SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127j)
To complicate
matters even further on Sunday Elle got a call that she was needed to
start her teaching job right away. The teacher she was to fill in for
had developed complications and her doctor ordered her to bed. Elle
spent the rest of the day trying to get everything organized confirming
who was to look after Kaye each day and where the other two were to go
after school was out. I was like part of the woodwork. She finally
calmed down around supper time. She was still unsure what she should
wear to make a good impression. With all the stuff going on at the bank
about pants suits they were on my mind so I suggested that she wear her
good wool one. I reminded her that just about everybody in the school
would be sticking their heads in her door. She thought about it for a
minute and agreed. That was my main contribution for the day.
She
was a “wreck“ getting dressed the next morning. Her mother was coming
over to get Kaye for the day and I agreed to stay and wait for her to
arrive even though I knew I was facing a rough day at work. The ”busy
period“ was just a week away plus I had no idea what Trish had decided
to do. Of course, in the back of my mind, I was worried about how the
bookkeeping machine (computer) would hold up. Because I was trying to
get the older girls organized and out to the bus on time I didn’t pay
any attention to what Elle had decided to wear for panties. In the past
she’d usually wear at least a partial package (two pair of the Carter’s
ribbed cotton panties and a sanitary pad with a pair of sanitary panties
over them). The subject hadn’t come up when we were discussing what she
would wear and by the time I thought of it she was on her way.
Trish
was at Hobie’s desk when I walked in. I tried to look busy as I sat at
my desk all the while trying to pick up on the conversation. One thing I
did hear was that the Trustee who had stated the case for pants, with
or without a jacket, at the Board meeting had convinced Bert (the
president) to poll the other Trustees to try and get them to rescind the
resolution about the length of jackets and he was due in the bank
sometime that morning. As Trish walked past me I could see she still
wasn’t happy but when I looked at Hobie he gave me a ”thumb’s up“.
I
saw that Trustee walk across the lobby floor with three other members
of the Board. I didn’t know if that was good or bad. It was almost 1pm
before I saw some of them leaving the bank. As much as I wanted to know
what had happened I had to wait until I was told. It was hard. When
Hobie returned I gave him one of those ”what’s going on?“ looks. He put
up his finger as if to tell me to have patience. I waited for about a
half hour and when I saw two more Trustee’s leaving with Bert he called
me to his desk.
It must’ve been quite a meeting. The net result
was that the two ”fossils“ had agreed to retire immediately. Two others
had indicated that they’d retire as soon as replacements for the first
two were found and sworn in. I would’ve loved to have heard exactly what
had transpired. That news was so shocking that I completely forgot
about the pants and jacket issue. It took Trish asking Hobie if anything
had been decided. When the dust had settled they had collected ”aye“
votes of a majority of the twelve remaining members to rescind the
portion of the resolution concerning the length of jackets.
An
all employee meeting was called for four o’clock in the lobby. The
announcement about the two Trustees retiring was made first and then the
news about pants and jackets followed. It was met with a smattering of
applause but not from Trish or Lena. I’d decided to leave Trish alone
and to get Laura’s ”read“ on her later. Even though I hadn’t done
anything of a physical nature I felt exhausted by the time 5pm arrived. I
got Laura’s attention as she walked by and she told me Trish was still
upset. She said Trish still felt that she was taken advantage of. I
couldn’t blame her but the fact that she was still there was what was
important.
I got home to find Elle wasn’t in a very good mood. I
thought that it had to do with her class. Substitute teachers were often
faced with unruly kids and I thought that she’d been given a rough
class. That wasn’t the reason. My too late thoughts about what she’d
worn for panties was the reason. She was so nervous about her first day
she didn’t remember to wear protection and had a major ”accident“. The
restrooms were at the opposite end of the hall from where her classroom
was located. By the time she got there on one of her breaks her pee was
running down her legs. When she told me that she started to smile. I
wondered what that was for. She immediately said that the choice of
wearing the wool pants suit had saved her. The wetness never made it
through the wool so it didn’t show. She said it was uncomfortable but
the fact that the pants were lined kept the wool from scratching. The
only thing was that she’d have to have the pants dry cleaned. I
immediately thought that it was a small price to pay to avoid
embarrassment.
