AND THE HEAT GOES ON... & on (Part 175o)

AND THE HEAT GOES ON… & on (Part 175o)

Having about 50 extra pounds on board certainly didn’t help us competitively. However, it was Anne’s first experience in actual competition. Although she was not even nine years old she’d shown a definite ’shine’ to sailing and understanding the basic concept of how the wind propels a boat with sails. Taking advantage of our time together I tried to explain, as simply as I could, why I did the things I did during the races. There was no way to test how much of it she understood or retained but it was a definite step forward. It turned out that my decision to take Anne racing was beneficial in an unexpected way. breaking down Elle’s being upset with me. Anne’s excitement and enthusiasm after we returned home impressed Elle and was the focus of our dinner conversation. By the time we finished up Elle was treating me almost normally but I knew I still had to wait a little longer and to be patient.

The week at work was a forewarning that Summer was coming to an end. I was contacted by three of the organizations where I was the bank’s representative. They were announcing their schedule of meetings starting in September. I actually enjoyed some of them but others were a ‘pain’ and I definitely could do without them. But, it wasn’t up to me to pick and choose. The one I was really interested in was the one run by the Association of banks headquartered in the city. The focus of the group was then called Personnel and now called Human Resources. I’d made a friend who had taken on the job of being my mentor as far a dealing with others on the committee. All of them were working for banks larger than the one I worked for and the egos of some of them had a tendency to be intimidating. Dan had seen fit to get me on the subcommittee that was developing a program for “up and comers”, junior officers who had shown potential for promotion. The subcommittee had run into logistical problems in trying to get the whole thing started so it was put off with a new target of the Spring. Having learned the lesson of waiting too long to get a commitment from the venue the Association wanted to use and to have the lecturers they wanted available at the same time they scheduled the first meeting the Wednesday after Labor Day. It was Dan who contacted me and as he was about to hang up he remedied me that we’d promised to get together during the Summer and that we hadn’t done it. The Bermuda trip for Elle and I was also “on the horizon” so it was obvious that my free time was going to get limited… and soon.

Dan’s brother was a minister and he owned a Summer bungalow in the village just to the East of where Elle and I lived. Being that Sunday is the ‘prime’ workday for a minister, his cottage was free most weekends and Dan had taken advantage of it a few times but we’d not been able to connect. There was just no way for me to do it with the race car and the sailboat races and I apologized when we chatted. So, when Dan called me back to say that he was going to have the use of the cottage for not only the upcoming weekend but also for a few days into the week he suggested I take a day off while he was there. I’ve always coveted my vacation days and usually had them planned out a year in advance. There was no way I was going to be able to change on short notice because others depended on my schedule to schedule their own. When I explained it he, being the personnel officer for his bank, certainly knew what I was talking about. When he suggested that I take a sick day I was a bit shocked.(38) I’d only done that once… when Elle and I went sailing in the boat I’d bought from my friend, “Big B”. I was uncomfortable doing it then and to come back and do it again, so soon, wasn’t working for me so I told him I’d let him know.

By Wednesday Elle was pretty much her old self around me. Staying home both Monday and Tuesday nights was what really helped that situation. When I left for the garage that night I didn’t get any ‘grief’ which was a very good sign. We unloaded the car and checked it over. The only question was should we change the rod bearings. When I drained the oil I ran it through a spray paint filter to see if there was any babbit showing and when none showed up it made for an early night. In fact it was so early that Elle was still up when I walked in the house. Following up on Elle’s demeanor at the supper table I brought up the idea of entertaining my friend Dan and his family the following week by taking a sick day. She’d heard me talk about Dan any number of times and how he’d been mentoring me so the idea wasn’t unreasonable. With that as a basis I decided I’d go ahead and tell Dan “OK”. What surprised me was that she suggested I contact my parents to see if we could take them there in place of the sailing club beach. I started to question her reason but decided to let it pass. As we walked up the stairs I had visions of a little “amour’ but that thought was quickly quashed as she informed me her period had started on Monday.

My mother seemed pleased to let us entertain my friend and his family. It was probably because she’d not seen much of the kids during the Summer because of their busy schedule. She suggested it be the following Tuesday as she was going to lunch with a friend and then spending the afternoon. Her only requirement was that we bring the kids over about an hour prior to our friends arrival so she could spend it with them. The only problem was coming up with a plausible excuse for missing work.

It was more of a normal race night for us on Saturday. Cliffy got ‘roughed up’ in our qualifying heat so we had to get in through the last chance race. That meant starting from the back in the main event. From a monetary standpoint it wasn’t good as we finished out of the top ten. But, being in the back and mostly trailing the other cars Cliffy avoided the big crash. That was the best part of the night. A quick look over the car when we put it up on the hauler didn’t show any major problems. Two weeks in a row was a rare treat!

Junior and Martha, from next door, met me as I returned from church. He had a box for me as a thank you for my plumbing work a few weeks prior. I’d pretty much forgotten about it. It wasn’t wrapped so I could see it was a portable radio. That choice puzzled me as we already had one. Junior saw the look on my face and quickly explained that the kids had been using it in the new tent he’d bought for his and Mattie’s kids. But, they left it out and the rain did something to it. I was listening to him but was actually looking at Martha. She was wearing a white dress and, from the position I was in, I swore I could see right through it. When she and Junior headed back through the hedge she bent over to duck through it I recognized the Sans Soucie panties I (we) gave her. It was nice to see.

To be continued…