ANOTHER YEAR... MARCHing on (Part 155b)

ANOTHER YEAR... MARCHing on (Part 155b)

The doctor determined there was no break and prescribed staying off the foot, keeping it raised and icing it. To stay off it meant crutches. That was almost more pain than the ankle. Since it was my right ankle I had to use my right foot to drive the car. That was also painful. The timing couldn’t have been worse since I was scheduled to go to the city to meet with ‘premium’ distributors... ‘premium’ meaning gifts we’d be giving out with the opening of new accounts at the branch opening in July. Even though it was only March it had been decided to get a head start to make sure we not only had really unique gifts but also a guarantee of availability. When the Trustees made the gift choices at the bank’s first gift campaign a few months earlier they made any number of mistakes. The biggest being purchasing a set number of gifts which we had to store on site. Without a basement the branch wouldn’t have the space to do the same. A smaller mistake was that when the program was over we owned all of the gifts that weren’t given away. My plan was to have the items drop shipped as needed. Bert (the president) had convinced the Chairman of the Board of Trustees to let the management team do all the ’leg work’ and then take their suggestions to the Board for approval. I’d been looking forward to the trip for any number of reasons but now it wasn’t possible.

From early March there had been a lot of activity on the PTA Olympics scheduled to be held at the school the last Saturday in the month. Pat (the PTA lady) had been working with a group of teachers who’d volunteered as well as the ladies who were a part of the ‘group’ who’d worked on getting changes made on the school board. I’d originally avoided involvement wanting to be a participant in some of the contests. However, with the ankle, that wasn’t going to happen. So, my participation was to be as a ‘judge’. After Pat and her ‘people’ had made their choices on just what the events were to be I tried to get Elle to tell me what they were... but she wouldn’t. The ladies had pledged not to tell anyone so as to keep people from practicing. I remember the sort of wicked smile on Elle’s face when I tried to get the information.

I didn’t miss any work but I was miserable not being able to get around all that well. In truth, I was walking way too much and after a few weeks there was still swelling. I kept my foot up on  my up side down wastebasket as much as possible but putting ice on it was impossible. At home, with Spring arriving momentarliy, I could see things that needed to be done around the yard which just added to my frustration. By the time I’d get home at night I wasn’t much fun to be around. As the date for the Olympics approached I began to worry that he ankle wouldn’t be healed when it was time for us to go to Florida.

There was one meeting the Thursday night before the event for all who had signed up. The main reason was that we had far more parents than we had teachers. There was a time limit as everyone had to be out of the school by 10pm. There were to be seven separate contests and, to be fair to the parents, there was a lottery to see who of the almost 50 would participate. With only 20 or so teachers there would have to be some that did double duty. There was some squabbling but by the time we left everyone knew the rules. Pat had set a modest goal of making around $200 to be used as seed money for gymnastic equipment. She’d contacted a supplier of such equipment who said they’d be willing to put on a demonstration prior to the ‘show’. Once Mo and Barbara heard about that they volunteered to do some of the things they’d done at their old school. It was shaping up to be a fun night even if I was to be pretty much just a by-stander. The only question was just how many adults would show up. Indications were that a lot of the students were planning on being there.

With Elle a participating teacher I was a bit concerned about what she should wear for ‘protection’. As I’ve mentioned before, I enjoyed ‘wet play’ when it was pretty much private. I didn’t enjoy seeing her get embarrassed so that was my concern as she got ready. Her concern was that the ‘protection’ would show. I told her it was far better to have a ”fat butt’ than a wet one so we compromised. Two pair of ‘dribble panties and a pair of sanitary panties but I warned her that if she had a full blown ‘accident’, she was in trouble.

Most of the participants (including the judges) were there by 7pm with the show to start at 7pm with the gymnastics exhibition. By that time there was standing room only with the auxiliary seats pulled out and filled. It was probably a 60/40 mix with more kids than adults. The guy from the equipment company brought a tumbling mat and did a bunch of floor exercises. Then Barbara and her sister, Mo, came out but in their gym suits from their old school. It seemed funny to see them in red and white rather than blue and gold. It was also a bit eyeopening in another aspect... both had filled out a bit since they last wore them. I was at one end of the mat when they started. It was obvious that they hadn’t had a lot of practice as there were a few mistakes. But, for me, that was one of the enjoyable parts, For some reason Mo had worn panties under her suit and soon after she started they were peeking out from under.

There were seven different contests with four teachers and four parents in each. There were only five male teachers but far more male parents so the decision was to let them compete against the women. However, to make it as fair as possible they had to draw numbers to see who competed in which event and who they were matched against. Of course I was curious as to who and what Elle had drawn.

To be continued...