FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Peggy (Part 146b)
Here is another
place where I wish I had my Day Timer notes. For a lot of reasons I
wanted to give her a chance to say something, anything, to explain why
she was having so many problems. I knew she’d done the ‘books’ for her
father’s business when she was still in high school so, in my mind, she
had to be comfortable with numbers. I don’t remember how long it was
before she started talking... and there was a lot she had to say. My
problem, now, is that I don’t remember a lot of it or the order of it. I’ve previously
given a broad overview of what I knew she'd gone through since the
beginning of the year and that was from what I’d gleaned from her
father, James. Here’s what I remember from the talk with Peggy.
She
started by saying that her relationship with her parents deteriorated
right after she announced she was engaged and when she told them she was
pregnant it became almost non existent. After she moved to North Carolina with her husband and right up to
the time the baby was born there had been little contact. She admitted
that she’d been a ‘daddy’s girl’ and not hearing from him was especially
hard. When her husband was killed in the car accident almost
immediately after she’d had her daughter the hospital contacted her
parents and they immediately went to North Carolina. It was about here
that she started to tear up... something I’d hoped to avoid. She told me
that somehow her father had seen the baby before seeing her... and she
was thankful that it happened that way.
Basically, seeing the
baby changed everything about his feelings towards her. However, it
wasn’t the same with her mother. Once back at home she was overwhelmed
with the whole situation which didn’t help with her relationship with
her mother. She alluded to being pressured by her mother to ‘get over
it’ meaning the loss of her husband. In spite of support from her father
she continued to struggle. She mentioned that her mother didn't approve of the way she was taking care of her daughter but didn’t go into much detail on that. A close friend of the family, after visiting with them,
advised James to “get help” for Peggy. Her mother resisted and when
James scheduled an appointment with (and I’m not sure if it was a
psychologist or psychiatrist) that caused a major family rift. Peggy
admitted that she, herself, had resisted at first but it was the priest
at their church who finally helped.
During this whole time I
remember not saying much, if anything, at all. However, it was now after
6pm and when I called Elle earlier to tell I’d be late I hadn’t given
her a time. I finally asked Peggy if she wanted to call home. It was
like I broke her out of a trance. She jumped up and I pointed to Bret’s
phone. She’d remained on the edge of the chair but had eventually moved back
somewhat and when she stood up I saw something on the seat... wetness.
It was a bit of a surprise. I’ll admit that I’d given a brief thought of
getting a peek at her panties when she’d chosen to sit on the edge but
had really been focused on what she had to say. Seeing the dampness on
the seat I immediately looked to Peggy’s backside but didn’t see
anything. She was wearing a dark tweed wool skirt and I knew from
experience with Elle that wetness wasn’t readily noticeable with wool.
I
could overhear some of what Peggy was saying and she, more or less,
pleaded her case as to why she was late and wasn’t sure when she’d be
home. I remember being somewhat torn as to what to do. I wanted to hear
Peggy out but I wasn’t sure if she could get her thoughts back on track. After she hung up the phone she looked down at the seat of the chair where
she’d been sitting and it still glistened. She stopped at the back of it
and then took a look at me. It was obvious she knew that I knew. Then,
slowly she made her way around to the front and sat down. The look on her
face was one of embarrassment and I wasn’t sure how to react to it.
It
had been a year and a half since Peggy had been a small part of our
lives. One thing I remembered was that the last time she’d baby sat for
us I’d ended up paying her with things she’d picked out of the catalog
from my friend Willy’s lingerie company. She’d stumbled onto the catalog
and after perusing it wanted to get some things for her mother’s
birthday. In the process of looking at it she made a notation next to a
rendering of one type of panties. They weren’t on the list of things
she’d picked out but I’d ordered them anyway. When I gave her the bag
with all the boxes she protested but only minimally. The sad thing for
me was that I never got to see her that much after that and didn’t get a
chance to verify that she wore the panties. But, because of the fact
that we’d talked about a somewhat intimate subject back then I felt I
could engage her in conversation about what we were both looking at.
Initially,
I didn’t say anything. She made a few attempts and finally blurted out
that after the birth of her daughter she’d had some physical
“difficulties”. I didn’t comment and after hesitating a bit she admitted
that for a period of time that she couldn’t control her bladder. She
didn’t come right out and use those words but sort of danced around it. I
knew what she was trying to say. She went on to say that it cleared up
after a few months but not entirely. I’m thinking that I might’ve said
something at that point or maybe had a questioning look on my face
because she said that it only happened now when she got upset. Then she
apologized for her performance and told me she would understand if I let
her go. Now the pressure was on me.
I know I didn’t respond to
that, at least right away. I ended up suggesting that we both go home
and pick up the conversation again the next day. I asked if she could be
at the bank at 8:30am. She nodded that she could so we got our coats
and headed for the door. I remember standing by my car and not knowing
what to do. On a personal level, she was a nice girl who was dealt a
‘bad hand’. On a practical level, she was a problem at work. On the way
home I decided to do something I normally didn't do and that was to
discuss a work situation with Elle.
To be continued...
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