AUTUMN... now the changes (Part 143o)

AUTUMN... now the changes (Part 143o)

Even though I was late in returning home Elle wasn’t upset because she was also running late. There was no time to even tell her what I’d bought as her present and barely enough time to get my bookcase and boxes out of the back of the wagon. Normally, Elle would leave Kaye home with me when running her 4H meetings but there was another woman who was helping her with a daughter the same age. We both recognized that Kaye’s social skills were severely lacking so Elle thought it would be good for her to go and to play with her. That was definitely good for me because it gave me time to rummage through the found boxes without having to explain them.

The broken box was the first and it appeared it only contained blouses and varying types of women's/girls tops.  I’d only gotten about 1/3 though it when I began to wonder if there had been some mistake and the wrong box(es) tossed at the 'dump’. The clothes seemed almost new as there was no obvious wear. I recognized the label on some of the items and it was one of Elle’s favorite brands... Aileen. The more I looked the more puzzled I became. A closer look showed the sizes to be either small or medium for the knit things and either 10 or 12 for the blouses. There were definitely some things among the pile that Elle would like and anxiously tackled the next box.

It contained a mix of slacks and shorts with a varying mix of casual things as well as some ”dressy“ ones. Again, the label, Aileen, was attached to more than half the items. I picked out a pair of white knit ones and gave them a good look expecting to seem some stains but found none. The sizes were were basically the same as the tops which meant Elle should be able to fit into them. I remember thinking that maybe I should return them to the landfill in case the person(s) who tossed them realized what they had done. That thought lasted for less than 30 seconds as I  knew some of the crew who worked there and figured they’d only end up in their cars.

I had no idea what might be in the third box but I knew it was the heaviest of the three. The first thing I saw was a woman’s Summer pocket book. Thinking there might be a name inside I opened it up to find nothing but a fancy cloth handkerchief. Disappointed, I went back to the contents of the box. The weight came from shoes. There was a mix of casual and somewhat dressy ”flats“. There might’ve been a dozen but I wasn’t interested in them. I did note that they, like other items I’d investigated, seemed hardly worn. I was almost to the bottom when I saw a couple of clear plastic shoe boxes just like the ones that Elle had in our closet. But, when I pulled one out there wasn’t a pair of shoes in it. It looked liked it was filled with tissue paper. The blue top was easily removed and when I did and pushed the paper away I was very pleasantly surprised to find a neatly folded nylon slip... new and with tags attached. I pulled it out only to find another underneath it. The tags on both read ValTric and the sales price tag read Strawbridge & Clothier, a well known Philadelphia department store. The first one appeared to be knee length and the other one a bit shorter. I was about to go for the next shoe box when I realized that there might be another item under the crumpled tissue paper. Pulling the paper out I saw there, indeed, was a third slip. The difference in this one was the label read Kayser and was nylon satin tricot with a lace hem and a lace insert down one side. Very elegant! It was from the same store but the price was almost 50% more than the other two at just under $8.

With that discovery in mind I literally dove into the cardboard box to get the next plastic shoe box. My heart was pounding as I popped the top. Again, I had to navigate through tissue paper. There were two piles of folded panties staring me in the face. On the top of one pile was a pair of fancy blue panties with the manufacturer’s tag still attached... Kayser... a quality item. I pulled them out and was pleasantly surprised to find the label reading ”Size 5“, Elle’s size.
                                  

There were a total of ten in all with three of them being bikini. All of the others were white and were made by ValTric, just like the slips but none were ”fancy“. The bikinis were size 6 while the panties were 5’s. It was rather unreal and I had a hard time grasping all of what I’d just uncovered.

I’d been on the patio while inspecting my ‘find’ and there were at least five, if not six piles of clothes on the picnic table plus the two shoe boxes of lingerie. I couldn’t understand why anyone would throw away perfectly good clothes and with some of the items being new. In my mind I was trying to sort out just what to do with all of it. I decided to separate the clothes into what I though Elle might want to keep and what she’d reject. I thought about the slips and panties and ended up putting them back in the shoe boxes and keeping them for the future. I really wanted to keep out the blue panties and telling her that I’d bought them with the wool jacket and skirt. The only thing was that she preferred plain old white and I couldn’t come up with a reason why I’d bought blue. The white ValTric panties were pretty basic and not something I would’ve bought. I didn’t know what I’d do with them so, since I still had time to hide them, put them back the way I’d found them and headed for the attic.

I positioned myself in the den so I could observe Elle’s reaction as she came up the path to the patio and the clothes piled on the table. She had her hands full with her 4H materials which she almost dropped when she saw them. She probably stood there for at least 30 seconds before approaching the table. I was sure she’d go for the knit tops and I was right. I was looking out the window right at her and she didn’t see me because she was so engrossed in seeing all of what was there. I came outside and explained it to the best of my ability. Later, she told me she thought I’d gone out of my mind and had bought all of it as her birthday present. She ended up picking out about eight or nine things including a pair of shoes. It was somewhat anti-climatic when I finally gave her the present I’d bought her.

To be continued...