END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90h)

Elle greeted me with good news when I got home. Jan’s sister had called and had actually come over to meet her and the kids. She was interested but with the caveat that if she could get a full day time job she’d leave. I’d briefly met her when she was in the process of moving into my grandfather’s carriage house apartment. Her name was Janice which puzzled me in that her sister’s name was Janet although she went by Jan. I’ve always wondered why parents did things like that to their kids when giving them names. In any case, as to the question of pay, it would be $5 a day and we’d provide breakfast and lunch. That last part was the clincher for her as the apartment didn’t have a kitchen and she had to eat a lot of her meals out at the diner.

The next morning I ran into John in the parking lot and he had a newspaper. I’d only told him a little about my working for the Audit and Control department so when he handed me the paper there was a big headline about an investigation concerning the former Assistant County Controller. There wasn’t a lot of information but the article said that the focus was on weather he had been running his private business out of his county office. I remember standing there and shaking. As I gathered my thoughts I remembered Jay’s comment to me on Saturday night that there was still something going on concerning Leo. The headline confirmed it.

Needless to say that news was the topic of conversation in the office... until Mrs K walked in. She made a comment about it and then told us to get to work. John and I still had to score the typing part of the exam and create and post the list of those who had passed. We’d been working on it for a while when John mumbled something about wishing he had taken down the name of the woman who had “given him some excitement” the day before. That was all I needed. Because we were at a common table in the middle of the workspace we had to keep the conversation quiet but I acknowledged his statement and added that I’d seen one almost as good. He turned and looked right at me with this big grin on his face. He asked if it was always that way. I answered that for this location it was but that next week it wasn’t. I was pleased with knowing that he liked panty peeks but I also knew that I had to be patient with trying to expand upon it.

I was eating supper on that night when Eric called to see if I wanted to go up to Rick’s place again. Saturday night was closing night at the race track so I used that as a bit of a “wedge” when telling Elle where I was going. She was teaching the next day and had planned on going to bed early so, somewhat resigned to the fact that I was going weather she “blessed’ the idea or not, gave me a kiss and said ”Good Night“.

The reason I wanted to go was that one of Rick’s crew was in the process of building a race car to race in the same class as I did. In talking to him on Saturday night he hadn't made up his mind if he was going to run a six or eight cylinder motor in the next season even though he had all the parts for an eight cylinder one. I didn’t say anything at the time but the thought that he might sell it had me instantly excited. I decided to ask even though I didn’t have any money to spare.

His name was Bernie but he went by the nickname ”Bags“ as his face resembled that of a Basset Hound. When you looked at him you couldn't miss the bags under his eyes. He was sort of hyper and it was hard to pin him down in both his motion as well as decision making. One nice benefit of my attention to him on that night was that the dark haired girl I’d seen the week prior was his girlfriend. As I watched in the dim light of the barn I could only imagine what she looked like in daylight. I felt she was pretty enough to have been a fashion model. I remember staring at her for an extended period of time (maybe 30 to 40 seconds) and visualizing her walking around in just a bra and panties. Reality came when Rick started the motor of his race car. With the walls so close and only one door open it was truly deafening. Bags grabbed hold of his girlfriend and headed for the door. I waited for a minute or so but my ears couldn’t take the constant revving of the engine (There are no mufflers on race cars.) and then headed the same way. Once outside the noise was at least tolerable but my ears were still ringing. I looked for Bags and saw him hugging his girlfriend while leaning against one of the cars parked out side. For all intents and purposes it was dark out but there was still the last glimmer of daylight. As I looked at where they were standing I could see his hands on her butt and, more importantly, two little bits of white from under the cuffs of her shorts. Very, very interesting.

By the time Eric and I left I got a promise that when Bags made up his mind about what he was going to run for a motor the following year he’d let me know. Even though I was broke I was already excited about the next year of racing and was starting to plan on how to ferret some money away for a new motor.

To be continued...

END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90g) 

I was actually looking forward to going to work Monday morning. It would be the first exposure to ”Manic Monday“ for John, the new PA. We met Mrs. K at 8:30am to get the exams that were to be used. Vi was supposed to be there but Mrs K told us that she’d called in sick and then asked if I wanted Sonny to fill in for her. Since this exam was being held there at the County Center it was a lot less stressful so I made the snap decision for us to go it on our own hoping that my ”stacking the deck“ with John the previous week would pay off. It was about a five minute walk to the exam site and I used the time to re-prime John with my first new idea.

In the few weeks I’d been part of giving the exam it just made no sense to me that the applicants had to line up to get and to then to fill out the application and turn it in. It was utter chaos, especially at the other exam site with at least 50% more applicants. I told John that we’d put the forms on the desks and, after they were completed, they would be brought to the front desk where we’d check to see that all necessary parts had been completed. John thought it was a great idea so, after setting the desks up in the ”proper“ positions, we put them out.

What a difference! Of course there were some ”dim bulbs“ who didn’t know what to do but, all in all, it was a much calmer process than I’d witnessed in prior tests. However, I didn’t tell John why I’d arranged the desks as I had. Once the exam started I took the left side of the front table as there were a few decent looking women with short dresses or skirts on that side. Before I got my first peek John nudged my shoulder and whispered to me that I should look over on his side of the room. Even though he had a much better view, what I saw was exhilarating and better than any I’d seen up to that time. The woman wasn’t particularly attractive but she had hooked the heels of her shoes on the rung under her desk and had slid them out to the legs of the desk. Her knees had to have been over a foot apart and the hem of her dress was halfway up her thighs. There was bright sunshine flowing through the windows behind us which gave plenty of light to see the white of her full crotch. We didn’t even have to pretend to get something from along side the desk to have a great view.

I could’ve stared at that spot until she moved but the one thing I didn’t want was to be caught by her. I told John it would probably be a good idea to do a walk around to make sure that there wasn’t any cheating. While he did that I slid over to his seat and got another good look. My side was no where near as fruitful but there was a similar one (feet on the rung) in the second row in which I got a nice ”triangle“ view. Naturally, there was no way for me to talk about what we’d seen but I was very encouraged about my new partner.

The second change I wanted to institute was for us to begin correcting the tests as soon as they were handed in. For a reason that neither Sonny nor Vi could give me, they wouldn’t start correcting them until all were turned in. It was another thing that made no sense. The ”early birds" would be finished in about an hour and then there would be a steady stream of completions. Of course there’s always a few who hold on until the very end. By the time the last person finished we had about 60% of them scored. After we finished scoring all of them we put them in pass/fail order to determine who would be eligible for the practical (typing) part of the test. For the first time since I'd done the Clerk Typist exam I was able to get a bite to eat. Working with Sonny and Vi that hadn’t been possible.

At lunch I was hoping that John would comment on the “view” we’d shared but he seemed a bit reticent. We talked about our backgrounds and I found out that he, indeed, was a “Rebel” although he barely qualified by being born and raised in Maryland. He’d done two tours in the Navy and had last been stationed in Norfolk Virginia. Using the GI bill, he got his college degree from Virginia Commonwealth which is also located there. He claimed that the time spent in Virginia was the cause of his Southern accent. He met his wife also there as she worked for the school. With his degree she insisted that they move North to the city to have better job opportunities. I asked him about the exam for the Personnel Technician position and he said since it was a statewide posting he felt it gave him a wide choice. The County was the first to offer a job. Like I mentioned earlier, when I first saw him I had a feeling I’d seen him before and it had been at the test site.

