MARRIED... Winter woes (Part 49g)

I was greeted by a haughty middle aged woman who looked like she hadn’t smiled in years. I don’t remember her words but the effect of them were like ”What do want in here?“ Because of the tone of the greeting I was taken aback and don’t remember what I initially said. I do know I did mention Gotham Gold Stripe. Still looking at me as some sort of a trespasser she headed for the rear of the store. Even with lights on it was fairly dark. There was a glass and wood counter with a back lit display behind it. As I approached the counter I saw a number of mannequin legs with stockings displayed on them. The lady reached under the counter and pulled out three small, thin boxes and laid them on the counter. They were a medium brown with a gold stripe running down one side of the top. I wondered if the Gotham panties came individually boxed. I quickly found out they didn’t. What the lady pulled out was a pair of nylon stockings. I didn’t know how to tell her that they weren’t what I was looking for. I remember her draping one over her arm and as she did I saw this lighter line running down the rear seam of the stocking. It took a few seconds to understand that it was the gold stripe the they were named after.

By now, what with the less than friendly welcome from the saleslady and wearing my heavy Winter coat I was perspiring profusely. I was about to leave but I managed to stammer out that I was looking for panties. Again, it was that look from the lady indicating that she didn’t want to be waiting on me. She put the stockings back in the box and then hesitated, looking at me with that same look. I was backing up when she asked me what size I was looking for. I stopped and told her ”size 5”. She walked down the counter a ways and then reached up for what appeared to be a drawer from the wall behind her. By then I was a good four or five steps away from the counter. I watched her put the container on the counter and heard her ask “Gold Stripe?” I nodded affirmatively but didn’t move any closer to the counter. I watched as she reached in and pulled a handful of white panties out and put them on the counter. Then she sort of flipped through them and then stopped and pulled one out. She looked at me with that sort of disgusted look and asked if they were what I was looking for. From where I was standing I could see they were, indeed, fancy panties. I stepped forward, now uncomfortably hot, and without touching them said they were. I was ready to say I’d take them just to be able to get out of there. But she reached into the container and pulled out another handful and almost the same motion pulled the top pair off and laid it out on the counter. There was something familiar about that pair and I finally moved up to the counter. A close look told me that they were close to the same panties I’d seen on the wash basket at the T’s. Now I was excited.

The lady found five pair of the really fancy panties and I said I’d take them all. I still hadn’t touched any of them. I guess I was afraid of what the lady might think. It really wouldn’t have mattered as I was probably never going to be in the store again but all I wanted was to get the panties and to get out of there. The price was 98 cents each. I had the $5 that the horse buyer had just given me stuffed into my pocket. I gave it to the lady and watched as she wrote out my receipt. As she did she looked up at me and made a comment about how the new Governor was going to make everybody pay more for their goods with his new sales tax. For the first time since I’d set foot in the store I didn’t feel intimidated. She’d just touched on the subject that was near and dear to my heart as it was the topic of my term paper that I’d been working on so diligently at school.

We ended up having a lively discussion on the newly proposed sales tax. I tried to explain that it was due to what the outgoing administration had left the new Governor but it didn’t do any good. She was a Democrat and anything I had to say to defend the reason for the tax fell on deaf ears. When I finally left the store I was even more energized about the topic. She’d given me the idea of how to present the paper, something that had been bothering me. With the bag of panties in my hand and the fresh idea in my mind I ended up forgetting all about the roast beef sandwich which had been the reason I’d stopped downtown.

I was back at the truck before I looked at my watch. It was well after 12 noon and I remember Harry telling me that the round trip should only take 4 hours. I’d been gone over three and I still had the whole way back to go. I put the panties on the front seat and started driving, worried about what Harry would say. By the time I got back I was famished. I lied when I told Harry I’d stopped to get something to eat and, of course, that took away any chance of getting a bite before finishing up and heading for home.

Because of worrying about what Harry would say when I got back I wasn’t thinking about the panties I’d just bought and left them on the front seat of the pick up. I didn’t think about them until I saw Harry driving out of the yard in the pick up. Within seconds I was perspiring all over again. I just knew Harry would see the bag and take a look. I worked myself up worrying about what I’d say when he asked me. From the moment that Harry drove out of the yard until he came back, those panties and what I’d say was all I could think of. I was mad at myself for not remembering to take the panties with me when I arrived back.

It was dark when he returned. Normally, I would have been gone by then but my late return had me doing the garbage collection later than usual. I actually took my time hoping that he’d get back and would just park the truck by the house and go inside. I was semi hiding at the barn when I saw him arrive. I quickly ran over and saw the bag on the seat. I opened the door, grabbed the bag and headed for my car. I didn’t even care that I hadn’t gotten my pay for the day. I just wanted to be out of there.

To be continued...