Tuesday was Ginger’s day to watch Kaye. I
was supposed to drop her off but Ginger called before I left the house.
One of her kids left their lunch home and she had to take it to the
school. Since she was already out it made sense to just stop by. When
she arrived I had Kay all ready and was prepared to take off for work as
soon as she left. However, she handed a paper bag to me and told me to
give it to Elle. I really didn’t want to take the time to walk back to
the house. I watched her drive down the hill and got into my car. I
wasn’t thinking about what might be in the bag as I wanted to stop and
see James on my way in to work. He’d left a message for me to stop by
and see him. He was out at the gas pumps as I drove up. It was the best
I’d seen him look since he’d brought Peggy home. He wanted to tell me
that Peggy’s baby was going to be christened on Sunday and he want Elle
and I to be there. Even though it wasn’t something I wanted to do it was
something I knew I had to do. I made the comment that Peggy must be
doing better and his face just lit up. I also asked if she was up to
having visitors as Elle and I had some things for the baby. He thought
for a few seconds and told me he wanted to talk with his wife first but
that Thursday might be good.
As it turned out I had to
go to the printer’s to get an order of deposit tickets that we needed
for the ”busy period“. I’d become friends with the man and wife who
owned and ran the shop so I could call in for a rush order pretty much
any time i needed it. At the shop I just slid the box onto the passenger
seat. As I did I saw the bag that Ginger had given me for Elle. I
decided to take a peek inside. It made my day. Right on top were the
”dribble panties“ that Elle had given her and right under them were four
pair of regular panties. As I pulled them out I recognized the waist
elastic... Shadowline.
To be continued...
Monday, December 29, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Update...
Update...
Home at last!
Status of our daughter, Jean... holding her own. Most of the tests that had her “spooked” turned out out negative. Not all the results are back (holiday delays) but the important ones showed no tumors. She started radiation while we were there and, in spite of her apprehension, she seems to have no real problems with it.
For those who said a prayer or two for her, thanks a lot!
My hope is to return to posting either tomorrow or Tuesday.
Pantymaven
Home at last!
Status of our daughter, Jean... holding her own. Most of the tests that had her “spooked” turned out out negative. Not all the results are back (holiday delays) but the important ones showed no tumors. She started radiation while we were there and, in spite of her apprehension, she seems to have no real problems with it.
For those who said a prayer or two for her, thanks a lot!
My hope is to return to posting either tomorrow or Tuesday.
Pantymaven
Thursday, December 18, 2014
A heads up...
The plans were to go visit the daughter who recently had the breast cancer operation over Christmas but not until the day before. However, she was to start her radiation therapy tomorrow but the doctors were concerned about another potential problem that turned up following her operation. Now she’s all in a “tizzy” and wants us to come now, before Christmas. My wife, of course, said “Yes” and we fly there tomorrow morning at 8:10am. At this point I don’t know how long we’ll be there but my guess is that it’ll be through Christmas. My hope is that we'll be back home before the New Year. When I do get back I’ll continue with the blog. There’s a really interesting part coming up...
For my faithful readers... I hope you and your families have a MERRY CHRISTMAS! As you celebrate the season I’d like to ask that you say a prayer for my daughter, Jean, that she can regain some normalcy to her life. She’d had a very rough year.
Pantymaven
For my faithful readers... I hope you and your families have a MERRY CHRISTMAS! As you celebrate the season I’d like to ask that you say a prayer for my daughter, Jean, that she can regain some normalcy to her life. She’d had a very rough year.