The third change I wanted to make in the testing procedure had to do with notification to those who had passed the written portion. However, to do what I wanted would’ve taken some preparation prior to the exam. I explained it to John as we waited to get the typing tests started and he agreed that it would make the process better. We agreed to try it the following Monday. However, as we were administering the typing test he asked a very good question and about something I should’ve thought of. He wanted to know why we had to give the instructions to each group of three women. He thought that if we made one instructional announcement to all of those who’d passed before we started we could save a lot of time. I had to agree. With Vi, at the site to the West, I’d timed each group and, give or take a minute, it took about ten minutes to cycle each group through. I decided to act on John’s idea right away and we made the instructional announcement to those who were still waiting. For them we were able to get them through in about six minutes, a 40% reduction in time.

When we walked into the Civil Service office at about 4:30pm, Wilson thought that we’d had some sort of problem. When we said “No.” he asked how many applicants had shown up. I don’t remember the exact number but it was probably around 60 women, about the same as I'd seen before. On our walk back we’d talked about the reaction we might get and I remember having a big smile on my face. I assured Wilson that everything was on the “up and up”. He walked away looking like he didn’t believe me.

To be continued...

END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90f)

After my first warm up on the track I told Eric I was concerned about how the car had handled. I asked him to take the car out for the last warm up. When he came in he said he couldn’t see any problem. By then I’d pretty much decided to have him drive the car the whole night but hadn’t told him. Rick came over to tell Eric that he thought his car was better with the change and thanked him for the suggestion. By then it was time for the first race. I handed Eric my helmet and told him to go win us a race. He didn’t want to but I told him it was only fair what with all the time he’d put in on the car. Reluctantly, he climbed in.

He started third but barely qualified (seventh). What it did was to confirm that my motor wasn’t really competitive. Eric apologized saying that he should’ve done better. At least we didn’t have to go in the last chance race. For the feature we had the pole position. It didn’t last long. The faster cars behind Eric were using him as a cue ball right from the start. He got spun out by one of them and when he tried to restart the motor he couldn’t so we ended up parked in the infield. As I watched from the pits I set my mind on getting a new, more powerful motor for the following season.

Eric, again was apologetic but I told him that it wasn’t his fault and that it was obvious that we were underpowered. When I said that he smiled and said he’d wanted to say that all along but knew I was running the car on a “shoestring“ and didn’t want to discourage me. We went over to Rick’s pit and watched his crew get him ready for his feature event. Once out on the track we stood with them to watch the race. It was really exciting as it turned out that he and Jim’s cousin battled for the lead with Rick winning in the end. It was his first feature win and his crew went wild. After Rick pulled into his pit stall he found Eric and thanked him profusely for suggesting the gear change. He insisted that we join his crew in celebrating and we didn’t refuse.

I paid for it, in spades, on Sunday morning. With the sailing season over I could no longer use that as an excuse to avoid going to church or to take my grandfather to the hospital to visit my grandmother. I was ”hurting“ all morning but, by the time I arrived back home in the early afternoon I was starting to feel better. As I turned the corner approaching my parking place I saw Lil’s pick up truck as well as a car that I didn’t recognize. I asked Elle if she’d talked with Lil but she said she hadn’t because she had a visitor. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to know what was happening. I changed my clothes and got a bite to eat. While sitting at the table I saw Lil and a man carrying boxes to the car. Elle tried to urge me to go over and offer to help but, as I’ve written, I’d avoided Lil since that morning she offered to ”pay“ me for working on her home. Elle didn’t know that and I wasn’t about to tell her and the reason why. I tried to come up with an excuse but when Elle spied the two of them trying to lift a chair into the back of the truck she almost pushed me out the door.

The man was Lil’s father. Finding that out I felt better in that I was sure Lil wouldn’t reference our last conversation. What they were doing was to pretty much clean out the unit taking anything that wasn’t attached. When I helped carry out Andy’s reclining chair I got the distinct impression that Lil had taken a very aggressive approach against Andy. I took the opportunity to ask about the damage to the patio room and her answer spoke volumes... ”It’s not my worry!“

Once I got involved with helping Elle came over as well. She and Lil talked while Lil’s father and I finished carrying out the remaining boxes. We were just about done when Dora and Jim showed up. Lil told her father to go on ahead while she said her ”good byes“. Before left she said still wanted to come back to go through the things in the shed. She said there probably wasn’t much that was of value but she wanted to get going. As she drove away I couldn’t help but think of what Andy would do when Jim told him what she’d done, especially in taking his favorite chair. As I stated earlier, I had mixed emotions about Lil leaving. I was also thinking about what new neighbors would be like. Lil, Andy and their kids had been fairly good and the ”peeks“ that Lil’s liberal approach to modesty had afforded me would certainly be missed. Only time would tell. 

Elle had received a phone call wanting her to come in and teach for a few days during the week. We’d both put off discussing how we were going to handle baby sitting when she did get a call. The last time I’d seen and talked with Jan, the nurse who was staying at my grandfather’s house, she’d mentioned that her sister had changed jobs and was now working full time at a start up electronics company. She’d been made a second shift supervisor but was looking for something to do during the day that didn’t have her on her feet. I don’t know what made me think of her that night but, on a whim, I told Elle about her. We called Jan and asked her to have her sister give us a call. At that point all we could do was hope.

To be continued...

END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90e)

Elle had called to ask me if I could get some corn for supper. It was my intention to race on Saturday night and I wanted to get the car prepped that night. To go up to Rick’s family farm stand and home would take over a half hour. Now that it was September it was getting dark earlier and earlier. I thought about telling her that the corn season was over but thought better of it. Once I pulled in I was glad I’d not done that. The only one there was the cute girl I’d seen that night when Eric and I had gone to see Rick’s race car. With more light to take in her features I was really “taken”. A little plumper than I really liked but it helped to fill out her shirt and shorts... and the shorts were really, really short. I’d been told that she was Rick’s sister so I was on my best behavior. She didn’t recognize me probably because I still had on a tie. I asked for a half dozen ears and when she bent over the bin where the corn was I got a completely different type of peek... two very nice white half moons sticking out from the leg openings of her shorts. (Oh, for a camera phone!) As I paid for the corn I started thinking of reasons to come back sometime soon. As I got in my car I realized that I had a soft bulge.

I’d talked with Jay a time or two during the week but he wasn’t ready to “unload”. He did say that he’d be at the track and would have something for me. As I drove home I was also thinking about the fact that Saturday night would be the first time I’d be starting in or near the front of my qualifying race. All the races I’d driven in I’d started in the back. I’ll admit I was starting to get nervous about it.

