KEEPING UP... Busy, busy, busy (Part 166a)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy, busy (Part 166a)

It was like I was a juggler in the circus trying to keep everything in place and keeping a lot of people happy. When Hobie called me over to his area I thought it was to tell me about my salary increase… but I was wrong. It was to tell me that he’d designated me as the bank’s new Chamber of Commerce representative. Being that it was now October I knew what the first thing I was in for… the annual Halloween sales promotion. I’d been involved in it in the past but only from the bank’s participation. It had been delegated to me from Hobie to try and persuade employees to participate in the costume contest. It was a pain to do but the results were kind of fun. What concerned me most about the designation was that it meant monthly meetings. I was pretty much meetinged out but there was no option to say “No”. Hobie explained that the biggest commitment was to the annual Summer picnic. That sounded ominous. As a bank officer I’d been required to volunteer to help at the picnic itself but that was only for a day. What Hobie was telling me was I’d now be involved in the planning of the whole event and I was not looking forward to that. When I left his area I was very disappointed.

Being the first of October I knew that the money from the bond from the trust fund that had been "called" was available for investment over at the stock brokerage office so I headed there during my lunch break. Lynda had returned and as soon as I walked in she announced that she had something for me. She was seated in her chair at her desk and almost as soon as she spoke I watched her push away from the desk. Using her left leg and foot to get herself turned around I watched as her knees spread apart and for a split second I saw patch of white appear.  As much as  you might like to think that I’m always ready for an upskirt , VPL or a DP… that’s not always true… and this was one of those occasions. Lynda quickly grabbed the item she had for me from the back counter and then swung back towards her desk… and I got a second viewing of white. Both, combined, might have taken a couple of seconds but they had caught me by surprise. When Lynda actually looked at me she started to laugh a bit. I, obviously, was somewhat embarrassed and was made even more so when she, very quietly, asked if I saw something I liked as she handed me an envelope. Thankfully, it was Stan, her boss and my broker, who got me out of the situation when he walked in the door right behind me.

Ruthe had given me the research papers on the stocks that Stan thought I might be interested in the previous week. I had read the material but wasn’t excited about any of them. Even though the bond hadn’t paid much in the way of interest none of the suggested stocks paid a dividend and that was  something I’d decided I wanted. Lobby traffic had been moderate at the bank but it being the ‘busy period’ my conscience wouldn’t let me stay to discuss other choices with Stan. I told him I’d be back to him later and headed for the door. Lynda intercepted me to explain what was in the envelope she’d given me. When I’d brought the bond to the office I’d failed to clip the last interest coupon and it was inside. As I was opening the envelope Lynda was whispering something to me but I couldn’t make it out. I remember thanking her for giving it to me and headed back to the bank.

The first thing I did was to cash in the coupon. Like I said, it wasn’t a lot of money but it was like ‘found money’.  Once back at my desk Bret turned to me and asked how the preparations for going to the championship were going. Bret was a big racing fan and was a good friend of one of our competitors and would periodically give me an update of the things that C J was doing. C J had ended up being ‘rookie of the year’ in his first season racing at the track and had won a couple of feature races. His switch to Chevrolet motors had proven to be a good one but Bret told me that for the championship weekend he was switching back to run a Ford. That was a complete shock especially since he’d loaned us his Ford cylinder heads. My first thought was that he’d want them back. Bret could see the shock in my face and quickly put my mind at ease when he told me that C J had picked up a sponsor who owned a really big, powerful engine. I sat there relieved… but envious. I asked Bret if he was thinking about going but I knew the answer even before he made an attempt. Even though I liked his wife I really felt sorry for him. She really had him under her thumb. He’d been one of the best athletes when he was in high school and a lot of his friends and former teammates still participated in sports… but Bret wasn’t allowed to. In thinking about his situation it made me feel really fortunate.

Saturday was the grand opening of the re-organized Thrift Shoppe at the church. The advertisement had run in the Thursday Pennysaver paper and the signs I’d made had been put out on Friday. After getting up early I went right to the church. The minister was clearly in charge and had managed to get enough volunteers to have each of the tables manned. That way there would be some control and some semblance of order could be maintained as the people perused the clothes. The two women who Elle had worked with in sorting the donated clothes had decided it would be best to segregate the new clothes my friend Judith had donated from her boutique. That turned out to be a pivotal decision. At the opening there were so many people there another vestryman and I had to limit entry. One out… one in. All in all it went fairly smoothly. The doors closed at 1pm with people still inside. I’d promised to be at the garage by 1pm to put the motor back in the racecar with Alan so I took my leave without knowing the money results of the day.

By the time I left the garage to go home the motor was in and had been running. I have to tell you that my heart was in my mouth when it came time to start it up. I’d put motors together in the past but they were nowhere near as complicated and powerful as this one. Cliffy had a family affair to go to so once the engine had been running for about ten minutes we all left. I was pretty proud of myself as I drove home. Elle was actually surprised to see me as I’d forewarned her that she might not see me until 10pm so she and the kids had already eaten. I was so ‘hyped’ about the motor that I didn’t care. I don’t remember what I ended up eating but what I do remember was that for ‘dessert’ Elle served up a real treat for me.

After I’d settled in on my recliner she took the the kids to the basement to play. On her return she proceeded to climb up so that she was pretty much straddling me… and then just let ‘it’ go, soaking me. It was messy but enjoyable (at least to me). What made it special was that she’d done it on her own. I hadn’t had to try and persuade (bribe) her. Because there was no telling when one or more of the kids might appear we didn’t stay that way for long. But, as we cleaned ourselves up we had some ‘fun’ and I got a promise of a special ‘treat’ once we got to bed. All in all… a pretty good day.

To be continued...