MARRIED... and facing the real world (Part 47h)

Thanksgiving with Harry and Vi was fun. We were incorporated right into their family. The men talked about horses and the women about family. It was dark before we knew it. But, when we got back to the trailer we found it to be quite cold inside. I didn’t even know where to begin to look to find the reason. My first thought was to call Harry... but we didn’t have a phone. Something else I/we had forgotten.

It was another visit over the Josh and Beth’s and a call to Harry. I was really upset more in the fact that I felt so helpless than anything else. Harry was actually apologetic as soon as I told him my problem. He knew exactly what was wrong. When he brought the kerosene tank the movement of the truck over the road had stirred up all the junk that had been inside it. The filter was clogged and not letting the fuel through to the heater. He had brought extra filters but had forgotten to mention it to me. He told me where he’d put them and how to change it. After thanking him Josh and I went out to do the dirty deed. (Have you ever gotten kerosene on your hands?) Then Josh restarted my heater and we were set for heat. While our unit warmed up we stayed with Josh and Beth. We found out that he was veteran and had been going to college part time for about six years. He had met Beth at school and they had been married for over a year. He was hoping to graduate in June but Beth, who was also pregnant, would still have another year to go. Josh also worked as a night watchman at a local truck parts factory Monday through Friday. We felt very comfortable in their presence and when we finally went back to our unit felt very lucky to have them as neighbors. Elle was finally warming up to where we had located.

When we got back we sat down and counted up just how much money we had left. I don’t remember how much it was but the cost of the list of things we still needed to buy far exceeded the amount. Beth had told Elle that we could keep the glasses, dishes and utensils until we could afford to buy our own which took a lot of the immediate burden off. Elle was pretty sure that she could still eat at the sorority since she’d already paid for it. If that was so we felt our situation was manageable. At least enough for us to get a good night of sleep.

The first thing I did on Friday was to go down to the phone company and order up a phone. More $$ gone. Beth had promised to introduce us to the other students and “young” people living in the park. Elle already knew Tricia and her husband Vince. She was also pregnant. Ironically, all three of them were due in June. By the time we met Mac and Martha, the other couple going to school, it was time for lunch. We had stocked up on Campbell’s chicken soup along with tuna fish on our shopping trip. So it was soup for lunch and tuna for supper. Yum! (NOT!!)

We spent the afternoon studying and when we took a break we made our “wish list” of things to make the trailer more “homey”. Elle knew of some things she thought her mother would let her have. It was sort of fun picturing where we would put the various items we hoped to get.

One of the two buildings that were out front by the road held a coin operated washing machine. Beth had told Elle that the residents filled out a list of when they wanted to do their wash and since we were the newest we were last on the list. Elle needed to wash her panties. (She’d been wearing mostly “packages” just to be sure since we never knew where we were going to be and the availability of a toilet.) So after supper we went over and did a panty wash. I knew Elle had a lot but was really surprised at the number she put into the machine. It was sort of funny because I’d often try to peek into her panty drawer when I was up in her room at home and yet, with all the things going on over the past couple of days I never gave a thought to looking at what she had. But I vowed to do a “count“ before I left to go back to school.

When we got back to the trailer we had another problem... what to do with all the panties. We never gave a thought as to where we’d put them to dry. There was a ”community“ wash line just outside the room where the washing machine was located but Elle said there was no way she was going to put them out there for everybody to see,especially at night. We hung as many as we could over the shower curtain bar and a whole bunch spread out over the edge and inside the tub. Then we moved to the kitchen and spread out as many as the counter would hold. We had them hanging on the door handles and over the back of the chairs. It was really pretty funny to look at. I don’t remember just how many there were but it was at least two dozen. We decided to head for bed when I heard a knock at the door. Talk about a panic attack! Elle told me not to answer the door. All she was worried about was someone seeing all those panties spread all around. With most of the lights still on there was no way to pretend we were asleep so I, very reluctantly went to the the door. I only opened it a crack and saw Josh standing there. He had a message from Harry. He wanted me to come down to his place and to work with the yearlings the next day. I thanked Josh and heaved a sigh of relief. Elle wasn't too happy when I told her I'd be leaving the next day but I knew I had to go. Harry (and Vi) had been so good to us that I knew I really didn't have a choice.

To be continued...