By the time I got home, changed and eaten it was starting to get dark. Jim had come by and as we waited for Eric we walked over to Lil’s mobile home. The “boys” (Dick and Ben, the park owners) had secured the damaged area of the patio room. I asked Jim if he knew anything more about Lil’s plans. It was easy to see he was in the middle of this whole situation as he still worked with and was friends with Andy. I remember him putting his hands up and shaking his head. I “pushed” him a bit and got him to admit he knew Andy wanted “out” of the payments on the unit so hadn’t made any since he had split from Lil. I didn’t like what I’d heard but there was nothing I could do so kept my mouth shut. When Eric showed up we went on up to the where the race car was parked. We didn’t talk all that much so we got done what we needed to do quickly (for a change).

That night I lay in bed sort of worrying about starting in front of a whole bunch of cars. There was also  the thought that the motor wasn’t all that good. I’d watched Eric drive it and he’d started in the front and struggled to get it qualified in the last chance races. He was an experienced driver and was struggling. What was it going to be like for me, a novice. By the time morning arrived I decided to take a bold step.

We got to the track early and managed to take a pit stall near Rick. I knew Eric would like that. I encouraged him to talk to Rick about the suggestion he’d told me about. I had my eye out for the dark haired girl I’d see the night we went to see Rick’s car but didn’t see her. Rick’s sister wasn’t there either so I was “bummed” about that. Eric finally made his suggestion to Rick. It was for a rear end gear change. Because the faster cars had three warm up periods Rick said he’d try it on the second one so he could see if it made a difference.

It was while Rick was on the track that Jay and Jo showed up. He had a sheepish grin on his face and was all apologetic for not talking with me during the week but explained that the Controller had made it clear that anything to do with the messed up payroll was not to be discussed and when word was out that Leo was gone it was reiterated, “in spades”. Basically, it was Jay that gave Leo the “push” out the door. When Jay was called into the Controller’s office to tell his side of the story he lay the blame on Leo because Leo had taken all control away from Jay. Leo had interviewed Charles and had hired him with no input from Jay at all. When the Civil Service review of the department was done by Vi it was determined that the minimum requirement was two years of Data Processing experience. Charles did have that... and more... as a janitor in the Data Processing department of a large publishing company. His total experience operating any equipment was about six months on a sorter. Unfortunately, when Jay discovered it and wanted to tell the Controller the Controller was on vacation.

Then Jay turned the tables on me. He said that he was sure there was still something going on and wanted to know if I knew anything about it. I knew I had to tell him something but I was afraid to tell him what the secretary to the Board of Supervisors had told me. I hesitated a bit and then told him that I’d been interviewed about my firing. I told him I didn’t know why and he seemed to accept it. The conversation ended as I had to go warm the car up on the track.

To be continued...

END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90d)

In spite of my promise not to discuss the ”Leo situation“ I just had to find out what had happened to Leo. I’d planned to eat lunch with John but told him I had an emergency at home. I told Elle about what had happened and then promptly called Jay. I wasn’t sure he’d be there but he was. I could tell from his voice that he was excited as well. However, he claimed that he knew no real details of Leo’s demise. The one thing that he did say was that he knew there had been some meetings with ”high level people“ at the Controllers office. It wasn’t much but when I asked if he thought it had to do with the botched payroll he laughed. At that point I knew that he had more information than he was letting on to. At that point he said he’d said too much and said he’d get back to me.

When I got back to the office I made a special trip down the hall to take a peek into the DP office. I caught Rena’s eye and motioned for her to come out into the hall. I tried to be interested in her progress with her lawsuit but she saw through that ruse right away. She said that the whole staff had been told by the Controller not to discuss Leo’s resignation. I did ask one question... was everybody happy? The smile on her face was enough of an answer. As she turned to go back inside I asked if Charles, the new machine operator was there. Her answer was a laugh as she shut the door behind her.

It wasn’t as much information as I’d wanted but it was enough to satisfy me for the time being. I was able to focus on my work that afternoon and spent time working with John. My goal with him was to ”stack the deck“ with my thoughts on how to make the Clerk Typist examination process more efficient. I knew Vi would be there the following Monday and I wouldn’t be able to institute any changes. But, I felt that John would be able to see how bad it was and would support my ideas when it was just the two of us working the testing.

Wednesday morning I got a call to report to the Board of Supervisors office. I’d never been down there and when I walked in was greeted by a rather large middle aged woman with obviously dyed hair. I don’t think I’d ever seen that shade of red before. I told her who I was and in a matter of fact tone I heard her say ”We used to be related.“ That got my attention because I couldn’t remember ever seeing her before. Long story short... she’d been married to one of my father’s cousins before I was born. But, because of that ”tie-in“ I was able to glean some more information about Leo’s demise but not before I was ushered into the board room.

There were four men around this huge oval table. They introduced themselves as Supervisors. A while back I explained how the County government was structured. There were ten townships and each elected a Supervisor. Those ten were responsible for overseeing the County government. In the last election there were six Republicans elected so they ”controlled“ the Board. The Controller (who oversaw the Audit and Control department) was also a Republican and was technically supposed to select his assistant. Reality was that the controlling party of the Board made the selection and Leo, a Republican ”lifer“, was inserted into the position. The four men that were around the table were the Democrats who were on the Board.

I was in the room for about fifteen minutes. All the questions had to do with my observations on Leo’s management style including what had led to my being fired. I could’ve talked for an hour but all I could do was to answer specific questions. When I walked out I saw my very first ”boss“, Irwin, from when I first started with the county. One thing I distinctly remember was the smirky smile and wink he gave me when he walked past me.

Once the door closed I asked the lady what was going on. She smiled and said she wasn’t supposed to talk about it to anybody but since I was ”family” she would. She told me that this group of Supervisors wanted to “stick it to the Republicans” and that evidently they were collecting evidence against Leo and the Controller. I did ask who else had been called in and she told me that Gina, Leo’s secretary, was the first. I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of it as I left. I didn’t have long to wait though.

It was also Wednesday when I got a call from Elle telling me the “big news” about our neighbor, Lil. She’d decided not to return and was going to stay with her parents and had put her boys into the school there. Andy had stopped making payments on the mobile home and was “being a real jerk”. Elle said that she’d cleaned out most of their clothes while she was there. My reaction was a bit mixed. Her decision eliminated the concern I had on how to react when she was around but then I also knew I’d miss her “free shows”.

Friday afternoon I got to meet John’s wife. Have you ever met someone for the first time and taken an immediate dislike? Louise was one of those people. Haughty to an extreme, she just exuded a sense of superiority. I was really taken aback. In just the few days I’d worked with him I’d come to like his approach to work. Very easy going and yet anxious to learn, his style and mine seemed to be a perfect fit. I’d seen a picture of his wife and found her to be plain but not unattractive. In person she was, to put it bluntly, a bitch. As they left the office I actually felt sorry for him. Marty had also been introduced to her and, wanting to see if my “read” of her was off base, I asked him his thoughts. Although not quite as harsh as mine they were still pretty much in line. I wondered if John and I became friends would she become a problem.

To be continued...

THE END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90c)

Pulling up in front of our unit we noticed that Lil’s pick up truck still wasn’t there. We both expected her to have been back by then what with school to start the next day. As we carried the kids inside I also noticed that the light over her kitchen sink still wasn’t on. For some reason she never turned it off when she was home which confirmed that she still wasn’t back. It was puzzling to both of us.

