WARMER DAYS... on to Florida (Part 156c)

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156c)

There were small flood lights beaming from the corners of the two building. However, they didn’t project all that far. With what little light they did give off there was nothing to see but sand. To Elle, I’d described these neat thatched roofed structures used to protect guests from the sun with multiple Adirondack chairs under them to lounge in. But, there was nothing there. Not even the remnants of what I remembered. I could hear the faint sound of the ocean out in the darkness but that was all. I’d taken Elle’s hand to lead her out to the sea wall but with nothing to see she started pulling me back towards the room.

After opening the door and turning on the light I’m sure I let out a little cry. It was so long ago I can’t speak as to what I was expecting to see but what I was viewing wasn’t it. I know it had been fifteen years since I’d last seen any room there and… as I briefly noted earlier, the rooms my parents and I had back then were what had been called the “suites”. At age 15 room size was not a priority and I can’t even give a guess how big they were BUT… they were a lot bigger that what I saw. I know I’m guessing but based on the furniture in there I remember it was probably 12’ by 12’. There were twin beds separated by a night stand with a small dressing table/desk with a plain wooden chair; a small dresser with maybe four drawers and a small upholstered chair stuffed in the far corner. I was shocked. Had I been dreaming when I’d described to Elle what it had been like when I’d stayed there. I’d been in motels with better accommodations. I felt embarrassed.

Lost in those thoughts, I didn’t realize that Elle had ducked into the bathroom that was located right inside the door. Finally, I moved and lifted the suitcase up onto the first bed. That’s when the reality of having to tell Elle about not having any kind of panties flooded my brain. I don’t know how long it was before the bathroom door opened a little and Elle asked for some dry panties. With all that had been going on I’d not given any thought to Elle’s ‘problem’ during the various phases of our trip so hearing the word”dry’ told me that I probably should’ve. I turned and walked towards the bathroom knowing the result of my disclosure about the panties wasn’t going to be pleasant.

I can’t remember her exact words (probably because I closed my mind to them) but they were along the lines of “Of all the things to leave behind how could you forget them?”. I’d decided on the plane not to go over any or all the reasons that it had happened and took the tack of trying to get to the morning and then tackle the problem. In looking back on it (and having discussed it any number of times) the reason she didn’t ‘explode’ was that she was too tired to exert the energy that it would’ve required. Because I didn’t have to respond to an ‘attack’, my mind was free to come up with an immediate solution.

I dug into my things in the suitcase and pulled out a pair of my underpants. When she saw them her response was “No way!”, or something close to it. As calmly as I could and as nicely as I could I asked if she had a better idea. Knowing how tired she was I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t have and answer and pulled them on. Now the question was what to do about the bed since we had no sanitary pads or plastic pants. Fortunately, the very first thing she’d done when getting her things together at home was to pull out one of the flannelized rubber pads we had. Even though it meant we wouldn’t have bath towels first thing in the morning, I grabbed them and put them down on the pad. I remember thinking as I did it that they were about the thinnest bath towels I’d ever felt. She found a nightie top and climbed into the bed without the suitcase and told me to turn off the overhead light. By then it was sometime after 4am. Having dodged the explanation ‘bullet’ with her I found myself ready to ‘crash’ myself so just closed the suitcase and put it on the floor. The next thing I knew the phone was ringing.

It was my father wanting to know where we were. The last time we talked we’d decided that we’d all meet for breakfast at 9am. I looked at my watch and it was close to 10am. He told me that breakfast was served until 11am and I promised we’d be there before that. However, I needed to get towels as I pretty much knew Elle had saturated the ones we had. Luckily, I found one of the housekeeping crew just a few doors away. Elle was in the shower when I returned. She was washing out the panties she'd worn on the flight. When I asked her when and how they'd gotten wet she glared at me and said it was the "bump" when we landed. Finishing up, she told me, point blank, she wasn’t wearing my underpants out in public so not to get a pair out for her.

The suitcase was still on the floor so I decided to put all the clothes in the dresser. As I did I found Elle had packed a tennis dress and, much to my immediate delight, found the panties that went with it. It was with a great sense of relief that I held them in my hand. When Elle appeared I showed them to her but didn’t get the response I’d hoped for. I don’t remember if she said anything but the look on her face spoke volumes.

On our way to breakfast we both got to see, in broad daylight, what the place looked like. Tired and old is the way I remember it. The tables on the patio were starting to rust and the few umbrellas that were there had definitely seen better days. Inside, the lounge area was configured pretty much the way I remembered it and was probably furnished the same way. Here it is some 48 years later and I still feel disappointed. My parents were there waiting so we went right into the dining room. We were the only ones there so didn’t have to wait to be served. We went over the panic we’d experienced with the change in flight times and when Elle blithely told my mother that I’d forgotten to pack her underwear I was totally blown away. If there was one consistent thing about my mother it was that she was unflappable. She got up immediately and went to the front desk. When she returned a few minutes later she had a nice looking woman with her who, to me, appeared to be halfway between my mother’s age and my age. She greeted us with “Welcome…" and to Elle said "I hear you’re in need of some unmentionables?”

To be continued...