Pantymaven
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127i)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127i)
After supper I changed and headed out to my racecar driver friend, Cliffy’s, to try and make arrangements for him to bring his father’s wrecker to the garage where we’d been working on “B’s” motor and to help us get in the car. He and his brother each had a racecar and they were both there working on them. It’d been quite a while since I’d seen him. I was kind of surprised to see two young boys (about 7 and 9 years old) with him. I’d sort of lost track of him and didn’t realize his kids were that old. We reminisced a bit before he said he could come over the next afternoon. As I drove home I was happy that something had finally gone right that week even though I knew Elle would be even more unhappy with me when I told her I’d be gone Saturday afternoon.
Things were “chilly” between us even before I told her of my upcoming plans but there was no turning back. I got in touch with “Big B” to tell him I’d made the arrangements and he sounded excited. We were both anxious to get the motor in the car and to get it running. I tried to get as many of my usual Saturday “chores” done before heading off to the garage but that didn’t help my status with Elle. However, I knew she’d eventually get over it, probably with me having to buy her something. “B” was waiting when I got there and had the garage doors open and everything cleared away from both the motor and car. When Cliffy arrived it only took a short time to move the car and to get the motor in place.
I remember now that Cliffy was a bit nostalgic when he saw the car. He explained that this was the first car that he’d actually had a hand in the building of it. The car had been put together for his brother-in-law to race but he’d proved to be a “chicken” (Cliffy’s word) and it hadn’t been raced all that much. Cliffy had driven it for a while (and I remember racing against him when he did) and then it just sat collecting dust until “B” bought it. I fully expected him to leave once the motor was in place but he offered to hang around a bit and to see the motor actually run. We didn’t have the radiator so I was concerned about running it without water. Cliffy told us we wouldn’t hurt anything by running it for just a few minutes as long as we had oil in it. Actually, I was glad he was there because he showed us a trick or two in getting it started for the first time. I won’t say I was nervous but, when putting that many pieces together to make a whole there’s always the chance of missing something. But it sounded good. Noisy, but good. There are no mufflers on race cars so it was a good thing that there were no neighbors. We let it run for just a minute but it was enough to get broad smiles on both “B’s” and my faces.
Back at home I was mildly surprised to find Elle in a reasonably good mood. Notice I used the qualifier, “reasonably”. For anything other than conversation I’d have been rebuffed. I quickly found the reason. Johnnie and Sandy were coming over after the kids went to bed. I didn’t get a direct answer when I asked why and chose not to pursue it so as not to upset the relative calm.
They arrived a little past 8pm. I was a bit concerned in that even though I’d promised to attend Johnnie’s last game, I hadn’t. I apologized and he brushed it off. He said it had gone like most games with the inexperience of the kids causing them to lose once again. And then... Johnnie started talking about his “plan”. As soon as he started Sandy got up and took Elle with her. I listened as he outlined his idea of how to get elementary school kids exposed to the rudiments of basketball. (A refresher... Physical Eduction for the elementary school did not prepare the kids for team sports as they arrived in Junior High School. Johnnie had started the very first junior varsity basketball team for the school and only a few kids had any experience in even handling a basketball.) He was willing to put on clinics during the Summer for 10 to 14 year olds in oredr to “get them up to speed”. However, he needed people to assist him and he was there to ask me.
I loved playing basketball when I was in school and had even signed up for the Town team that Johnnie had tried to put together. This concept was something different and it only took me a few minutes of listening to know I wasn’t what he was looking for. Having only worked with three girls of my own (along with their friends), I had no experience working with young boys plus I already knew I wasn’t a “teacher type”. As Johnnie outlined his “plan” I could see it was also going to interfere with my own Summer plans. The clinics were to be Saturday mornings, time I needed at home to get my “chores” done so I could go off racing with “B” in the afternoons. I liked Johnnie, a lot, so it was hard to tell him “No.”