I was looking forward to going to work on Tuesday hoping to find that the new guy, John, would be a good fit as far as working with me on the Clerk Typists exams. I’d determined that just about anyone would be better than Vi who, realistically, wasn’t doing anything more than putting in her time. In the month I’d been there I’d put a lot of thought into making the whole Clerk Typist exam process better. Being that Monday had been Labor day there wasn’t an exam so I figured I’d have a week to ”groom“ the guy to my way of thinking before he actually saw it in person.

Even though I got to work early I found Wilson and Marty moving desks. For some unknown reason they had decided that the PT’s should have their desks in order of seniority. Vi, as usual, arrived at 9am sharp and had a hissy fit to find her desk had been moved. A bit of ”discussion“ took place with Wilson backing down and Vi’s desk went back to where it had been. That meant that I had Sonny on my left and the new guy, John on my right. I liked that.

We had finally gotten that all taken care of and as Wilson took John on a tour to meet the support staff Mrs K walked in and right up to my desk. She motioned for me to follow her and once in her office told me to close the door. That was a bit disconcerting as she seldom closed the door.(z) I immediately noticed that instead of her usual pleasant smile she seemed to have a stern look. Before I was even seated she said something along the lines of ”I suppose you’ve heard the news?“ I didn’t have any idea of what she was alluding to. I guess the blank look on my face escaped her as she went on to say something along the lines of ”It isn’t over yet, though.“

That’s when I interrupted her to say I didn’t know what she was talking about. That put a puzzled look on her face. After a pause to digest what I’d said she asked if Jay (from DP) hadn’t called me. I told her that I hadn’t talked with him since the middle of the previous week. I do remember her next words... ”Leo’s gone, done, kaput!“ I wish there had been somebody there to have taken my picture. I know I was slack jawed for a bit but gathered myself up quickly when Mrs K told me that the matter wasn’t over with that. Then she leaned forward and, with a stern look on her face, told me that I was not to discuss what she was going to tell me with anyone.

I’d gotten to know the woman fairly well by then and knew that she was a no nonsense type. She’d been more than fair with me and I knew that by telling me that she was putting a lot of trust in me. I think I ended up holding my breath for a bit. She went on to say that Leo, even though he’d resigned, was under investigation and that I might be questioned during the inquiry. I told her I wouldn’t say a word and thanked her for telling me. I really wanted to ask why Leo had resigned but didn’t. I got up to leave and she told me to sit back down. In thinking back on it as I write this I can remember feeling such glee with the news of Leo’s resignation and yet, with Mrs K’s warning, not knowing how to express it.

With the same stern look on her face she told me that she was taking the writing of the Machine Operator’s test away from Vi (who had done the audit of the whole DP department) and giving it to Marty and she wanted me to assist him. She said she’d wanted to give it to me because of my experience in the department but because of my ”incident“ with Leo she knew that it wouldn’t go over too well with him. She told me that she expected me to have ”great input“ into it and, for all intents and purposes it was mine to write. To remove any chance of questions being raised about the exam she wanted Marty to be the official author. It didn’t matter to me. Just the idea that I’d have input was exciting to me. That news helped bring me back to a semblance of ”normal“ but, when I exited Mrs K’s office, the looks I got from the other PT’s appeared to be of concern. As I mentioned before, it was a rare occurrence for her door to be closed and most of them knew it. Wilson walked up to ask if everything was OK which actually made me feel good.

I tried my best to focus on working with John and getting to know him but found it very difficult to concentrate. I was able to find out why he had seemed familiar when he first came into the office. He had taken the exam at the same time and place that I'd taken it. I ended up asking Wilson if I could give him the Clerk Typist exam to get him familiar with it knowing that it would give me a little time to gather myself up. I desperately wanted to know the circumstances of Leo’s resignation but, cognizant of Mrs K’s warning, didn’t know how to proceed. I wanted to run down to the DP department but knew I definitely couldn’t do that.

Thankfully, Marty came up to me to say that Vi hadn’t yet been told that the Machine Operator’s exam was being taken away from her and said he’d let me know when I was to get started on it. Other than Mrs K he knew the most about the run in with Leo that had led up to my ending up working in the Civil Service office. I couldn’t hold back any longer and asked him if her knew about Leo’s leaving. I remember him smiling and telling me to have patience and then walking away. It was killing me!

To be continued...

THE END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90b)

Elle passed the kids off to me and excused herself. I knew she was going to get washed up and changed into clean panties. After a few minutes Jean was receptive to answering questions from Ali and had walked over to where she was squatting while talking to my mother. I, carrying Ann who was holding on to me with a death grip, followed and was rewarded by seeing a nice DP (downpants) view. Ali was wearing brown shorts about the color of chocolate milk so the white of her panties was a nice contrast. I specifically remember Jean being asked why she wasn’t in swimming and her direct answer... because she didn’t bring her bathing suit. That part was true but the real reason was that Elle didn’t want to have to give the girls baths and wash their hair right before the party. A soon as Jean spoke the words Ali ooched over to her and told her that she was wrong and proceeded to grasp the hem of her dress and pulled it up and over her head leaving her standing there in just her underpants. I don’t remember what Jeans’ reaction was because I couldn’t see her face but Ali proceeded to tell her that when she was a little girl, like Jean, she never had a bathing suit. All she ever wore to go swimming was her underpants and as she said that she jumped up and started pulling Jean towards the water. I tried to call out for her to stop but it was too little and too late.

Ali had waded out to where the water was up to her knees which meant Jean was wet to her waist. By then I was at the waters edge and Ann could see her sister out in the water and wanted to get down. Ann may have been shy around people she didn’t know or recognize but when it came to going in the water she was fearless. I followed Ali’s lead and pulled her dress up and over her head. I think it was still there when she started into the water. Jean was about halfway to where Ali was now standing. Ali was encouraging her to come out further but she just stood in place. Ann went right by her and right to Ali which really made no sense. Only a minute or so before she was still hanging on to me to avoid Ali and now she was headed right for her.

Ali started splashing water towards Jean and I encouraged her to splash Ali back. It only took a few minutes before Ali was fairly wet. Water on her light brown shorts had turned them to the color of Hersey's chocolate. Shortly thereafter she just sat down in the water. My two girls ended up climbing all over her and having a good time. When Elle returned she was livid. My mother had gotten up and was down by the water’s edge with me and she tried to intercede on my behalf. Elle railed on about having to give them baths and wash their hair. My mother said that she would help and that seemed to calm her down a bit.

Because of having to devote time to doing that before the party Elle called for the girls to come ashore. Of course they resisted but Ali became the ”ogre“ telling them she had to go home. It was when Ali carried Ann out of the water that I started to get excited. Her shorts had stretched a bit and had slid down on her hips a bit. It looked like she had on a white belt. Of course it was her panties. But, carrying Ann she couldn’t pull them up. My mother had gathered the beach towels up to wrap around the girls so Ali had carried Ann up to where she was standing. I was right behind her leading Jean up to Elle. When Ann bent over to put Ann down I got a view and a half. Without exaggeration I saw at least two inches of her panties. Being so close I was able to confirm from the waist elastic what I’d thought all along and that was she was wearing Lollipop panties.

