ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151c)

ANOTHER YEAR... new adventures (Part 151c)

From that point on my focus was on Kaye. Still super shy, I knew that leaving her off with Phyllis at her day care would be tricky. She had become familiar with both Ginger and Sandy but had only been to the day care a few times. As we pulled into the church parking lot I pointed towards a small delicatessen and suggested that while I deposited Kaye that Gracie run over to get coffee and a couple of rum buns. I emphasized the buns as the wife of the owner made them daily but only a dozen and would only sell one to a customer. While Gracie was doing that I made my way to the basement of the church with Kaye in my arms.

Sometimes you get lucky. This was one of those times. I hadn’t said anything to her about the day care until we got to the door. As soon as I opened it she grabbed me around the neck. Phyllis was right there and immediately pointed to a somewhat realistic toy horse on the floor. Kaye had been on one when Ginger would have her for the day. Elle had been told that it was hard to get her off it to let others have a chance. We had discussed getting one for her but had decided against it. When Kaye saw it she let go of me and ran right to it. Phyllis nodded for me to head for the door.

Gracie had the coffee and buns waiting when I got in the car. She said the lady was reluctant to sell her two buns but she told her the other one was for me and pointed towards my car. She said it took a little persuasion but she was successful. I could’ve done without the coffee but was trying to be sociable while reducing Gracie’s embarrassment. We were about halfway to the bank when I decided to speak and chose what I thought was an innocent topic to start. I told her I’d heard her sneezing somewhat violently and asked what caused it. She, without hesitation, said it was allergies. I, first hand knew about them from when I was a teenager and pollen from the blossoming oak trees gave me fits. But we were in January so I asked if she knew, specifically, what it might have been to trigger it. Her answer was quick... in the Winter it was animal dander. As soon as she said it I knew the cause.

We’d gotten a kitten the first Summer we owned the house. Anne had monopolized it and the other girls each wanted their own kitten. We gave in but with one major caveat... they were only to be in the house when they were there with them. I built a ‘cat house’, complete with a light bulb for heat in the Winter, for them and we’d not had any problems. However... with the girls being home on the holiday break the cats had been in the house a lot more than usual. And... Anne liked to take all three up to her room. I’d seen all three asleep on the bed that Gracie had slept in a couple of times but didn’t think anything of it... until Gracie mentioned her allergy to dander.

I was apologizing to Gracie before she knew why. I told her it was probably the cats and when I did she said she hadn’t seen any. So, I explained that when we’d gotten there the night before the cats were already put out for the night. She thought about it for a bit and said she didn’t remember seeing cats the last time she’d stayed over and I couldn’t give her an answer as to why. She went on to say that she’d gotten up to use the toilet during the night and could feel that her head was ”stuffy“ but didn’t dwell on it. Then, when it was daylight she got up to go into the bathroom but the door was closed. She said she had only opened the bedroom door and was in the process of closing it when she started to sneeze. And... after a few felt ”something’. She said she saw the towels Elle had laid out on the end of the bed for her and grabbed one and stuffed it between her legs. At this point she turned towards me and emphatically stated that nothing had gotten on the bed or the rug.

In writing this I’m smiling because I remember it was about that moment Gracie realized she might’ve said too much. She turned away from me and after a few seconds apologized for talking about a “taboo subject“. I had to glance down in my lap to see just how obvious my bulge was. I honestly don’t remember my response to that or if I even did say anything. By then we were on the outskirts of town and I knew we’d be later than I’d planned. I mentioned that to her which was a good way to ease her discomfort. From that point on we talked about how we’d handle the customers as I told her it would probably be as busy as it had been the day before. By the time we walked in the back door we had a ‘plan’.

As far as problems with the ‘system’ of on-line telephone transmission was concerned, the first day went well. There were only a few minutes where connection between the bank and the data center was interrupted. With all the other stuff going on with the customers it was transparent. But... by mid morning we had a major disruption... and thankfully Gracie was there. Since she fully understood the whole process she was able to explain it. By not using data processing ‘buzz words’ she managed to control most of the customers concerns. I used the word ”most“ because one of my least favorite customers happened to be there when the system went down.

I could write a whole section just on the ‘town diva’.  Her husband owned the local radio station and the offices and studio were right across the street. Because of that she decided that, as a depositor, she could park her big Cadillac convertible in the bank parking lot, all day. We had limited parking and very prominent signs saying that parking was for those doing business in the bank. We’d tried subtle ways to get her attention with no appreciable results. Hobie, who was a Chamber of Commerce officer along with her husband, had about the same luck. In a meeting with Bert, the president, we proposed towing her car like we did others that were illegally parked but he told us to hold off. It didn’t make me very happy at the time but on this day I was especially upset. She wanted the interest her accounts had earned posted into her passbook. When told that we ”couldn’t“ she went ballistic. Even with Gracie trying to explain the situation, she just ignored her.

To be continued...