Moira, a plea.

James was always smiling and he was as I approached him sitting in his pick up truck. He invited me into the cab and before I could open my mouth he apologized for bringing Peggy into the situation. I certainly wasn’t expecting that. He went on to tell me that when he got home and told Peggy she got mad at him. Then his wife got involved and felt pretty much the same. He said he didn’t back down to them at first but over the next few days decided they were right. He claimed he was going to give me a call but had been too busy as he’d been short handed. The apology gave me some ‘breathing room“ which I desperately needed. I decided to take a little different approach and told him I’d need to meet with Peggy before anything could or would proceed. He nodded in agreement and when he did I snuck in that I’d have to have a vacancy at the bank first. Again, he agreed. Now it was my turn to ‘pounce’.

Without dragging it out, adnauseam, James said he was willing to make Moira’s car ‘road worthy’ for $50 and that included putting on used tires that had tread. He’d trade in his two junkers and get the used motor and install it. Being a ‘motor head’ I knew it was a good deal. Everybody would make out on it... but where was the $50 to come from. When the first deal was proposed I was willing to put up the $20 to install the motor but that was all I was going to be in for. I think I took about a minute before saying OK to the whole deal. As I exited the truck I turned to James and told him I needed the car by Wednesday. he just looked at me and.. smiled. That was the second time in just a few days a request of mine was returned with just a smile!

I wanted to get word to Moira but I didn’t have a phone number for her. It would mean going back to the bank and it was getting past my ”window of time“ with Elle so I just headed for home. On the way I decided that it wouldn’t make a material difference so let the thought go. Monday would be soon enough. So I focused on how to come up with the $50 without Elle knowing. I’ve made brief mention that I dabbled in painting signs. It went back to when I was racing horses. Through the years I’d volunteered to paint a sign here and there, if I had the time. I'd ended up volunteering to paint the school board campaign signs and, as an offshoot, was asked to do some others, but for pay. It was small stuff that didn’t take much time. Word of mouth is a sometimes wonderful thing and it led to a ”do it at your leisure“ job for the Country Club golf course. I was to paint the distance markers for each hole. Out of the eighteen I’d probably done six or so and got $5 for each one. The blank ones were in the garage and it came to me that if I finished them up on Saturday I’d have the $50 I needed. It had been shaping up to be a ‘leafy’ weekend as the leaves were really starting to fall. The Summer had been pretty dry which usually meant an early drop for them. Doing the signs would be an excuse to avoid that chore. Anne’s birthday party was the only thing out of the ordinary scheduled for Saturday and I wasn’t involved so I had myself a plan.

Even though Elle knew I’d be late I felt guilty about arriving after 7pm so decided to explain. She thought my efforts on behalf of Moira were a little ‘much’ and I was glad I didn’t mention the $50. After explaining that without help Moira would probably have to leave the bank Elle moderated her feelings. Taking that lead as a positive I offered to help her get things ready for Anne’s party and she pretty much forgot about Moira.

There were seven guests invited to Anne’s party. Since two of them were Ginger’s daughters she offered help Elle out. I’d already started painting when she arrived. I actually had to do a bit of a ‘double take’... she looked attractive. With so much of our Summer activity centered around the sailing club we didn’t get to see much of our regular ”group“. I’d seen Ginger around town a few times but only from a distance and had noticed that she seemed to have lost weight. But seeing her up close and in clothes that actually fit her was enlightening. In all the time we’d known her I’d never seen her in anything but loose fitting (frumpy) clothes. Elle had commented to me that it was to hide her weight. An added feature was that she’d had her hair cut and styled. It was a ‘new’ Ginger. As she walked up the path to the kitchen door I could actually see a VPL without her bending over. A BIG improvement!

The signs were finished before the party was over. Elle and Ginger had herded the kids outside to play party games for prizes. Much to my dismay I got recruited into being a judge. It has never ceased to amaze me as to just how cruel kids can be to each other over petty items. In one of the games I had to make a decision on just which one of two had come the closest to the target. I’ll admit that I made a personal decision ruling that this one girl had won when she hadn’t. She was a really nice kid whose family was going through some rough times and I thought declaring her the winner would be good for her psyche. The other girl disputed my decision and ripped the prize (a cheap toy of some kind) out of her hands and proceeded to stomp on it. The abused girl just stood there crying. Ginger went to her and squatted down to comfort her while Elle led the other girl away. I just stood there in disbelief... but for only a few seconds. As I looked down on Ginger I got a really great DP (downpants) and I was close enough to recognize the waist elastic as being on a Shadowline panty.   I’d heard Elle say that the procedure that Ginger had to help with her incontinence seemed to have worked and seeing that she wasn’t wearing a pair of the ‘dribble panties’ that we’d made for her seemed to have confirmed it.

To be continued...