Ali was saying good bye to the girls when Elle realized that she didn’t have any dry underpants for them and that set her off again. Ali cut her off by saying that she could solve the problem and that she’d be back by the time the girls were washed and dried. Elle looked at me as if to ask what was up with Ali. I didn’t know so as my mother and Elle took the girls inside I collected up all the beach things and put them away. I’d just finished when Ali reappeared with four small cellophane packages. As she handed them to me I saw the logo reading Lollipop right across the packages. She said that out of the four Elle should find the right size for each of the girls. My first thought was to pay for them. The price was marked right on each package... 65 cents. As soon as I mentioned paying she shook her head from side to side and started apologizing for getting the girls wet in the first place. Then she, still in her wet clothes, turned to go but pleaded for us to come visit her store.

The birthday party was nothing special. The only difference was that both Elle’s brother and mine were there. Our father’s had bought their own presents so there were no surprises. By the time we left the kids were so tired that they fell asleep within minutes. I’d not had a chance to really talk with Elle about the swimming incident so I chose to do it on the trip home. I also asked how the Lollipops fit and if she liked them. She said she’d have to wait to see how they washed and how they wore before making a judgment. I was hoping for more than that so I reminded her that we had the catalog that Ali had given me and that she’d told me that she’d sell us underwear at her cost. My memory said that it was about a 40% saving. With the kids growing so rapidly and the fact that Ann, although 16 months younger than Jean, was almost as big as her there wouldn’t be many ”hand me downs“. Elle agreed but still said she wanted to wait and see before making a decision. End of conversation.

To be continued...

THE END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90a)

Elle and I had decided that we’d wait to go to our father’s combined birthday party on Labor day until later in the day as it wasn’t scheduled until around 6pm. That is until Buddy and I showed up at my parents house to store my sailboat for the Winter. My mother got to see my kids just about every time they stayed with Elle’s mother but seldom, if ever, got to see them without her. On that morning my mother took me aside and asked we couldn’t bring the girls back that afternoon. She said she wanted to have them help her bake cookies and then she’d go play with them on the beach. I knew where she was coming from so I couldn’t say “no”. The hard part was in getting Elle to agree.

She had things that she wanted to get done like changing the bed linens and doing the wash as we hadn’t been home all weekend. Not wanting to upset my mother she told me we could do it but not until she was finished. It was mid afternoon and we were all dressed for the party. The girls were in dresses and Elle had on a nice skirt and blouse. I remember wearing (reluctantly) a pair of madras print bermuda shorts that my mother had given me for my birthday. While my mother had the girls making cookies Elle and I got out the beach toys, set up the beach umbrellas and spread the towels. Being on the beach again had us both remembering some of our walks along shoreline from the past. We looked at each other and quickly decided to do it again while we had the chance.

As I’ve written a number of time in prior posts, our area was a Summer destination. The cottages were fully occupied from July 1st though Labor day. With the majority of the Summer residents having children and school reopening right after Labor day we found few others on our walk. We could only go as far as the East end of beach in front of “the mansion”. That terminus brought back any number of past memories. Even though it had been many years one thing that still remained the same was we were pretty secluded even though we were on the beach. As we reminisced I took Elle in my arms and, of course, put my hand up under her skirt and into her crotch. Because she'd expected to be fairly near a bathroom on the visit she had, at my urging, worn two pair of the nylon satin Plymouth panties and not a “package”. With my hand firmly planted in her crotch I asked if she’d give me a “squirt“ for old times sake. She pulled away immediately saying something along the lines of ”Are you crazy?“. Only deterred for a few seconds I reminded her that I had spare clean panties in my car.

The Fall/Winter Sears catalog had arrived the previous week. As she flipped through it she had seen a stylish A line Winter coat that she thought would be perfect for her during her pregnancy. The problem was the cost. She'd been disappointed when I reminded her that we were saving up for the new baby. Right after I told her about the clean panties I brought up the subject of the coat she wanted. Her birthday was upcoming as well as Christmas and as soon as I mentioned the coat there was a definite ”warming“ to Elle’s attitude. She moved up close to me and kissed me. I wasted no time in returning my hand to the ”promised land“ and she wasted no time in fulfilling my desire. I’d only asked for a squirt but she gave me everything. I’d put my other hand on her butt and in so doing had lifted her skirt up and away from her ”waterfall“. It only took a few seconds for my finger to find its way under the leg elastics and her ”button“. That part only lasted a short time but for a brief few seconds I envisioned her straddling me and reprising something that we'd done a time or two in the past. That had been a different time in our lives and was little too much to expect from her right then. However, what she had given me was still a thrill.

Walking back, we were headed right into the setting sun and it was hard to see so we walked with our heads down. We were about half way back when I heard my name from somewhere above. I looked up and saw that we were in front of the house where Margaret and Bobbie lived during the Summer but I didn’t see anybody. There was a gazebo built part way out over the beach there but I saw no one in it. Then I saw Ali, Margaret's sister coming down the stairs. Because her mother and Elle’s mother were friends (both were from Germany) she had known Elle from back when she was just a baby and as a young girl. The first thing she said was to ask where the kids were. When Elle said they were just down the beach at my mother’s she grabbed Elle’s hand and stated she wanted to go see them.

I just knew Elle was upset even though her facial expression didn’t show it. Standing there in wet panties with someone she hardly knew holding her hand was not a comfortable experience. But, there was nothing she could do about it. Walking back to my parents beach Ali was ”selling“ again telling Elle about her store. As soon as we got back to where my mother was making sand castles with my daughters they saw a stranger and ran to Elle. Jean wasn’t usually that way but Anne, the younger one, was extremely shy. My mother had known Ali when she was younger. To make conversation while Elle disentangled herself from the kids asked Ali what was going on in her life. That opened her up for a sales pitch. I remember smiling as she did.

To be continued...

SUMMER... August, at home (Part 89c)

Eric asked if he (we) could come to Rick's shop to take a closer look at his race car and he had no problem with it. The only problem I had was Elle’s reaction when I told her where I was going. That notwithstanding, I had to do a double take when we got there. The “shop” was nothing more than an old potato barn on Rick's family farm. For those that don’t know, a potato barn is NOT like the typical barn you see riding down the road. It’s actually built partially into the ground and the part that’s above it has dirt packed around the walls. They look like bunkers with a shingled roof. The floor is dirt and there’s absolutely nothing structural attached to the walls inside. My first take was that the only thing they had that I didn’t was a roof. Their workbench was 2 by 6’s on saw horses with a tool box sitting on them. The light came from three single light bulbs hanging from the rafters. My reaction was disbelief because of how well they ran and were doing it with so little. It was certainly a form of encouragement to me.

