MARRIED... and facing the real world (Part47b)

I still hadn’t told her my ulterior motive for heading for Buffalo. Once dressed we checked out and found a diner for some breakfast. As we ate she kept after me as to what we were going to do for the rest of the day. I still wouldn’t give in. It wasn’t until she saw a road sign reading ”Niagara Falls“ that she understood. I hoped she’d be pleased and her reaction told me that she was.

I’d specifically asked her to just wear a pair of nylon panties, promising that I’d find toilets to meet her needs during the day. We stayed on the US side and took in most of the things you can do from there. I kept my promise and she stayed dry... until the Maid of the Mist voyage. The rain slickers that were provided were barely adequate as they were way too big. The mist managed to get under them and our hair was wet as well as our clothes all down the front. When we got back to the dock I asked Elle how wet she was and she gave me one of ”those” looks. I was really just asking about her blouse and skirt but what she was trying to tell me was that she’d wet herself while we were riding around in the boat. However, it wasn’t until we were away from the other people that she was able to get through to me. She wasn’t mad and explained that she’d gotten chilled between the swirling winds and the cold mist and “it just happened”. Truthfully, knowing that she was wet excited me but, I was somewhat concerned because I’d persuaded her to not wear a package. But she was OK with it and we continued on with our touring.

When we got back to the car she was satisfied with just putting a pair of heavy cotton panties on over the now damp ones. She did this in the front seat of the car before we took off to find a place to eat letting me get a good view. After eating and because she’d done no studying at all up to this time she suggested that we head back while it was still light so she could do some reading while I was driving. As we drove I had this kind of euphoria about our time together. Just glancing over at her and knowing that we really were man and wife was a wonderful feeling.

Saying good bye was hard. Reality came back to my thoughts on my way back to my school. I knew I had to get some sort of job once the horses shipped out and the only thing I could think of was at the student co-operative at the job I had in the Spring flipping hamburgers. It was a minimum wage job paying $1.00 an hour. The most hours I’d worked in the Spring were 15 and I could make that on a good night at the track. It wasn’t too appealing but at least it was something.

That week I stopped in to see Dr F to see if there was anything new on getting a grant from the state to start a program for kids out of school like Joanne. I knew as soon as I stepped into his office that it wasn’t a good time to be there. He was obviously upset. He actually started a tirade about a piece of equipment that he was working on. I stood there for a few seconds then started to leave. As I reached the door he told me to stop. I did and he walked towards me with a handful of papers. Gruffly, he told me to sit down and to put this heavy piece of paper that was filled with little round holes over one of the papers he had in his hand. He then told me to count all the marks I could see through the holes. I had not the faintest Idea what I was doing. As I was counting he was timing me. It took about a minute and then he wrote the number I gave him on top of the paper. He then studied the paper and cursed. He then went to his desk and did some calculating. Then he asked if I wanted a job. (Explanation... Dr F was in the process of writing a “paper” to be published in an educational journal and he was in the process of collecting raw empirical data. He’d arranged to rent an IBM machine that would score IQ exams taken at High Schools all across the country so that he could use the raw data. The problem was that the machine made far more errors than was acceptable. When I walked in he got the idea to possibly have people score the tests and wanted to time me on just how long it would take. By doing a calculation of the time it took me to score a paper he was able to project that he would be better off having humans score the exams rather that use the machine that he didn’t trust plus eliminating the cost of the machine.) I had no idea what my “job” would be when he asked me but when he explained it I thought it was a great job. He was offering me 2 cents per paper to hand score them. I jumped at the opportunity. Later, I figured that I could probably score 90 of them per hour which would mean pay at $1.80 an hour plus I didn’t have to stand on my feet and get all smelly flipping hamburgers. Plus, it was up to me just when I wanted to work. All I could think of was how lucky I was that I’d walked in at the right time.

I started in the very next day. So much for my new emphasis on studying. Dr F wanted me to do the work in his office which was a bit of a hassle. But, he really didn’t know me and it was a matter of building a trust with him. In the first two days I proved to myself that I could score at least 90 per hour. I found out that there were somewhere around 7500 papers and maybe even more to come. Since I had to work at the track that Saturday night I arranged with Dr F to work all day Saturday. My first weeks work netted me around $20. Not a lot but it sure came in handy. What I didn’t realize was that I was building a “bond” with Dr F.

Sunday with Elle was a lot less fun than our previous time together. It was a stormy day and after a short time in the car being buffeted by wind and rain (remember, the car was a convertible) we gave up and headed for the Student Union. It seemed so long ago since we’d used it as our refuge. Elle wouldn’t let me get too “close” and we ended up spending most of the time studying. I was really frustrated. Here we were, legally married, and not able to be really together. I found myself thinking seriously about getting a place to stay. By the time Elle had to get back to the sorority we had discussed looking for an apartment. We, reluctantly, agreed that we had to maximize the use of the monies that had already been paid for our room and board so it meant that we’d have to try and hide Elle’s pregnancy as long as possible.

AJ had decided over that weekend that he was going to ship out on Thursday. Wednesday night, my last night working with the horses, I went to say good bye to Clyde and found him talking with Harry, the guy who commuted almost two hours to race his horses. He saw me and sort of gestured for me to wait until he was through. As I mentioned earlier, Clyde had not had a good season and had told me that he was worried about making it through the Winter. It turned out that Harry had offered him a part time job that would allow Clyde to keep training the few horses that he had under his care. The problem for Clyde was that it meant that he’d have to spend the Winter at Harry’s place living in their trailer and wouldn’t be able to live at his and Jane’s home. Harry was the fellow who had multiple businesses and one was running a trailer park and Clyde would get to stay there for free. Clyde had one of those looks of resignation on his normally cheerful face. But, true to his nature, he didn’t dwell on it and asked what my plans were. At that time I just didn’t know and before I could come up with anything he told me to come on down to Harry’s on Saturdays and help out down there. At first I didn’t think it was a good idea but Clyde told me to come on down (it was only 20 or so miles South of Elle’s school) or he’d come up and get me... all with a big goofy grin on his face.

To be truthful, I put the idea in the far recesses of my mind. That weekend Elle and I went looking at available apartments and were mightily discouraged. Rents were way out of line of what we could reasonably pay and those that we saw were anything but desirable. Neither of us felt very “lovey” as we discussed our options. There were a bunch of “what ifs” and they all revolved around going home to tell our parents. We were sure we’d get the $1000 from her parents but, after seeing the apartments felt that if we used the money for that we would be wasting it. But, conversely, as soon as we told my parents I’d be cut off from all help. It all boiled down to how long Elle could go without “showing”. The way we figured she was about 7 weeks and she’d begun to notice that she couldn’t button the button around the waist of some of her skirts. Before I left to back to my school we decided that we’d go home in two weeks.

To be continued...