Elle and Sandy had retreated to the kitchen. When we walked in Sandy jumped up and said it was time to go. I was a bit disappointed with that but she had her mind made up. I didn’t have to explain to Elle what Johnnie and I’d been talking about as Sandy had already done so. To make conversation I asked what they’d talked about hoping the “dribble panties” might've come up. Elle gave me the usual “girl talk” answer and I chided her a bit on it. I didn’t want to go too far in that direction and was pleasantly surprised when she told me that Sandy thought she might be pregnant. That news didn’t really excite me but that was all I got.
Elle didn’t usually wear her “dribble panties” when at home but while getting undressed for bed I noticed she had a pair on. Still a bit uncertain about my “status” I refrained from going up to her to get a feel of them. I got up the courage to ask why she was wearing them and she told me she’d been over to Ginger’s house with the kids. I felt that was enough of a “lead-in” to ask if Ginger had tried the ones she’d given her. I could see from her initial reaction that it hadn’t been a good idea but, after hesitating turning towards me, and with a somewhat exasperated tone, stated that, yes, she wanted Elle to make her up a few pair... and then emphatically said “Good night!”, climbed into bed and turned out her light.
Even though I had no details the information was enough for me to lie in bed fantasizing about working on the panties that Ginger would provide. Ever since we’d finished up the ones for Sandy I’d have a “sensual” feeling whenever I’d see her knowing that there was the possibility that she was wearing a pair that I’d had a hand in making. Now I’d get that feeling from seeing two women. It made for some nice bedtime thoughts.
To be continued...
After supper I changed and headed out to my racecar driver friend, Cliffy’s, to try and make arrangements for him to bring his father’s wrecker to the garage where we’d been working on “B’s” motor and to help us get in the car. He and his brother each had a racecar and they were both there working on them. It’d been quite a while since I’d seen him. I was kind of surprised to see two young boys (about 7 and 9 years old) with him. I’d sort of lost track of him and didn’t realize his kids were that old. We reminisced a bit before he said he could come over the next afternoon. As I drove home I was happy that something had finally gone right that week even though I knew Elle would be even more unhappy with me when I told her I’d be gone Saturday afternoon.
Things were “chilly” between us even before I told her of my upcoming plans but there was no turning back. I got in touch with “Big B” to tell him I’d made the arrangements and he sounded excited. We were both anxious to get the motor in the car and to get it running. I tried to get as many of my usual Saturday “chores” done before heading off to the garage but that didn’t help my status with Elle. However, I knew she’d eventually get over it, probably with me having to buy her something. “B” was waiting when I got there and had the garage doors open and everything cleared away from both the motor and car. When Cliffy arrived it only took a short time to move the car and to get the motor in place.
I remember now that Cliffy was a bit nostalgic when he saw the car. He explained that this was the first car that he’d actually had a hand in the building of it. The car had been put together for his brother-in-law to race but he’d proved to be a “chicken” (Cliffy’s word) and it hadn’t been raced all that much. Cliffy had driven it for a while (and I remember racing against him when he did) and then it just sat collecting dust until “B” bought it. I fully expected him to leave once the motor was in place but he offered to hang around a bit and to see the motor actually run. We didn’t have the radiator so I was concerned about running it without water. Cliffy told us we wouldn’t hurt anything by running it for just a few minutes as long as we had oil in it. Actually, I was glad he was there because he showed us a trick or two in getting it started for the first time. I won’t say I was nervous but, when putting that many pieces together to make a whole there’s always the chance of missing something. But it sounded good. Noisy, but good. There are no mufflers on race cars so it was a good thing that there were no neighbors. We let it run for just a minute but it was enough to get broad smiles on both “B’s” and my faces.
Back at home I was mildly surprised to find Elle in a reasonably good mood. Notice I used the qualifier, “reasonably”. For anything other than conversation I’d have been rebuffed. I quickly found the reason. Johnnie and Sandy were coming over after the kids went to bed. I didn’t get a direct answer when I asked why and chose not to pursue it so as not to upset the relative calm.
