INTO SUMMER… a busy time (Part173n)
I did a ‘double take’ when I
heard that. The look on my face alerted Junior to the degree of concern I
had. He responded by saying he didn’t mean it literally but what he
meant to say was he was going to take her back to the city. I didn’t
know what to say so just stood there waiting to hear what he had
planned. But he didn’t and proceeded to tell me the real story about why
his father had purchased the house. He had sort of indicated that his
father had a mistress in the city in previous conversations. He’d told
me his father was using the start of a new business as the excuse to
stay there and not spend time at this house. He went on that his mother
was a bit of a “pill” and fixed in her ways and was bored out of her
mind here. She was driving his sister, Mattie, and wife, Martha, crazy
and this incident had finally brought it to a head. He told me he’d
talked with both of them but not his mother. His plan was to tell her
later on that afternoon and just load her and her things in his car as
he headed back to his job in the city. I felt it best not to ask any
questions. Junior closed by saying he, his wife and sister really liked
the area and their kids were enjoying themselves. He told me the women
really liked my wife and our kids and he didn’t want to see his mother
ruin what appeared to be a good relationship. After hearing all that I
really had no idea what to say.
We both looked over to the
opening in the hedge where the women were standing and talking. He made a
comment and said that it looked liked they had worked out the “little
problem” so he headed in their direction. I was pretty much ready to
leave for the sailing club so called to Elle that I was waiting for her
and the kids. I couldn’t hear what she said but she didn’t make a move
towards me. As soon as I headed in her direction she sort of waved me
off. I was going to be late as it was so I just threw up my hands and
got in the station wagon. I have to admit I was a bit mad but tried to
concentrate on what I had to do to prepare at least one of our two
Sunfish for racing. The new sailing instructor, a young guy, had totally
redone the junior program. On the surface I was in agreement with what
he wanted to accomplish but there was one thing I didn’t agree with and
annoyed me. About 1/3 of boats were used for racing and, as such, had
been somewhat modified to enhance them. He wanted all the kids to be
learning without the changes which meant I had to make changes for them
to use the boats and then back again for Elle and I to race. It took about 10 to 15 minutes… if
everything went right.
Arriving at the sailing club I found most of the
boats with their sails up and ready to leave the beach which made me even
madder. I was rushing to get the changes made when this scruffy looking man
came up to me wanting to know where I got the authority to take his
Sunfish off one of the storage racks. I remember thinking two things
almost simultaneously… who the hell are you and what are you talking
about? I’d only been there at the club for maybe five minutes and hadn’t
touched any boat but mine so had no idea what he was complaining about.
I was bent over my boat and making the adjustment on the equipment so
had to look up at him. The ‘attack’ was a total surprise so I didn’t
respond. Looking at him I could see he was looking for a confrontation. I
think I finally asked him what he was talking about and the next thing I
knew he was taking a swing at me. I had my hand on one of two metal
poles that the sail was attached to and when I saw the fist headed for
me I just raised the arm holding one of them. His fist hit the pole. As I
had raised my arm I was also ducking away from him and ended up falling
into the cockpit of the boat with the sail falling on top of me. The
guy was screaming but I have no idea what he was yelling. The next thing I
knew there were some other people there and had grabbed him. I scrambled
to get untangled from the sail and out of the cockpit. The guy and two
sailing club members were standing on the other side of the boat and I
made a “what the f__k” motion with my arms but didn’t say anything. One
of the club members told him to leave because he was calling the police if he didn't.
He shook free from their grasp and headed for the parking lot
continuing to yell at me. I was dumbfounded.
I thanked the club
mates for stepping in on my behalf. They wanted to know who he was and
all I could do was shrug my shoulders. As they walked back to their
boats I realized I’d bruised both my shins when I fell into the cockpit.
As I looked down I could see blood running down both of them. Most of
the boats had left the shore and were on their way to the starting line.
I still had to make the adjustments to be able to race and then decided
to stop. If you’ve read this tome for any length of time you know I’m a
believer on ‘omens’ and between Elle not coming to the club and then
being accosted by the stranger decided it would be better to head home.
By
the time I got there I’d come up with a theory about who the guy who’d
attacked me was. Back when some club members were opening up the
clubhouse for the Summer a number of them put the Sunfish storage
racks together before any members had brought their boats to the
club. I showed up one day and found two boats, not owned by club
members, on the racks. I got help and removed them only to have a woman
that none of us had ever seen before come over wanting to know why we’d
done it. We explained that they racks were for club members only which
set her off with a whole bunch of expletives and then she left. I’d
forgotten all about it. But that had been about three weeks before.
Elle
was surprised to see me drive up the driveway. She’d dug out the
foldable chaise and set it up in the back yard by the kids playhouse.
She was wearing a short summer skirt and as I walked up to her had a beautiful
look at her crotch. She had her legs up to use her thighs as a prop for
the newspaper she was reading. As much as I liked the ‘view’ what I
wanted to know was why she didn’t want to go to the sailing club. I also
wanted to know what she, Mattie and Martha had been talking about when I
wanted to leave. She gave me one of those ‘knowing’ looks that I
eventually learned was a ‘woman thing’. It took some persuasion but she
finally told me they’d been talking about Geemaw and how Junior was
going to take her back to the city. She thought she was giving out some
sort of secret but I told her Junior had told me about his plan to “free
the women” when we were out at the garage. With that out in the open I
asked when it was to take place. She smiled and said we’d know when the
kids from next door showed up. I didn’t pick up on it and she, making a
face, explained that once Geemaw was gone, the kids would be allowed to
come over and play with our kids again. Then it made sense. The whole
situation was so petty but I remembered Junior’s words about how he
didn’t want his mother to ruin the good relationship between the two
families. I was in total agreement.
To be continued…
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