ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167o)
Things at the
bank were typically slow around Thanksgiving. There was one incident
where I thought Woody might open up but there was a minor depositor
emergency that ‘killed’ that chance for me. As it approached about the
only thing of interest was that someone had seen Lynn, J J’s secretary,
in a car around town. She was on a leave of absence and no one knew, or
admitted, that they knew the cause. Lynne was a distant relative of Trish’s
and had been a bit ‘touchy’ when asked about her absence back when she first
left the bank. There had been some ‘discussion’ about the suddenness of
it and I had my own theory but kept it to myself. As the bank personnel
officer her return mattered to me as it would affect her replacement,
‘Upstairs’ Sandy. The woman had done an adequate job and I really didn’t
want to have to tell her that her time was up. But, Lynn hadn’t yet
appeared at the bank and was still on her leave of absence. I wasn’t
about to open that ‘can of worms’ so let the comment pass.
The
bank didn’t usually allow staff to take the day off before or after a
holiday. However, Bret’s oldest daughter had been having medical
problems and he’d been advised to take her to a specialist in near the
city. Permission had been granted for he and his wife to take her the
day after Thanksgiving. Now, with Trish added to the platform staffing, I felt that his absence wouldn’t cause a problem. The old Murphy’s
Law adage of ‘If it can go wrong, it will…’ certainly came into play
that Friday. We seldom saw Winter weather until December but Mother Nature decided
to let us all know she was the one in charge. I expected that it would be raining
when I got up but didn’t realize it was freezing rain until I went out
to my car. Elle had finished up her teaching stint at the school and had no plans
to go anywhere which was a good thing. I didn’t realize how bad it was
until I started down the driveway and hit the brakes as I approached the
bottom. The car made no effort to stop and I very casually slid right
across both lanes of the road and right through a barbed wire fence used
to keep the cows from the dairy farm in place. There was no damage to
the car but the field next to the road was about five to six feet below
it. The difficulty would be in getting the car up the slope. With ice
built up on the grass there was no traction to even attempt it so I
headed back across the street hoping to call Cliffy to get him to pull me out.
There
were no cell phones in those days so when I called the garage number
there was no answer. I really had no choice but to just keep dialing
every five minutes or so. As 9am approached I called the bank to get a
‘read’ on staffing. It was Bette in accounting that finally picked up
the phone. The answer to my question of how many were there and who they
were was pretty much met with silence. It was very important for me to know
as there were only three people with the main vault combination… Bret,
Hobie and me… and none of us were there. I’d been reluctant to try
taking the station wagon because I could only foresee the same thing
happening on the driveway. But, faced with no other choice I headed back out. On my way
to the garage my eye caught the sand box I’d built for the kids. There
was the answer… sort of. It took a few minutes to did enough sand out to
spread it at the bottom of the driveway but I was on my way before
9:30am.
In the lobby, there were about eight or nine customers
waiting to get their money when I walked in. Hobie was there and we got
the vault open in a matter of minutes. There were three tellers who’d
made it in so we were covered in that respect. Trish had arrived minutes
before I did and then Joanie and Laura right behind her. A quick check
of all departments showed we had enough people to be operational. It was
on my way down from upstairs that it came to me that the sidewalks
needed sand. Mike, the messenger/custodian, hadn’t made it in and,
realistically, I was the only able bodied male in the building. Because
of occasional flooding from the river located right behind the bank, we
kept a number of sandbags to protect the cellar door from the water. The next
hour was taken up by me carrying some of them up and onto the street and
then spreading the sand. In spite of my efforts I witnessed a couple of
men falling. I tried to get them to give me their names for insurance
purposes but they declined. I was just about finished when I saw the
lady who ran the beauty parlor across the street slip and fall (on the
other side of the street) and onto the street. I stood there for a few
seconds waiting to see if she got up. When she didn’t move I ran over to
where she was laying. She was conscious and was able to answer when I
asked where she hurt. I was afraid to move her for fear that her problem
was her back. Having had back problems myself I was well versed in what
not to do when dealing with someone like her. There was almost no
traffic so she was in no immediate danger so told her I was going to the
police station for help. Thankfully, it was only three doors down.
I
went back to where she was laying and waited for the assistance that
had been promised. She was wearing a light jacket over her shoulders and
a white dress/uniform that was the norm for people in that profession
at the time. Paramedics had yet to be thought of in those days so when
two policemen arrived they insisted on getting her up and out of the
street. I tried to protest but they wouldn’t listen. I just knew I
wasn’t going to get physically involved in any way. I stepped back when
they went to pick her up and I have no idea exactly what happened. When
they went to lift her I could see them start to move her off the ground
and then it seemed like one of them dropped her. She cried out and then
rolled over onto her side grasping her lower back. As I watched I could
see almost her whole backside exposed. I was, naturally, concerned about
the condition of the woman but the was no way for me to avoid looking
at something I’d never seen before… panties with no crotch. The panties,
purple, did cover her butt cheeks but the dark pubic hair was
unmistakable. As I continued to observe the situation one of the cops
realized that she was exposed and attempted to pull the dress down to
cover her. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he saw what I
saw. They did get her up onto the sidewalk just about the time an
ambulance pulled up. There was nothing more that I could do so headed
back to the bank. I was still processing what I’d witnessed for the rest
of the morning.
I finally got Cliffy on the phone that
afternoon and he and his father dragged my car out of the field so that
was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. Then, Thanksgiving day was
spent, as was the family custom, with my parents. Boring, boring,
boring! I did get to watch some football when we got home but I
should’ve spent the time with the kids. Elle was silently mad at me but
didn’t let me know about it until it was time for bed. I’d hoped for at
least a little ‘play time’ but she wouldn’t even give me a chance. By
the time I fell asleep I was looking forward to going back to work.
To be continued…
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