HARD TIMES... or what seemed like it (Part 53b)

By the time we left on Thursday morning both of us had sworn off hamburger for life. We ate it twice a day for three days. I was tempted to ask my father-in-law for a loan just to make sure we had enough money to make the trip but Elle talked me out of it. There was no way I was going to keep up with the horse vans as they had two drivers each. Because of the baby and Elle’s “problem” we were going have to make many stops. Reluctantly AJ let me leave early Thursday with the horses leaving that afternoon. I just had to be in North Carolina when the horses arrived. I just hoped I’d be there.

I’d asked Harry if he could/would move out trailer to North Carolina but he said his equipment wasn’t licensed for interstate travel. Fortunately, I’d heard from my brother that one of my old race car friends from home had gone into the trailer moving business. I was able to get in touch with him and he said he’d do it and I could pay later. But, when we left I didn’t know if he'd moved it or not. I’d told him that we were due there around the middle of the month. So, that was another worry.(1)

We did stop for about 5 hours sleep when we reached Virginia. The baby traveled well but Elle was miserable. I wasn’t as considerate of her problem as I should’ve been and basically drove a full gas tank full between stops. The only 4 lane highway was the New Jersey turnpike and no one had given me a good estimate of time the trip would take. Knowing that I had to be at the barn when the horses arrived was the overriding motivation to press on.

It was dark when we pulled into the track and a quick drive by the barn told me we’d gotten there before the horses. I then drove to where the trailers were parked and was somewhat surprised to see only four, including mine. It was definitely a relief to see that ours had made it and that it was blocked up. But, when I went inside I got a terrible shock. It smelled terrible. I couldn’t identify the odor and then, when I went to turn on the lights, nothing happened. I tried the water in the sink and, again, nothing. By the time I’d made all of those discoveries Elle had the baby in her arms and was headed towards me. At that point all she wanted was to get washed and into dry clothes. It was very hard to tell her that she couldn’t.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know anybody in the area to call and I knew AJ wasn’t there. To say that Elle was VERY upset is putting it mildly. I did find some dry clothes for her but she wouldn’t let me watch her change. I really wasn’t in the mood what with being so tired from the trip and not knowing what to do about getting water and electricity to the trailer. The horses arrived around 10pm or so and by the time all the horses were bedded down into their stalls, watered and fed it was about 3am. Eddie, the long time groom for AJ, was from the area and told me that he thought there was a motel about 10 miles South of the area. Not knowing what else to do I headed in that direction.

I slept until mid morning and then headed for the track and the trailer. A quick tour of it explained the smell... mice... and a lot of them. Droppings were everywhere and they had eaten a whole corner of the bedspread to make their nests. Being a Saturday, the utility company was closed so the earliest we’d have lights was Monday. All I could do was to try and clean up some of the mess. I did buy some mouse traps and set them before I left for the day.

We lived in the motel until Tuesday. I borrowed money from Eddie just to live on. It took that long to get electricity connected. AJ had gone on a hunting vacation with some of his friends so I couldn’t get help from him and I was too proud to ask Elle’s parents (or mine). It finally came down to going to my grandfather. He was more that happy to help but reminded me that it was strictly a loan. As unhappy Elle was with the situation the baby was getting along well. I remember thinking of how lucky she was being so unaware of the world and it’s trials and tribulations.

I’d counted around a dozen mice that my traps had caught by the time we were ready to move back in. I’d scrubbed everything that they could’ve gotten on or in and washed everything else. The mattresses were spared because we had a piece of oilcloth covering them because of Elle’s “problem”. I was satisfied that the odor was gone but Elle swore that it wasn’t so she wasn’t happy. Fortunately there wasn’t much to do with the horses so I didn’t have that added pressure. By Thanksgiving everything had somewhat settled down. At that point in time I remember being around $200 in debt to various people and that didn’t set all that well with me. It was looking like anything but a Merry Christmas coming up.

Elle understood and the baby was too young for it to matter to her. We decided that instead of presents to each other we’d have nice turkey dinner. On the Monday before Christmas AJ called me into his office and handed me an envelope. I’ll admit I was hoping that it was a Christmas bonus but was totally surprised when I opened it. There were two round trip airplane tickets home. AJ sat there with this smile on his face as I read the itinerary. We were to leave on Wednesday, two days before Christmas, and return the Monday after. There was nothing in the envelope but the tickets so I immediately assumed it was a gift from AJ. He shook his head and told me they were from my grandfather. He and my grandmother had yet to see the baby. They were now great grandparents and wanted desperately to see her. AJ told me that he and my grandfather had worked it all out. Of course I was excited and ran back to the trailer to tell Elle.

To be continued...