ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & Ends (Part 167n)
This was the week
that Elle had been asked to substitute teach at a school she’d never
been to. The fact that she’d had well over a week to prepare and had her
mother and friends lined up to take care of Kaye made it much less
stressful than usual. She'd described the experience as “refreshing” in
that the principal was “laid back” and there was nowhere near the
pressure to perform that she usually experienced. That proved too be a
direct benefit to me in a number of ways. Even though it was brand new
school to her she found a ‘welcoming committee’ waiting for her. Beth,
Cliffy’s pregnant wife, was the school secretary and had organized the
other teachers to be there when Elle arrived. It was a small school,
seven classrooms, but there was severe overcrowding which presented
problems for the staff. However, they didn’t want Elle to have to worry
about that and she was given a tour of all the ‘necessary’ things, one
being where the bathrooms were located. However, as they say, “accidents
happen” and with Elle’s condition, even with planning, they did. In
spite of our having been together, dating and married for about 14
years, she was always reluctant to tell me about them. Right after “B”
had gone she told me that she’d had “an accident” at school. I,
naturally, was interested but in those cases didn’t want Elle to be
embarrassed so was a bit concerned. She went on to say the principal had
stopped in to see her at the end of the day just as she was headed for
the bathroom. She told me she she’d already ‘leaked”, which was her
‘warning’, but she was too embarrassed to tell him she really needed to
use the ‘facilities’… and, while standing behind her desk, proceeded to
“go a lot”… enough for it to run down her legs. (she was wearing a
skirt) She said she was more concerned that the principal could see her
blushing more than anything else. What pleased me the most about her
telling me was that she was completely at ease as she did. I had more
than a bulge by then and she knew it. But, what was the most shocking
was when she said she had a “funny feeling” after she did it. I asked
what she meant by “funny feeling” and I remember her sort of shrugging
her shoulders and having an impish smile… but not saying anything.
Interesting, for sure.
It was about 4:30pm on Friday when Joanie
told me that Elle was on the phone. At that time of day I knew she was
at home and could only think there was something wrong. I’d told her any
number of times not to call me at work unless it was really necessary.
“There’s a basket of fruit on the picnic table!” Is what I heard. The
only thing I could say was that I hadn’t ordered it. My mother would
sometimes send gift to the kids but a basket of fruit was beyond that.
Intrigued, I had her go get it and bring it inside. I asked if there was
a card or anything but the only thing she could find was bow with the
words “Harry & David” on it. I remembered my grandfather getting
fruit from that company at Christmas but that was all. It was something
to ponder on my way home other than the strange way females think or
panties.
I’d received a call from Judith, my friend who owned the
boutique store back in the town where I started my banking career.
She’d donated some clothes to the church Thrift Shoppe right after the
focus had been changed as to just what clothes would be offered. She’d
left a message for me to stop by the boutique as she had some more
things to donate. It was timely as Christmas was only a month away and I
knew I had to start thinking about some gifts for Elle. I decided I’d
do it while on my ‘landfill run’ as I’d be halfway there. The place was
typical Judith…. clothes packed in so tightly that it was hard to see
what was on the racks… and this was after she’d expanded the space.
There was no way I was going to peruse all that she had but I did
remember that I’d gotten Elle a robe there the first year I’d been in
banking and I also knew she no longer had it. So, to save time I asked
Judith what she had in the way of robes. She led me to the back of the
store and explained that she had an addition put on out back for storage
and had opened what had been her storage area up to hold lingerie and
sleepwear. I hadn’t even gotten all the way into it when I saw what I
was going to get Elle… a really fancy, plush, full length robe. It was
way more than I wanted to pay but knew it’d buy me a lot of pictures and
‘extras’. While she was boxing it up I, as usual, took a look around at
the panties. Her primary lingerie label was Van Raalte and I just loved
the large crotch area of the panties. They made for fantastic VPL’s. It
was almost like an addiction. As soon as I saw the robin’s eggs blue of
a Van Raalte box I knew I had to have some… more.
The clothes
Judith donated were pretty much as I’d expected them to be… not the type
people shopping in a thrift shop would be looking for. When I delivered
them, most were rejected for the offering tables but, surprisingly, a
couple of the ladies who’d volunteered that day found some things they
liked and made a nice donation to the shoppe. The minister was there
when I stopped and so asked him how much they’d made since the
reopening. He didn’t know exactly but I heard words that pleased me in
that we’d prepaid our anticipated heating oil bill for the Winter.
Back
at home I could see there was activity at the house next door. I peeked
through the hedge and saw an older couple with Andy, the realtor. My
first reaction was positive in that someone was looking at it. It
quickly turned a bit negative because Elle and I’d both been hoping for a
young family with children. Andy saw me peeking through the opening and
called out asking if I’d found a surprise. That caught me by surprise
and I think all I did was stare at him. He jumped in and quickly solved
the mystery of the fruit basket. It had been from him as a thank you for
investigating the attic and in noticing the missing soffit vents. Elle
and I’d decided not to do anything with the fruit until we knew it was
meant for us. That cleared the way to ‘attack’ it. Andy proceed to
introduce me to the couple he was with and gave me a good indication
that these were the people who’d be buying the house. They lived in the
city and had been looking for a house in the area so they’d be able to
spend most of the Summer with their children and grandchildren. A lot of
people did that in our area but most were on or near the water. I was
curious at to why they would pick a landlocked dwelling but chose to
keep my mouth shut. My guess was they were in their early 60’s so, using
both Elle’s and my families as a reference, figured their kids would be
about our age. Trying to put a positive ’spin’ on the situation, I
figured that we’d get a few months of ‘activity’ with people our age and
who had kids of their own that might match up with ours. Walking back
through the hedge it came to me that the house would still be empty most
of the year but rationalized that it was still better than it had been
for quite some time. I told Elle about the people and she immediately
went up to the second floor to see if she could see the people from
Kay’s bedroom window. She couldn’t but did return with some hope that
there might be more to the story than we had.
To be continued…
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