PAVING THE ROAD TO MY FUTURE (Part 9b appended part 2)

By the next day we had a pretty good idea of just how bad a storm it was. Groups of neighbors had come up with plans to cope without power. My Father knew of two wells where you could put an old fashioned hand pump on and get water. Two men volunteered to head west to the nearest town with power to buy basic food. Almost everybody had tried to use the food in their refrigerators so that it didn't spoil. (Refrigerators in those days were really small and didn't hold very much and very few had freezers.) Peanut butter and jelly were the delicacy of the day surrounded by Oreos for dessert.
I'd spent very little time with or at Elle's since my "scolding" but I'd see her from time to time and would wave to her. Her Father's boat had survived, unscathed, which I couldn't say for my own boat. We'd gotten a decent pathway from the driveway to the house so my Father agreed to go with me to see what we'd have to do to salvage it. The tide was out so it was accessible. It was half buried in the sand, While we were looking at it Elle and Nan showed up. My Father said the first step was to get as much sand out of the inside of it and then maybe we could enlist some help to carry it up to the road. I started scooping the sand out with my hands and before I knew it both the girls were helping as well. Because it was cool out they were both wearing jeans and light jackets. It didn't take long for us all to get warm though. After Nan took off her jacket and started in again I witnessed a very noticable DP (downpants). It's funny in that, with as much time as Elle and Nan spent together, that I'd had virtually no "peeks" of any kind of her panties. The best I'd been able to withness had been on the day we'd gone to the island when I saw her panties along side Elle's on the clothesline later that day. But this was really up close. I kept looking over at Elle hoping to replicate the view but to no avail. My Father found some men who came down and we managed to get the boat up to the road and eventually home. I was relieved that there was no structural damage. It would have to be refinished and that WAS a concern.

For some reason most families retreated to their homes when it got dark. There was nothing to do there and I'd asked if I could go over to Elle's but was told "no". The next day I took my car out for the first time and headed for the gas station. What normally took less than 10 minutes took about 20 minutes. I was surprised to see a line of cars lined up for gas. My immediate thought was that power had been resored but it wasn't to be. Cliff, the owner (and driver of my racecar) had rigged up a way to pump gas. He'd backed his wife's 1934 Ford (with the narrow tires) up to the pump and took the tire off the rim. He then got a thin piece of rope and looped it around the rim and the pump wheel. With the motor running and then by putting it in gear he was able to get gas into the customers cars. It was the only gas for 25 miles! I soon found myself back at work. There were a hundred rumors floating around. Every customer seemed to bring a new one. The one thing we found out, for sure, was that no perishable foods would be delivered to the area until power was restored. That meant meant no regular job for me and a lot of little trips up West to get limited, but usable amounts of food, by the residents. It didn't take long for us to run out of gas at the station and even that job was done.

In our community almost all the Summer residents left for their winter homes as soon as they had cleaned up a bit of the debris and secured their homes. That night, Elle, Nan and I walked the whole beach and only found five families still there. It had gotten back to being seasonably warm by them and that night we sat out on what was left of the dock in front of my house until it was dark. We didn't have much to say.

Friday was the first glimmer of hope that we'd finally be seeing lights. The Lighting Company trucks were in town and putting in new poles. That was BIG excitement and, in thinking back on it, it was pretty funny. I have no idea how many people were there watching but the grounds at the Methodist Church were packed. We were able to garner some information from the workers and they hoped to have most power back on the following day. When that word got passed around there was a big cheer. My Father had gone to pick up my Mother to bring her home that day and had brought back a real treat for not only us but for Elle and her family as well. His Cousin had gotten power back the day before and had gone shopping for "real" food. Knowing that none of us had eaten much of any substantial food had gone and roasted a couple of chickens. Since we cooked with LP, it wasn't a problem doing the veggies up. I always loved Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners but this one almost matched it.

On Saturday the gas station got a small delivery of gas and I went back to work. The lights went on right around dinner time. It was intermittent at first but, by dark, it was back for good. It was somewhat ironic as we ran aout of gas at just about the same time.

There was still a LOT of clean up to go. The problem was there was no place to put the debris except the town landfill. The businesses with trucks were going from dawn to dusk hauling the stuff away. Sunday was no exception. I was to leave for school on Tuesday and my Mother had almost two weeks of my laundry to do before I left so she was busy. It was the same for Elle's mother as her school was now scheduled to open on Tuesday. I pretty much had the day free and, of course, spent it with Elle and Nan. I would've preferred it to be just Elle and me. For lack of anything else to do the three of us ended up raking her yard. The benefit, for me, was that as Elle's mother put the wash out I got to see a lot of panties. I don't have an exact number but between the three of them it was over two dozen. I DO remember a LOT of white blowing in the wind.

Monday was Labor Day. It was good that it was because it was time for everybody to take a break. I had to go say my "good bye's to my Grandparents and pack. Elle and I had a few private minutes that night and even though it wasn't a memorable parting I was convinced that everything was good between us. My father and I left for school at 6am Tuesday. For me, Summer was "officially" over.

To be continued...