The girlfriends pretty much sat on the back of a pick up truck parked in the entryway. One of the girls that I truly remember had long black hair and really dark eyes. There wasn’t enough light to really tell their color. She was sitting in the bed of the truck with her back against one side with her legs pulled up and her chin resting on her knees. I knew if I were to walk up to the other side I would’ve gotten a nice peek up the legs of her shorts. Not knowing her I had no reason to go over there. If I turned to look at her once during the time I was there I must’ve done it a dozen times even though dark haired girls were not normally my cup of tea.

After a while a girl I hadn't seen at the track showed up. She was seriously cute... and very well endowed both top and bottom. One of Rick's friends saw me giving her a good look and came over and told me that she was Rick's sister and she was definitely "hands off". I hadn't done anything but look (maybe stare) at her so that was a pretty good "shot across the bow" for me. Believe me, I really would've liked to see her in the shorts she was wearing in the daylight.

Eric was in his glory. He could “speak their language” since he owned and had raced a car very similar to theirs. Because of the Labor day weekend and all I had to do I wasn’t racing that Saturday night but after getting to know these guys a bit I wished I could be there to watch. They really felt they had a chance to win. Their enthusiasm was infectious. Eric wanted to as well but he had scheduled duty so it would be over a week before we’d see them race again. As we were leaving Rick told us to take some of the corn that was in the bed of the pick up truck. As Eric and I picked some out Rick told us to stop at the family farm stand any time we wanted more. As I did the guy who had warned me about his sister whispered to me that if I wanted really get a good look at the sister to stop by the stand and that it would be worth the trip. I found that to be very interesting.

On our way back home Eric mentioned that he had something in mind that he thought might help them but was reluctant to offer it up. I told him that the worst that would happen would be that they’d ignore him. He said he’d think about it some more. Back at the park, when we turned down Eric’s street, we both could see flashing lights down at the end where I lived. There were all kinds of police and fire people there so we couldn’t even get the car as far as Eric’s unit. I jumped out and ran down the rest of the way. When I got to the end of the street it was hard to fathom the sight that was before me. There was a car way up on Lil’s patio. As I moved closer I could see that the wooden steps and platform that had been outside her door was now crushed up against the patio room. If that wasn’t enough I could see that the two panels that made up the North end of her patio room were also crushed.

Lil had sent her kids to her parents for most of the Summer after Andy had left her. With school starting right after Labor Day she gone to fetch them earlier in the week. It was obvious that she hadn’t returned because if she had her pick up truck would’ve taken the brunt of the crash. It took a few minutes to get though all the people who’d gathered and home. Elle was standing on our patio but when asked she really knew very little of what had happened. She did offer up that she’d heard the crash about a half hour earlier. I was thankful for the distraction as she never made mention about my going off with Eric that evening.

I had a pretty good idea of what had happened by the time I went to bed. One of the golden agers who still lived in the park and hadn’t moved to the new park had hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal. Ben and Dick, the owners of the park, had been called and assessed the damage noting that when the patio room got hit it pulled the awning part (the roof) away from the mobile home. The home itself appeared to be OK. Going to bed I felt sorry for Lil. I’d avoided her ever since the morning when I’d re-leveled her unit. Elle had asked me why but I just sloughed it off. Jim and Dora were still very close to her even though it was a little uncomfortable for Jim what with working with Andy and in the same department. Jim and Dora were also away for the long weekend and I had no idea of how to contact her or Andy. It took a while to get to sleep.

To be continued...

SUMMER... August, at home (Part89b)

I called the doctor who told me to bring my grandfather over to his office after he woke up. I called Elle and had her call in to work for me. The doctor didn’t have much to say with “keep an eye on him” being the most succinct. That night it was Elle who suggested that it might be a good idea to call Jan to see if she would like to have me sleep over again, “just to be sure”. She was very appreciative of the offer. So as not to upset my grandfather by showing up twice in one day we decided that she would call after she’d gotten him to bed and he was asleep. On my way over I visualized seeing Jan in the same pajamas as the previous night. That’s all it was... a visualization. She was fully dressed (shorts and blouse) and when it came time for her to go to bed she shut her door and that was it. BTW: My grandfather never even got up to go to the bathroom. Just another “hiccup” in everyday living

Elle’s pregnancy hadn’t affected her at all in a negative way. She still wasn’t showing and I was happy to do without the week long monthly “interruption”. The new job had me home by 5:30pm on all but Monday’s which really pleased Elle. For her it meant that I could entertain the kids while she fixed supper plus she’d be done shortly after 6pm leaving plenty of time to do other things... (read that as to play tennis) If you remember back a short while ago, in a weak moment I promised that I’d play tennis with her at least once a week. It wasn’t that she wasn’t playing enough tennis because her tennis playing teacher friend, Suzette, had introduced her to a number of other tennis players that she had taught and she arranged for them to use a privately owned court. On the days that she played with them she would usually leave her tennis dress or skirt on just for me which I really appreciated. There were a few of the women that were equal to her in skill that she especially enjoyed playing with. The only problem was in scheduling.

On this one night she apologized for having scheduled playing time after supper. She tried to spend that time with the kids (and now, me), however she really wanted to play with this one woman. With my professed disdain for tennis she just naturally thought I’d stay home with the kids. I’d briefly met some of them and as they were around our age and not bad looking I decided that I’d take the kids and go with her. One thing I was always “up” for was a panty peek of an attractive female. Elle was somewhat surprised but didn’t discourage me.

As I’ve mentioned in posts concerning sailing, the wind would usually come up in the early afternoon. Then, as sunset approached, it would slowly diminish... but not always. I’d learned from watching Elle that the best “peeks” were when a woman would wear a dress. Whenever Elle would allow me to make a suggestion as to what to wear I’d pick a dress. That night three of them were wearing dresses. On this evening I distinctly remember one of them wearing a really cute dress trimmed in pink gingham. As she was getting her things out of her bag I had a fantastic view. Bent over, the sun was shining right on her backside. I especially appreciated seeing the double crotch line. She wasn’t wearing the frilly panties that many of the women wore over their regular ones. That pretty much “made” my night. But, there was more. I mentioned the wind and on this evening it hadn’t dropped much which provided me with all kinds of peeks... front, side and back of all of them. Of course the wind didn’t help their game but it sure made my viewing more enjoyable.

Back in the previous parts devoted to “sailing” I’d briefly mentioned my car racing. With the heavy sailing schedule I’d limited the car racing to the Saturday’s I wasn’t racing the boat. Because I was new I had to start in the back of the qualifying race for three weeks. In the two Saturday’s that I’d attempted it I hadn’t made it which put me into the last chance race. Eric had suggested that he drive the car in those races and if he was able to make it into the featured race then I’d drive. But Eric’s real interest was in the more powerful cars like the one that Jim’s cousin drove. When not working on my car he would spend time looking them over. He still had one of those type cars back where he was from but couldn’t afford to race it. The pay of an enlisted man and married as well just didn't compute so it stayed there. Eric was the type person who made friends easily and in just the few times we’d showed up he’d made a number of them.