They arrived a little past 8pm. I was a bit concerned in that even though I’d promised to attend Johnnie’s last game, I hadn’t. I apologized and he brushed it off. He said it had gone like most games with the inexperience of the kids causing them to lose once again. And then... Johnnie started talking about his “plan”. As soon as he started Sandy got up and took Elle with her. I listened as he outlined his idea of how to get elementary school kids exposed to the rudiments of basketball. (A refresher... Physical Eduction for the elementary school did not prepare the kids for team sports as they arrived in Junior High School. Johnnie had started the very first junior varsity basketball team for the school and only a few kids had any experience in even handling a basketball.) He was willing to put on clinics during the Summer for 10 to 14 year olds in oredr to “get them up to speed”. However, he needed people to assist him and he was there to ask me.
I loved playing basketball when I was in school and had even signed up for the Town team that Johnnie had tried to put together. This concept was something different and it only took me a few minutes of listening to know I wasn’t what he was looking for. Having only worked with three girls of my own (along with their friends), I had no experience working with young boys plus I already knew I wasn’t a “teacher type”. As Johnnie outlined his “plan” I could see it was also going to interfere with my own Summer plans. The clinics were to be Saturday mornings, time I needed at home to get my “chores” done so I could go off racing with “B” in the afternoons. I liked Johnnie, a lot, so it was hard to tell him “No.”
Elle and Sandy had retreated to the kitchen. When we walked in Sandy jumped up and said it was time to go. I was a bit disappointed with that but she had her mind made up. I didn’t have to explain to Elle what Johnnie and I’d been talking about as Sandy had already done so. To make conversation I asked what they’d talked about hoping the “dribble panties” might've come up. Elle gave me the usual “girl talk” answer and I chided her a bit on it. I didn’t want to go too far in that direction and was pleasantly surprised when she told me that Sandy thought she might be pregnant. That news didn’t really excite me but that was all I got.
Elle didn’t usually wear her “dribble panties” when at home but while getting undressed for bed I noticed she had a pair on. Still a bit uncertain about my “status” I refrained from going up to her to get a feel of them. I got up the courage to ask why she was wearing them and she told me she’d been over to Ginger’s house with the kids. I felt that was enough of a “lead-in” to ask if Ginger had tried the ones she’d given her. I could see from her initial reaction that it hadn’t been a good idea but, after hesitating turning towards me, and with a somewhat exasperated tone, stated that, yes, she wanted Elle to make her up a few pair... and then emphatically said “Good night!”, climbed into bed and turned out her light.
Even though I had no details the information was enough for me to lie in bed fantasizing about working on the panties that Ginger would provide. Ever since we’d finished up the ones for Sandy I’d have a “sensual” feeling whenever I’d see her knowing that there was the possibility that she was wearing a pair that I’d had a hand in making. Now I’d get that feeling from seeing two women. It made for some nice bedtime thoughts.
To be continued...
Saturday, December 13, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127h)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127h)
I was awake early the next morning, nervous about the prospects for both presentations. I waited to tell both Trish and Lena about what was to happen and their role in it about an hour before the meeting. We did a run through that wasn’t great but was acceptable, at least in my eyes. They were both instructed to wait to change into their pants suits until I told them to get ready. They’d both promised not to tell anyone what was going on. In reality, the service bureau presentation was really critical because, if the Board failed to act, the bank could find itself with a large problem so my focus was on that. Time dragged until 3pm when the Board convened and then, even more, as the mortgage applications were submitted, discussed and approved before we were allowed in.
Trish had chosen a green and gray wool tweed suit. The jacket was about the same length as the one on Elle’s new outfit. Lena seemed to live in varying shades of gray and this particular one was quite dark. However, the jacket didn’t go down quite as far as the one Trish was wearing. They both looked very stylish. All we had to do was wait for the call to enter the room.
