LIFE GOES ON… and on… (Part 171e)
Paula wasn’t the only item for
discussion. Elle, in telling of her stop to see her at school had
casually mentioned a visit her doctor. She studiously avoided going for
check-ups and had most of her life. We’d discussed the need for a
pregnancy test and Elle had said she’d take care of it. I thought I’d
have to prod her to do it so wanted to hear how it had gone. They didn’t
have those convenient little test strips that can be purchased in drug
stores back in those days. Elle had to leave a urine sample to be put
through some sort of procedure and it would be a few days to get the
results. When asked how she’d been feeling she told the doctor she
seemed to be tired all the time. Since she was already in the office the
doctor suggested that she have a physical and thorough blood work up to
get a ‘base line’ from which to work with if it turned out she was
pregnant. The doctor was well aware of Elle’s incontinence so being
embarrassed by her partial ‘package’ was not a factor. However, when it
came to drawing her blood it was another story. Elle absolutely hated
needles to the point that she’d almost fainted on a couple of occasions.
Hearing Elle tell of it I could only imagine her reaction. She told me
she didn’t pass all the way out but got very light headed. When she
started to come out of it she could feel that her ’bottom’ was very
warm. That embarrassed her as the partial ‘package wasn’t designed to
hold a full void. Elle always had spare panties in the station wagon and
the doctor, to spare Elle further embarrassment, went out to fetch them
for her. I’ve written on any number of occasions, as much as I enjoyed
Elle’s wetting, I never enjoyed seeing her be embarrassed. She seldom,
if ever, ever voluntarily told of such occasions so this was something
new. I’m glad she told me on her own. To me, it was a sign of maturity
on her part.
I never got as far as I’d wanted with the empirical
data that I’d been working with. There was just so much material and I’d
never seen anything like it before. I gave up after falling asleep with
it in my lap. As soon as Hobie saw me the next morning he wanted to
know how it had gone. I suggested that to save time we go upstairs to
see Bert. When we did it was a little disappointing because I’d gotten
so worked up with the concept of meeting, one on one, with the
legislators that hearing Bert’s comment that it wouldn’t do much good. I
don’t know where I summoned the courage to ask why he felt that way.
His answer was that legislators from rural areas were ignored. I started
to protest but stopped. I was caught off guard when he encouraged me to
finish what I’d started to say. It was nothing ‘earth shattering’ and
not much more than what the lobbyist had espoused at the meeting. It
would be a “numbers” game and the more who heard the message the better
chance of getting the hearing before each house of the legislature would
be. I couldn’t tell if he was impressed or not but said he’d take it up
with the Board. Leaving his office I had a good feeling about myself.
Only time would tell if it really meant anything.
That day was
the last one in the ‘busy period’. It was the first one since it began
where we actually had a deposit gain. It was my hope that things would
get back to some form of normalcy. It was Mae, asking about the cellar
project, that pretty much confirmed it. The one big outstanding question
was what would be in the combined audit report from the Federal and
State authorities. I still thought about CeeCee’s abrupt leaving and
couldn’t help but wonder what had taken place at the exit interview with
the Board’s audit committee. I won’t say I was worried but I did know
that my area of responsibility, operations, would be written up and
would probably focus on the branch. That, to me, was a never ending
problem.
With the pressure off as far as lobby traffic was
concerned I could actually take a lunch break without feeling guilty. I
wanted to get over to the brokerage office not so much to see Lynda as
to get the latest news on the last stock I’d purchased. In working with
Stan, my broker, one of the basic tenets he espoused was to set limits
on losses and to not be greedy on the profit side. Rather than use
percentages I chose to put a dollar amount on both gains and losses and
that amount was $1,000. The last purchase was approaching that amount
but I wanted to check on the latest research before making a decision. I
was a little more anxious this time because of the possibility of Elle
being pregnant. If the profit got to $1,000 it would mean I’d parlayed
about $1500 into over $3,200 in a little over six months. When I walked
into the office Stan was standing right inside the door. He laughed when
he saw me and said he’d just tried to get me on the phone. Lynda was at
her desk and Stan was sort of blocking my view of her but I could see
she’d pushed herself away from her desk and was reaching for something
on the lowboy file cabinet behind her. The spread between her knees was
over two feet. As soon as I saw that I lost track of what Stan was
saying. If he wasn’t in a rush to leave I’m sure he would’ve picked up
on my inattention to him and my attention to Lynda. Even though it was
for only a split second seeing the white of her panties was exciting. By
the time Stan was out the door she was back at her desk. She
acknowledged me but picked the phone receiver that was on her desk and
became totally involved with the person on the other end of the line. I
was a little impatient because I wanted to get something to eat. She
glanced up at me and made a motion to indicate she’d call me.
It
was after 3pm when Lynda called. I could tell she was a bit stressed
because she would usually start with something ‘light’. I won’t say
shows all business but wanted to know if I needed something to be done. I
explained that I’d come for some guidance on the Pacific Petroleum
stock. She responded with the standard company ‘line’ about not being
qualified to give advice… but then I heard one word…”Hold.” and I was
put on hold for about 30 or so seconds. When she came back she asked if I
got “the message” and that’s when it came to me. I thought it was
incredibly quick thinking on her part. She still sounded like she was
struggling so I told her I’d catch up with her the following week. I’d
wanted to ask if there was any time frame for Ruthe’s return to work but
didn’t get it out before she hung up the phone.
Before leaving
for the day I did speak with Mae and arranged to meet her at the bank
Saturday morning. There were only a few Saturdays before the stock car
racing season would start. It was my goal to have gone through all of
the stuff in the first bin by the first of May. Between the two of us
we’d managed to get rid of enough junk to have about 1/2 of it clear and
available to use for files presently filling needed file cabinets on
both the first and second floors. There was one employee who couldn’t
wait for it to happen… Moira up in the accounting area. In anticipation
of that happening I’d spoken to her before the busy period and told her
to start boxing up the oldest files. She worked in the smallest area in
the bank and was out of room. I also knew she’d be involved in the move
and hoped I could get caught up with what was happening in her world.
To be continued…
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