Just a few pit stalls away from where we were there were a group of guys all around our age racing one of the more powerful cars. Over the weeks we got to know them a bit. The driver, Rick, was a farm boy, still working on his father’s farm. His crew was made up of high school classmates who’d all played football together. After graduation, to stay together, they got the idea to go stock car racing. This was their third year and they were doing fairly well considering they had no real experience and were racing against teams that had been racing for years and at tracks all up and down the East coast. One of the things that I noticed was that it seemed like most had good looking girl friends. I’ll admit that it was Eric and Cal that pointed that out to me. Young, good looking females wearing short shorts were hard to dismiss.

To be continued...

SUMMER... August, at home (Part 89a)

There were a few things of note during the latter part of the month. One was the night I woke up hearing the phone ringing. Elle’s ears were usually “tuned” to hear any noise, fully expecting that it would be one of the kids. I don’t know how long it rang but Elle sure didn’t hear it. I ran down the hall to answer it and found it was Jan, the young nurse who was looking after my grandfather at night, in a panic. She had heard my grandfather get up and thought he was headed for the bathroom only he headed down the hall to the front door. By the time she caught up with him he was trying to open it but couldn't. She said she couldn’t get his attention and, in her terms, it appeared he was having a “spell“. She wanted me to get over there as soon as possible. I woke Elle, put on clothes and was there in less than 10 minutes. When I walked in (through the kitchen door) I saw it was around 3am. I found my grandfather sitting on the stairs to the second floor, all flushed and agitated. I noticed Jan cowering in the doorway to the front parlor but didn’t pay any attention to her. I was able to get my grandfather’s attention and when I did he wanted to know why he was on the stairs. I told him I wanted to know as well. He truly was confused.

I sat down next to him and suggested that since it was after 3am it would be a good idea to get to bed. He didn’t argue and I helped him get up. That was when I really noticed Jan for the first time. She’d been standing in the darkened doorway and when I started walking my grandfather down the hall she followed us. When my father moved my grandfather downstairs he set up a series of small table lamps in each room so that if he did get up to go to the bathroom he’d be able to see. That meant there really wasn’t much light. When I was trying to get my grandfather into bed Jan came up to help. Even with the low light I could see right through her pajama top. It almost looked like she was wearing tissue paper. Once we had him settled we went back into the living room and I told her that I’d sleep over, just to make sure he was OK and that I’d take him to his doctor in the morning. Where we’d stopped to talk was right in front of one of the lamps. Looking at Jan I could clearly see not only her nipples but also the outline of her panties. The material of her pajamas really didn’t hide very much. (I subsequently learned that the material was called chambray and was designed to be light and airy) Jan was very appreciative of my offer and then disappeared into her room. I ended up trying to sleep in the chaise that my grandfather always used to take his naps. I set it up right outside his door so that if he did get up he couldn’t get by. Needless to say I didn’t sleep much.

Unfortunately, I was asleep when Jan got up so I missed a chance to see her in her pajamas as she walked by to go get washed up for work. When she came back she was in her uniform but carrying the pajamas. She had to leave at 7:30am for the hospital which meant there was about a half hour before the man who worked for my grandfather, Wally, got there. I made sure I took advantage of that time. My grandfather was snoring away so when I went into Jan’s room I knew I was pretty safe. The clothes she’d been carrying were in a pile on her unmade bed. I carefully opened them up to get at the panties. I could feel they were the soft combed cotton type. I pulled them out from the pajamas and immediately put them up to my nose as I smelled something. It was obviously perfume. It was always dark in that room so I carried them out into the living room and out to the bay window to get more light. The first thing I noticed was that the label was on the outside and attached to the waist elastic. I’d only seen that once before and reading the name on it, Argo Knit, I tried to remember when and where. But that wasn’t the only thing about these panties that had me a bit intrigued. They looked brand new as the label was still crisp. I could see a faint discoloration in the crotch. With the bright sunshine coming through the window I could see the faint outline of a stain. Without that bright light I’m not sure I would’ve noticed it. It wasn’t enough to fill the crotch area but it was obvious that she’d ”leaked“ more than a few drops. I remember standing there wondering what had happened to cause it.

When I returned to her room to put them back with her pajamas I got the idea to check them as well. I’d never felt the material they were made of before and was amazed at how soft it was. To get more light I took them back to the window but couldn’t be sure. I put the crotch up to my nose and all I could smell was a faint aura of perfume. I was still wondering.

By the time I’d put the panties and pajamas back on the bed it was almost 8am and time for Wally to arrive. Her bureau was right there so I opened the top drawer. Right on top were two pair of folded panties. I picked them up and saw the same name, ”Argo Knit” as was on the panties that I’d just inspected These were definitely new. Attached to them was a Woolworth price tag... 74 cents. The Woolworth store was directly across the street from the house. I surmised that she’d just bought them. As I folded them back up I heard Wally calling me. I’d left my car in the driveway when I’d gotten there and he couldn’t get past. I quickly put the panties back and went to tell him of my grandfather’s “escapade”.

To be continued...

SUMMER... August, at work (Part 88d)

Even though I hadn’t had much one on one personal contact with Rena after she came back to work I did know that she was back to waitressing again. I had overheard her mentioning the name of the place but I was unfamiliar with it. If I wanted to talk with her I had to do two things... figure out an excuse to be able to go there and, more importantly, find out where it was.

I’d planned on racing the car the next night so even though it didn’t need much attention to be race ready, it became my “out” with Elle. I had to stop at a gas station to find the location of the restaurant. Not easy to find, it took longer than I wanted. Rena was certainly surprised to see me. It took a while before she could break free to talk but she got another girl to cover for her and we went outside. She said she could only spare a few minutes so I asked her, point blank, what had happened. I remember her shaking her head as she told me that the new guy, Charles, had done something really, really wrong and that to correct it Jay was going to have to re-run the previous payroll to be able to start this weeks from scratch. I remember her shrugging her shoulders as she said that was all she knew. She offered to call me if she got anymore information but that was the absolute last thing I wanted... for Elle to hear a strange (to her) female voice asking for me would not have been good.

On Monday morning, when Vi and I met with Mrs K to get the exams for the day, I asked Mrs K if she’d gotten any information. I remember her looking at me and laughing. She then said something along the lines of “I should be asking you.” I couldn’t keep a straight face but I swore to her that I hadn’t gone down to the DP office or called Jay. She didn’t say anything but stood there waiting “for the rest of the story”. I admitted that I’d tracked down Rena (who she knew) but that all I got was that the new hire had done something really wrong. I swore to her again that it was all I knew. I’m not sure she believed me but she gave us the exams and sent us on our way.

The only difference from the previous Monday at the auditorium site was that it was only Vi and I to do all the work. It was another “Manic Monday” only not quite as bad for me because I was better prepared for the chaos. Vi was in a panic during registration and I couldn’t help her as I had to get the tables and chairs in place. When it came time for the typing portion in the afternoon we were running even later than the previous Monday. I tried to make a few suggestions but Vi wanted nothing to do with them. It wasn’t until we were on our way back to the Center when I realized that with Robby leaving he would be replaced and that person would be slotted in to do the Clerk Typist exams with me. I didn’t dislike Vi but she was hard to work with. I remember wishing that I could’ve worked with Sonny as he obviously (to me) was a bit voyeuristic. It would’ve been fun.