As the saying goes, “The best laid plans ofttimes go astray.” When two of the Board members saw Trish and Lena walk in wearing pants they immediately objected. In spite of Bert trying to calm them down they wouldn’t stop protesting until he finally asked the women to leave. I couldn’t believe it. I felt really bad for them and wished I could have gone out to calm them down. Instead of taking up the matter of the service bureau it was the dress code that took front and center. Order was finally restored and Bert presented the dress code report I’d prepared. After about five minutes the two men, both in their 80’s, got up and walked out. At that point the Board member attorney who had spoken up in an earlier discussions about why the Board couldn’t set a specific length of skirts made an impassioned plea for common sense to prevail. He stated that it was only a matter of time until pants on females would be a standard manner of dress in all phases of the workplace. He closed by saying that in his own law office over half the women employees wore trousers... and some without a coat or jacket. I remember standing there thinking that maybe he’d be able to sway the others. He did, but only to a point. The board passed the proposal with one covenant... the women must wear a jacket that covers their buttocks, much like a man’s jacket did. I didn’t know weather to be happy or sad.
Because so much time had elapsed during this whole scene, a motion was made and passed to table the service bureau proposal until the next meeting. That really bothered me. I couldn’t believe how short sighted these supposed “pillars of the community” were. By the time I was excused from the Board room neither Lena nor Trish were still at the bank. I went looking for them but was told they had both left for the day. When I got downstairs I saw Laura and asked if she’d talked with Trish before she left. She said that she hadn’t but that she noticed that she was very, very upset and that fact upset me even more. I wondered why those two fossilized Board members were even still on the Board. At the few meetings that I’d acted as the secretary one of the men slept having to be poked awake to cast a vote. I was not in a good mood when driving home.
Elle knew better than to try and talk with me until after I’d eaten and had time alone to calm down. She wanted to know when would be a good time to go see Peggy and take the clothes she’d bought for the baby. With all that was going on in my world I’d forgotten about Peggy. I told her I’d stop by and ask Jim in the morning. At least the subject of Peggy got my mind off of the situation with the Board. I found I couldn’t concentrate on the TV as my thoughts were on her and what she was going to do. Only 18, with a baby and no husband, her future didn’t look all that bright and I pondered over just what I could do to help. I didn’t come up with an answer.
I stopped to see James on my way to work the next morning and had a good conversation with him. He promised to let me know when he and his wife felt Peggy would be ready to accept visitors. I offered to do anything I could to help her and he said he'd let me know. I hoped he wasn’t just mouthing words.
The fall-out from the pants suit debacle had made the rounds of the bank by the time I got there the next morning. In thinking about it as I write this the big surprise was how upset meek and mild Lena was. She didn’t call out the Board members by name who’d raised the fuss but, by inference, she did. Trish was waiting by Hobie’s desk for him to get in and didn’t want to talk with me. At that point I was just a spectator.
When Hobie did arrive he told Trish to go upstairs to Bert’s office and he would soon follow. I didn’t dare say a word. All I could think of was that the whole thing was so stupid. After they both had gone Laura came over to tell me that Trish was going to quit. She’d told Laura that she’d been humiliated by what had happened. The thought of Trish leaving was a scary thought. I knew there were so many things that she did in a day that weren’t noticed by others that her absence would soon create havoc. I didn’t hold my breath but it sure felt like I was. Hobie returned and stopped by to say that Trish had been excused for the rest of the day and all of the next one as well. I didn’t dare follow up on what Laura had told me. I did find an excuse to go upstairs and saw that Lena was busy at her desk. That told me that something had been worked out. I just hoped that something could be worked out with Trish as well.
