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

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

Because of all the disruptions I’d not been able to spend much time on getting the final details worked out on the name and address project. I’d just started in again when Trish came over to tell me that there was a woman named Gracie there to see me. I looked up and, sure enough, there she was. My first words were to say “You’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow!” It wasn’t “Hello.” and it wasn’t “Welcome.” The look on her face was one of embarrassment as she walked over to my desk. At that moment I wasn’t sure who’d screwed up but I knew I had a real problem on my hands.

I’d put off finding a place for Gracie to stay. My intentions had been to do it first thing after arriving at work. As you just read... I was a bit distracted... and then forgot completely about it and Gracie too. There was no point in placing blame so I took the ‘heat’ and told her that I still didn’t have a room for her. I don’t know what she was thinking but I knew I was in a bit of a bind in coming up with a decent place that was fairly local. Bret was at his desk and I knew his sister had worked at a bed and breakfast for a short time. I called over to him and when he turned around I introduced him... and told him of my plight. He said he knew the people who ran the B & B and would call. I tried to make ‘small talk’ with Gracie while he did and while I was doing it I saw Trish with her phone in her hand and pointing at me with it. I got the message that it was important so excused myself and went to her desk. It was Elle. The station wagon had stopped just before she got to her mother’s house and she and the kids had walked the last bit. I don’t know why but I asked her if she was out of gas. She said she didn't know so i told her to go check on it. When she returned to the phone she said the “thing on the dashboard was on E”. That was a big OOOPS and it was all on me. I’d had the station wagon all day Saturday and hadn’t paid any attention to how much gas was in it.

I knew her father kept a can of gas in his garage and told her to get her mother to go find it for her. By then I was getting concerned about leaving Gracie sort of in limbo. While I waited for Elle to get back to me Bret came up to say there were no rooms available at the B & B. When Elle finally came back on the line to say they’d found the gas can was when it came back to me that Gracie had put me up when I went for my training. I’d told Elle about it at the time and she’d commented that it’d been nice of her to do that. With that memory front and center in my mind I told Elle that we’d be having an overnight guest. Before she could say anything I proceeded to hang up on her. I knew that would come back on me but also I knew I had to placate Gracie before she got upset. When I told her of my solution I did warn her that I had three kids and that we’d be doing some shuffling around after we got to the house. Right about then the look on her face told me she’d accept just about anything.

After that was settled there was still some time to show her how we'd set up for the project. As soon as Gina was ‘in proof’ I introduced Gracie to her and kind of stepped back to listen. Gracie was all business and wasted no time. After a short time I knew I’d picked the right one when I chose Gina. She was really into the project and I could see that she and Gracie would work well together. When 5pm arrived Gracie was disappointed. I remembered back to when I was at the service center for my training and how Gracie was willing to stay as long as I was. However, Gina had to get home to her daughter and after explaining the situation Gracie seemed to understand.

The trip to my house was spent going over what Gracie hoped to accomplish the next day. She was all ‘business’ and I hardly got in a word. By the time we made the turn into the driveway I had a good idea of how we were going to proceed the next morning. When Gracie saw the house she ‘shifted gears’ and wanted to know how Elle felt about having a stranger in her house. She didn’t believe me when I told her I didn’t know as I really hadn’t discussed it with her. Her response was one fitting a mother as she chastised me for being “insensitive”. I told her not to worry which only got me a ‘look’ but no words.

Elle was very gracious when introduced to Gracie. However, the look I got as Gracie walked into the living room to meet the kids spoke volumes. Elle, wisely, had fed the kids and they were playing games on the floor. The older two were pretty much over being shy around strangers but Kaye, the youngest, wasn’t. Upon seeing Gracie she jumped up and ran to Elle. Gracie went over to see what game the girls were playing and squatted down to chat with them. My heart skipped a beat for a second but Gracie turned a bit so her back was more to me than her front. I stood there watching and listening to them when I heard Gracie make a suggestion to one of the girls about a move to make in the game and reached across the board. When she did I saw a good bit of flesh and two separate lines of elastic showing on her back. I was less than four feet away. Remembering her ‘dimpled’ panties I tried to discern the two elastics and it was fairly easy as one was wider than the other. I was sure it was for the ‘dimpled’ panties. To me it meant she really liked them. It made we wonder if I’d get to sneak a peek into her overnight bag.

It was Gracie’s turn to be gracious when she insisted that Elle not go out of her way for what to have for supper. She said spaghetti with meat sauce would be fine. Elle would make up a big batch of sauce and freeze some, especially when colder weather was almost upon us. The big decision was in what room would Gracie sleep.

Each of the older girls had a spare bed in their room but the question was who was going to have to vacate for the night. Neither wanted to but with Anne being the last to get her own room it had to be her. Gracie made a big deal out of how nice Anne was to move and it seemed to work as Anne stood there absorbing the praise. Once all the girls were in bed Gracie, Elle and I sat in the den and chatted. Gracie brought up the fact that her son had spent a little time in the area staying with a family that Elle and I both knew. For Gracie, it was the first time she’d ever been this far East and couldn’t get over the fact that we were, basically, surrounded by farm land. When we finally headed upstairs to bed Elle warned Gracie that the kids would be getting up at 7am and hoped they wouldn’t bother her. She laughed and said that would be like “sleeping in” for her.

To be continued...