Mrs K’s assistant gave me my paycheck as soon as I walked in. I got permission to take it home so Elle could do her shopping. When I got back they had sent Robby off on an errand and were having the final meeting about his party. For any number of reasons Mrs K felt it best to have the party “in office” and it was to be Thursday afternoon. We were all told to get our work done so that we would not be criticized for taking time off. After the meeting I began to wonder what type of person would be hired to replace him and hoped that we would be able to work well together.

I was able to get Andre's attention during lunch hoping to get the "dirt" of the payroll debacle. He was very paranoid and I remember him looking over both his and my shoulder as we talked. The whole department had been told by Leo not to talk about what had happened to anyone. I made him promise to call me that night. When he walked off I wasn't sure he would.

I knew Andre liked his beer and when he called it was almost 10pm and I could tell that he was drunk. In the simplest fashion, what the new guy, Charles had done was to misload the cards into the collator that were then to be processed by the computer. The only way to undo the damage was to completely rerun the previous payroll to get back to where they needed to be to start. Over the weekend they pretty much did two payroll runs. It was mind boggling to me. In the six or so weeks since I'd been gone from there they, even shorthanded, had run three full County payrolls without a hitch plus two Police payrolls. They hire a new guy and he screws up the whole thing.

About mid morning on Thursday I saw this man being led across the floor to Mrs K’s office by the receptionist. I remember looking up for a second but that was all because there were always people coming and going. It was maybe a half hour later when I saw Mrs K walk out with the same guy following. That’s when I realized he was to be the replacement. This time I did look and for some reason felt that I’d seen him someplace before. He had a smile as wide as his face and was almost bald. I won’t say “funny looking” but definitely someone you would remember. I did... but I couldn’t place where. Mrs K came down the line of desks introducing him. His name was John and as soon as he opened his mouth it was obvious that he was from below the Mason-Dixon line. All I could do was hope that he had an open mind to suggestions.

A job that all the PT’s had to do but absolutely hated was shredding. I have to admit that I’d never even heard of shredding before I started there. In any case, the six of us took turns, always two at a time, shredding old exams. Because Mrs K was a reasonable person and she knew how much we all hated it she limited it to an hour per week, per team. Robby had tried to get out of his last shredding duty but Wilson, tongue in cheek, told him he wouldn’t get his last paycheck unless he did. After lunch Robby and Sonny went into the security room. It wasn’t long after that before we heard a long, loud shriek. I don’t know who got there first but they found Robby with his head pulled right down onto the top of the shredder and it was still grinding away. He was choking. In that position he couldn’t reach the emergency shut off. Whoever it was turned the machine off and then helped pull Robby up. What had happened was that Sonny had left the room and Robby, wanting to get the job done, reached across the top of the machine for more paper and his tie got pulled into the shredding wheels. It wasn’t funny at the time but we all had a laugh afterward. We made him wear what was left of the tie to the party. As a reminder of what happened we ended up hanging the remnant right over the shredder.

To be continued...

SUMMER... August, at work (Part 88c)

The third week started with Sonny, Vi and I setting up for the Exam at the County Center. The difference was that Sonny was there only as an observer. Vi was now in charge and I was the assistant. I wasn’t nervous but anxious would have been a fair observation. I set the desk up as Sonny had shown me and when I was finished he gave me a thumbs up. Vi was the nervous one because she had to make all the announcements and give the instructions. She had told me that in spite of numerous high profile jobs on her resume she’d never had to speak to more than about a dozen people and she was familiar with all of them.

As soon as I could I took a seat at the front table. The one thing that I wished was that I could have controlled who sat where. Unfortunately for me (and Sonny), the there were two really attractive women with short skirts but they had arrived a bit late and were buried in the back. Sitting next to Vi I had to be careful with my leaning over the edge of the table to get my peeks in. The desks were spaced so that you could see the legs of the women in the second row. When an applicant finished the exam one of us would go collect it. Vi had gotten up to collect the first of them I took advantage of the opportunity. One of the women in the second row had hooked one of her feet on the shelf under the desk and had spread her other leg to the side. There was enough light for me to see not just a little triangle but I got a full view of her crotch. If she’d glanced up she would’ve known exactly what I was doing. I was liking the job a lot more.

The way they had set up the typing portion of the test the women faced a wall and all I (we) could see was the backs of the women. I noted that some of them used the legs of the typing table to rest their knees against. I decided that it would be nice to have been on the other side, for sure. Something for future consideration.

The rest of the week went by fairly smoothly. I’d looked into the DP department window while walking by on my way to the cafeteria one day and saw a short, fairly old colored man (remember, it’s 1963) shuffling around in front of the sorter. I made a point of trying to find anyone from the department to ask if he was my replacement. Later that day I saw Lucy walking down the hall so I ran down to catch up with her. It was and she said he was very nice but very slow. I do remember telling her “Good luck!” as I returned to my department.

We all knew Robby was leaving at the end of the month to go to graduate school so Mrs K asked her assistant to arrange for a going away party for him. The idea was to make it a surprise party. He took a day off that Friday and that’s when the planning started in earnest. We were all in a good mood until Mrs K came out of her office and called us all together. We thought it was about the party but it was to tell us that we wouldn’t be getting our paychecks until Monday. What a shock! It took a few seconds before anyone could speak. Sonny was the one to ask how that could be. Mrs K, for one of the few times I hadn’t seen a smile on her face, said that there had been a problem in processing the payroll for all the regular County employees. She said that the Controller said that every effort would be made to see we got our checks on Monday, before lunch.

I knew that wouldn’t do me much good as I’d be at the testing site 25 or so miles to the West and wouldn’t be back until probably well after 5pm. After the personal upset had somewhat subsided I started wondering what could possibly have gone wrong. I, along with both Jo and Lucy, had written a detailed procedural manual. If it was followed, step by step, there was no way for anything other than an equipment failure to go wrong. Even with that I knew Jay had an arrangement (personal) with the Remington Rand technician to come on site at any time he was called. It just floored me.

Vi and I were getting our supplies for Monday’s test together when we got the news. We still had to finish up and as we did Vi made mention that the lack of a paycheck didn’t really matter to her as her husband was the “breadwinner”. That sort of bothered me and I let her know about it. I liked the woman but it was insensitive for her to have made such a statement. I pretty much knew that Elle and I could wait through the weekend because it was the middle of the month and there were no bills that had to be paid immediately. We’d had to change our eating habits from time to time so I knew we could do it again. Because Vi was the one who did the audit of Data Processing department and I was working there at the time she asked what I thought had been the cause. I didn’t have a clue and knew well enough not to go near the place that afternoon.

I was on my way home when the connection of the failed payroll and the new man was made in my mind. From that point forward I wanted to know what had happened in the worst way. If it was as bad as it could possibly be I knew that Jay, Jo, Andre and probably Lucy were still at work. As I’ve written a number of times in the past, when Jay was upset he didn’t want to talk with anybody so I knew that was out of the question. I also knew that if I called into the office from home Jay would ask who it was that called and I certainly didn’t want him mad at me. I needed him as a friend and didn’t want to do anything to hurt that relationship. The only name I could come up with was Rena.

To be continued...