THE REST OF THE FALL SEASON... (PART 39e)

I stopped at the gas station where I used to work to get some detail on how the racing season went. My brother was not the best communicator and, although I knew that they almost won the track championship, wanted some detail. Cliff, the owner, wasn’t there. Two high school students were working there in his stead and I recognized one of them. As soon as I got out of the car he asked me if I wanted to sell the car. I’d never given it a thought. I liked the car and had no logical reason to want to sell it. I told him ”no“. I tried to get some information about the race car and was absolutely shocked to hear him say that Cliff wasn’t going to drive any more. He told me that Cliff had sold the place to the two guys who worked as mechanics on the race car and was going into some sort of advertising business. What puzzled me about this news was that my father hadn’t said anything about it to me in our phone calls. Because I was hearing the news from a kid I wasn’t to sure of it’s validity. I didn’t stay long but, instead of heading home or to see Elle I drove on to the next town to visit the father of my friend, Cliffy who was away in the Navy, and to find out how he was doing. I got some good news from him in that Cliffy would be home on leave from over Christmas. It would be good to see him again.

Of course my father wanted to know how I made out on my ”job search“. I had to ”fudge“ the answer but didn’t lie when I said I’d been to a few places. I then asked about the sale of the gas station and the fact that Cliff wouldn’t be racing any more. He was as shocked as I had been when I heard it from the kid. I wondered what would become of the race car and, if it was going to be sold, who would get the money. I’d ”given“ it to my brother to avoid having to put any more money into it but I’d put a ton of it into it over the years. If my brother was to get all the proceeds it didn’t seem fair. I started getting mad at him just from the the thought of that happening. He was off with his guest so I couldn’t pursue the matter at that time.

Originally, I’d wanted to get over to see Elle as soon as I got back. But the news about the sale of the garage and race car had upset me enough to stop at home first. As soon as I’d turned the corner I could see her relatives were gone. Once I calmed down I headed in that direction. As I walked up to the house I could see laundry on the line. For some perverted reason I wanted to see just how many of Elle’s panties were out there but there were so many sheets that it was hard to count them. When I knocked on the door I was surprised to have her mother answer it. She told me that she’d asked Elle to take her shift at the drug store so she do the laundry and get the house back in order following the visit of the relatives. It meant that it wouldn’t be until after supper that I’d finally get to see her. All I could think of was more boredom.

When I got back to my house my father asked if I wanted to go car shopping with him. That was another shock. In the back of my mind I knew my father liked to get a new car every three or four years but I never really paid much attention. His ideas about makes and styles of cars were totally different than mine. For myself I’d always focused on used cars knowing that’s all I could afford. Not having anything else to do I said I’d go. My mother had no input on almost anything having to do with money so she wasn’t going to be involved in this process. That was good and probably the big reason I said yes.

He was a Buick man, through and through. It was almost as if no other brand of car was available. As far back as my memory went, he always had a convertible. His current car was a 1955 Roadmaster, a real ”boat“. I’d asked him a few times as to why a convertible since he seldom put the top down and I honestly don’t remember his answer. So, another surprise was when we walked into the showroom and he went right to a hardtop model. I knew better than to ask questions when he was in what my mother had called his ”inquisition mode“. I just stood by and listened to him ask all his questions to the salesman. We were there for quite a while and when we left it appeared that he’d pretty much made up his mind. I wasn’t close enough to him to try and pin him down on weather he was going to do it or not.

I ended up picking Elle up at work and bringing her home for supper. As a reward I was invited to join Elle and her parents to eat. But my mother, in her effort to ”fatten me up“, had promised me my favorite meal, pan fried fresh bay scallops and home made french fries. I hated to say ”no“ to Elle’s mother but I did. Since I'd only seen Elle for the few minutes ride from the drug store to home, we hadn’t come up with just what we were going to do that night. So, as I left her house I had no idea what we’d be doing. I hated that because I knew we’d be asked by her mother just where we were going. Every time that happened she’d strongly suggest that we just stay at their house which was the last place I wanted to be. Even though Elle was now 20 years old and was in her third year at school, when she was home her mother ruled.

My fears were confirmed when I got to her house. Even the fact that her parents went to bed early didn’t help. Elle, herself, was less than cooperative. I ended up going home around 10pm with neither of us being very happy. Saturday morning Elle went shopping with her mother for some new clothes that she would need for her practice teaching in the next semester. My father ended up getting my brother, his friend and I to rake up the last of the leaves. While we were doing that I asked my brother about the sale of the race car and it was news to him as well. Other than finding a place to buy the panties I was looking for it had been a pretty frustrating vacation. As I finished up I came to the realization that things had not gone well for me ever since the weekend that Elle and I had spent together. I actually began to wonder if God wasn’t sending me a message. I think we went to the movies that night but I don't remember anything memorable happening.

To be continued...