ANOTHER YEAR... with new adventures (Part 151f)

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

Long story short... A call was made to the station owner asking him for a meeting. Bert and Hobie went right over but they had gone down the back stairs and out the back door so I didn’t see them leave. With Hobie not back after about an hour I started getting really worried. When I saw him walking across the lobby I was puzzled... but not for long. I, more or less, expected to get reamed out for not letting him know about what had transpired the previous day but he was very calm. I was sitting at my desk and he was standing next to it when he told me that the bank was pulling all our advertising from the radio station. I was shocked. Then, he told me to call to have the owner’s wife’s car towed from our parking lot. That was almost as shocking. In fact, I don’t remember saying anything. As soon as he walked away I got Bret’s attention to tell him about towing the car. He was oblivious to all that had happened so far that morning but when he heard about the car I remember him pumping his fist. It was actually funny because we both absolutely hated that woman.

The customer fallout from the ‘news’ on the radio was fairly limited. We had prepped all the tellers to it and told them to get one of the officers if anybody seemed especially upset. I let Hobie know that the retirement numbers would be there in a few days and that seemed to lift his spirits as well. The only other thing that I remember from that day was calling Gracie, as I’d promised, to let her know how the day had gone. Of course I told her I was sending her panties. That triggered concern on her part of just how Elle had taken finding them. I didn’t tell her the truth saying that she understood about “those things”. I had to reassure her that everything was OK. Once I did I heard her chuckle so asked what was so funny. She didn’t want to tell me at first but I coaxed her into it. She said that she’d been so embarrassed when she'd asked to borrow panties that she just took them and put them right on. It wasn’t until later that she took a look at them and discovered that they were the same kind (Carter’s Spanky Pants) that her mother made her wear until she was in high school. Judging that she was in a good mood I decided to tease her a bit and asked if they made her feel like a little girl again. She laughed and when she did I took it a little further to ask how they felt after all these years. There was silence for a few seconds and then I heard her say “tolerable” and then laugh. I laughed too. Then she asked about returning them. Since Elle knew the whole story I decided to have her send them to the house. She said she liked that idea and would have a thank you letter to Elle along with them.

One thing I haven’t mentioned in a long time is snow. It wasn’t that we hadn’t had any but what little we had was more of an annoyance than trouble. We hadn’t had to plow the parking lot even once. I’d heard mention on the way to work that we might have some snow by the time it got dark. The weather man was right... for once. By the time I headed out the back door for home there was at least an inch on the ground. It didn’t concern me all that much at the time because the roads were relatively clear. It wasn’t until I listened to the car radio and found the forecast had changed. Even though I was listening to a city station there was mention made that our area might be in for as much as a foot of snow. Definitely not good news!

However, it gave me a great topic to arrive home with. Not sure how Elle’s mood would be I opened the door and yelled that there might not be school the next day. That got the attention of everybody, even Kaye. They were unaware that it had started to snow. Because the house was so drafty Elle would pull the curtains over the windows as it started to get dark. All of them walked out onto the patio to take a look and with the garage light on it was quite obvious that it was a heavy snow. Back inside, it was the topic of conversation which was fine with me. Elle remained cordial the rest of the evening. One type of storm had passed and now there was a different kind to weather.

I was awakened by the sound of a tractor outside our bedroom window It was our neighbor, John (the farmer) removing the snow from our driveway. It was around 6am. By the time I was dressed and outside he was gone. I looked at the pile of snow that he’d pushed out onto the lawn and was somewhat amazed as it was as high as my shoulders. I knew the kids would have fun with that. Back inside the house I tuned the radio for the station that covered our township to see if school had been cancelled. I had to wait because there were so many announcements. Finally, I got confirmation and headed upstairs to tell Elle. She was sound asleep but was glad to get the news. It had been a while since she'd taught on consecutive days and it had caught up with her. I told her I was leaving early because of the unknown condition of the roads. She offered to make my breakfast which was a complete surprise. It was progress but we still weren’t quite ‘there’ yet.

Picking out old clothes to wear for the trip in seemed to make sense to me. I took a change of clothes that would be acceptable for work after things got sorted out. I called Bret before I left just so he’d know I was on my way. Since he lived within walking distance I knew he could be there to open the doors for those who could make it in. He added that he’d called two of the tellers who also lived close by to say they would definitely be to work. Hearing that, I was proud of Bret. He didn’t always take the initiative and this was a good sign. Now it was time for me to ‘face the elements’.

To be continued...