MAKING PROGRESS... of sorts (Part 172k)

MAKING PROGRESS… of sorts (Part 172k)

Background… To have called it a hotel was, by today’s standards, a misnomer. Trying to equate it to the present I would put it in the category of a large B & B with one difference… it had a large dining room and kitchen. It had, when “Wick” and I were in school, a reputation for putting out good food and almost all the fraternities on campus (15) used the place for all their ‘fancy affairs’. In the late 1800’s a rich, locally born, businessman and his wife built an opera house to support the “arts” in this rural area. To support it he built a small hotel for the people who had to travel some distance to get there. When I say rural I’m talking about a town population of well under 1000. With direct support from this man the opera house remained in some sort of operation until the 1940’s when he died and then was turned into a movie theater. By then, the hotel was there in presence only relying primarily on the dining facilities to keep it going. The rooms were only used when the college that “Wick” and I had attended held major events like ‘Homecoming’ in the Fall; Winter party, Spring fling, graduation and reunion.

Walking up the wooden steps to the front door, both of us looked at each other and kind of ‘blinked’ in disbelief. Even with the poor lighting it was obvious that it was quite run down. There were six somewhat familiar faces seated in the lobby area with a card table with a case of Riunite wine and numerous empty bottles around it. We were warmly greeted and joined right in. “Squirrel’s” roommate, “Pudge” almost crushed my hand when shaking it. I looked around for “Panda” and didn’t see him. Asking about him I got a reply, in chorus, ”room 202”, followed by laughter. I think someone made the comment about some things never changing. That brought a smile to my face as they were referring to “Panda’s” penchant for passing out when he got drunk.

It was a little before 11pm when we arrived and it was around 3am when we made it to our assigned room. I, for one, stood in the doorway not believing my eyes. Spartan doesn’t even begin to describe what we were looking at. Two single beds with mattresses about two inches thick. The blankets were Army surplus complete with markings and a lump of material where a pillow was supposed to be. “Wick” thought it was a joke and immediately went looking for “Gerb” who had arranged the whole thing. I stayed, looking around for a bathroom. There were just four walls with no openings other than the window and door to the hallway. There was what might generously have been called a dresser without some of the handles to pull the drawers out and a small table between the beds with a lamp with only a bulb and no shade. I was thinking of telling “Wick” that I’d rather sleep in the car when he walked back into the room with “Gerb” in tow. He apologized and told us he’d made the arrangements, sight unseen, and had no idea that the place had fallen into foreclosure. He said he had his secretary make the arrangements and apologized again. We really didn’t have much to say as he was footing the bill for us. Before he left the room I asked about “Oddo” and he made a face before saying that he and his wife took one look at the place and headed South to find a motel or real hotel. Hearing that I made a note to talk with “Wick” in the morning about making that a priority.

A combination of the wine and the fact I’d been awake for over 20 hours allowed me to sleep for a while. The bathrooms were down the hall and after taking a look at them in the morning decided to forego a shower. All of us were on our own for breakfast and most of us decided to head South like “Oddo” had done. As I had previously written, almost all of our group in the fraternity had nicknames. “Blivet”, “Farley”, “Sip”, “Fire Plug” rode with “Wick” and I while “Panda”, “Animal”, “Squirrel”, “Pudge” and “Ripples” rode with “Gerb”. We found a diner about 15 miles to the South and took it over. We arrived around 10am and didn’t leave until noon. We pretty much got caught up with each other (wives, kids, jobs) before leaving. The wine tasting party that “Gerb” was hosting was to start out behind the hotel at 1pm so we headed back.

Neither “Wick” nor I were interested in the wine tasting and decided to go take a look at the campus. Neither of us had seen it in over eight years. We hadn’t registered for any of the formal events but not having name tags didn’t deter either of us from wandering around and surveying some of the new buildings. A couple of the older buildings were no longer there and had been replaced with modern ones that didn’t really fit with the architecture we were familiar with. Both of us had been Economic majors and stopped at the new building that housed that discipline to see if any of the professors that we’d had were still there. We knew they wouldn't be present but their names would be on the office doors. The first thing that caught my attention was the lighting. You could actually see the names on the doors. The hallway of old Alumni hall had a ceiling that was at least 15 or more feet high and the lights that had hung from it were way to small. While admiring the new facilities I saw two guys I thought I recognized headed in our direction. One of them, “Nels”, was an Eco major with us. I’d taken a few classes with him but we’d not really ‘connected’ until Spring Fling party in our senior year.

Almost all the fraternities let non members come and go during the three big party weekends. “Nels” stopped in that year just to take a look at our facilities. I was married at that time and was without Elle but was working as a ‘bouncer’ to keep rowdy drunks from doing any damage. I saw “Nels” standing in the doorway arch to the living room and walked up to him to ask if he was OK. He was anything but a ‘live wire’ and more of an introvert so when he pointed to one of the couches my eyes followed in that direction. Lying on the couch was a girl and a guy with the girl on the outside. Her whole backside was visible. I remember wondering how I’d missed it. Lights in the living room were located only around the perimeter so visibility was limited. I started in that direction and was truly surprised that he followed. I couldn’t determine if her panties were white or pale pink… but it didn’t matter. I looked at him and saw a smile… and thus was a friendship started.

We walked up to each other and went through the usual, wife, kids and job  routine but when he told me what he did for a living I almost choked. He was a buyer for J C Penney… in the lingerie department. I don’t really know what my facial reaction to that news was but I knew I had to find a way to talk with him without “Wick”. Thankfully, I didn’t ‘jump’ on that interesting piece of information and stayed calm. When he asked if I was going to the banquet dinner that night I almost told him “No…” but didn’t. I don’t remember just what I told him but as we parted I started thinking of a way to attend. “Wick” and I wandered around a little more and when we got down to the library found a temporary registration table. I stopped and asked if it were possible to get a ticket for the banquet and was told I could… for $30. I asked “Wick” if he was interested and and he shook his head saying he’d been the one who had told “Gerb” he’d come and didn’t feel it fair to abandon him completely. I thought about what he said… for a few seconds… and then told him I’d find a way back to the hotel later.

To be continued…