LIFE GOES ON... and on... (Part 171r)

LIFE GOES ON… and on… (Part 171r)

Before leaving I made a call upstairs to Moira and asked her what her impression of Dotty had been. Surprised by the question, she hesitated but said her initial impression was she liked her. I thought that was all she was going to say but then, just as I was about to hang up she added that she didn’t think she was going to stay. That wasn’t what I was looking to hear or, for that matter expected. As I stated in the previous post I thought Dotty was in a category above the normal employee. In that, I was hoping to groom her for possibly a higher position after she’d gained some experience. So, on the short trip to the diner I tried to imagine just how the conversation would start and then proceed. I knew it would be interesting.

Being noon time, the diner was crowded. Dotty was at the counter but there were no other seats nearby. I walked up to her and the smile on her face could’ve lit up a dark room. Her first words were something along the lines of “I didn’t think you’d come… “. Looking around I couldn’t see an open booth so asked her to order me a BLT with the idea of going out to my car to eat it and to talk. It seemed like forever to get my sandwich. Once in my car she didn’t waste any time getting to the point she wanted to make. She referenced her chat with Hobie and that she appreciated what he had to say about the local ‘culture’. She went on that she’d taken his advice and asked to speak privately with Cara and that had gone moderately well but she wasn’t sure that, in the long run, it was going to change anything about Cara’s mindset. She told me she was impressed with Moira’s thoughts about me and that’s why she left the notes on my desk. She told me she wanted to talk with someone who would listen to her and not to just slough her off. I don’t  remember saying anything at that point and gave her a nod to start talking.

We didn’t have a lot of time before she was due back at work so I encouraged her to give me a quick version of whatever it was she wanted to be heard and I’m going to condense that even more. Basically, her story is of a poor little rich girl but with a number of twists and turns. Her parents divorced before she started school. She said her mother sought the divorce because her husband wasn’t “ambitious enough”. Her mother found an older man who owned and ran a couple of big companies and married him thereby satisfying her desire to have “status”. Dotty said that to her mother and stepfather she was “excess baggage” and was sent to private schools and then to Smith College, a prestigious women’s school, spending as little time with them as could be arranged. She told me her mother controlled her completely not letting her make any decisions. Her mother had a friend who had a son at Yale University and she basically arranged their marriage. Dotty told me that she’d been married for many years before she found out that it was pretty much an arranged marriage. Her stepfather had promised her husband a good job with one of his companies along with an apartment in the city. Dotty admitted that at first it seemed to work but after two sons were born her husband got “bored” with her. By then he’d made enough money to buy a Summer place (she noted that was where she was living) and that became her “refuge”. She went on that her husband had a mistress and even though she knew  had not said or done anything about it until the sons were out of college. Then, she pressed him for a divorce which he readily gave her. However, even though she was the aggrieved party, the husband wasn’t willing to give her much in the way of spousal support. The husband of one of her friends took her side and, as silly as it sounds, she accepted the Summer home as the settlement.

Now, as hard as it was to listen to all of this I never once opened my mouth… until then. I do remember having a frown on my face while listening to it though. When I finally spoke I asked her how she was managing to pay her bills what with taxes, maintenance and her daily living expenses. Her answer was a ‘knowing smile’… almost smug. Speaking very quietly and slowly, almost as if she thought someone was listening in to the conversation, she said the man representing her told her it was a good deal because she could sell the property for far more that she’d ever get in the form of money. Hearing that led to my next question. She’d told me earlier she was living there and I had to know how that was possible. The property had a guest house and when she sold the property she got a lifetime tenancy to live there.

By then it was almost 1pm and what I’d heard was nice ‘fill’, or background, but didn’t explain why she wanted to tell her “story”. When I told her that she became very animated and blurted out one statement that made me hesitate… “I don’t need to work but I HAVE to work!” with the emphasis on “have” and pleaded to continue. In spite of my curiosity I knew that would create a problem because she’d be late back to work and I didn’t want to be associated with that in any way shape or form. So, going against all basic instincts I told her that I could meet her out at the same bowling alley that I’d met both Gina and then Lynda to work out some things with them. It was an easy run for her because she had to drive past it on her way home. I sat there as she got out and wondered how much further was I going to take this... did I think she was worth the effort or should I just bite the bullet and let her walk away. I still didn’t have an answer when I pulled into the bank parking lot.

I managed to let her know it would probably be around 5:30pm before I’d get there. It didn’t seem to bother her. Even though no bank employee lived in that direction I wanted to make sure there could or would not be a connection between the two of us. When I pulled up to her car she was already standing beside it and hopped right in. It was as if her mouth was in motion before her bottom hit the seat. She went right to her statement about having to work. To me her statement made no sense especially after she’d told me she’d benefited from the sale of the property she’d won in the divorce settlement. I told her to “slow down” and explain it so that I could understand it. She went back to the part where she accepted the sort of ‘arranged’ marriage to ‘escape’ her mother. She’d never been allowed to make decisions on her own with her mother always directing her. She said she thought it would be different when she was married but her husband was another “control freak”. I remember the look she had on her face when she said that when the divorce decree was granted it was the first time in her life that she would be able to decide things for herself. For a few seconds she seemed to be relaxed… but it quickly changed. The sum and substance of her statement was that here she was, a 46 year old woman who had never done anything on her own. She’d traveled and met some “interesting people” but had never been allowed to interact with them. She had a college degree abut had never, even once, put it to use. The reason for wanting the job was to prove to herself that she was worth something and not just a “bauble” as she said her husband sometimes called her. At that point I was ready to ‘buy in’.

To be continued…