By Friday night I was looking for something to do that didn’t have anything to do with the bank. I'd had a toothache on top of everything else and was able to get an appointment after 4pm. Bret said he sit in for me for the late duty to 6pm. I was in and out of the dentist chair quickly. It allowed me to get home early and as I pulled up the driveway I recognized Ginger’s station wagon. I’d been so preoccupied with things at the bank and Peggy that I’d completely forgotten that Elle had given her a pair of her “dribble panties“ after the party the previous Saturday night. Walking up the path visualized Ginger wearing them. She’d lost a fair amount of weight but I still wondered how tight they might be on her. I knew I wouldn’t get any answers until after she left. It didn’t stop me from wondering how she’d made out with them and if she’d put them to the ”test“. Unfortunately, her visit had nothing to do with the panties. Anne, my middle daughter had become close friends with Ginger’s oldest daughter and she’d come over after school. My arrival hastened their leaving. It didn’t stop me from asking though. Elle just scrunched up her face and walked away when I asked. With that I pretty much knew it was going to ”cost” me something. However, Elle wouldn’t give me any satisfaction which made me mad.
To be continued...
I was awake early the next morning, nervous about the prospects for both presentations. I waited to tell both Trish and Lena about what was to happen and their role in it about an hour before the meeting. We did a run through that wasn’t great but was acceptable, at least in my eyes. They were both instructed to wait to change into their pants suits until I told them to get ready. They’d both promised not to tell anyone what was going on. In reality, the service bureau presentation was really critical because, if the Board failed to act, the bank could find itself with a large problem so my focus was on that. Time dragged until 3pm when the Board convened and then, even more, as the mortgage applications were submitted, discussed and approved before we were allowed in.
Trish had chosen a green and gray wool tweed suit. The jacket was about the same length as the one on Elle’s new outfit. Lena seemed to live in varying shades of gray and this particular one was quite dark. However, the jacket didn’t go down quite as far as the one Trish was wearing. They both looked very stylish. All we had to do was wait for the call to enter the room.
As the saying goes, “The best laid plans ofttimes go astray.” When two of the Board members saw Trish and Lena walk in wearing pants they immediately objected. In spite of Bert trying to calm them down they wouldn’t stop protesting until he finally asked the women to leave. I couldn’t believe it. I felt really bad for them and wished I could have gone out to calm them down. Instead of taking up the matter of the service bureau it was the dress code that took front and center. Order was finally restored and Bert presented the dress code report I’d prepared. After about five minutes the two men, both in their 80’s, got up and walked out. At that point the Board member attorney who had spoken up in an earlier discussions about why the Board couldn’t set a specific length of skirts made an impassioned plea for common sense to prevail. He stated that it was only a matter of time until pants on females would be a standard manner of dress in all phases of the workplace. He closed by saying that in his own law office over half the women employees wore trousers... and some without a coat or jacket. I remember standing there thinking that maybe he’d be able to sway the others. He did, but only to a point. The board passed the proposal with one covenant... the women must wear a jacket that covers their buttocks, much like a man’s jacket did. I didn’t know weather to be happy or sad.
Because so much time had elapsed during this whole scene, a motion was made and passed to table the service bureau proposal until the next meeting. That really bothered me. I couldn’t believe how short sighted these supposed “pillars of the community” were. By the time I was excused from the Board room neither Lena nor Trish were still at the bank. I went looking for them but was told they had both left for the day. When I got downstairs I saw Laura and asked if she’d talked with Trish before she left. She said that she hadn’t but that she noticed that she was very, very upset and that fact upset me even more. I wondered why those two fossilized Board members were even still on the Board. At the few meetings that I’d acted as the secretary one of the men slept having to be poked awake to cast a vote. I was not in a good mood when driving home.
Elle knew better than to try and talk with me until after I’d eaten and had time alone to calm down. She wanted to know when would be a good time to go see Peggy and take the clothes she’d bought for the baby. With all that was going on in my world I’d forgotten about Peggy. I told her I’d stop by and ask Jim in the morning. At least the subject of Peggy got my mind off of the situation with the Board. I found I couldn’t concentrate on the TV as my thoughts were on her and what she was going to do. Only 18, with a baby and no husband, her future didn’t look all that bright and I pondered over just what I could do to help. I didn’t come up with an answer.
I stopped to see James on my way to work the next morning and had a good conversation with him. He promised to let me know when he and his wife felt Peggy would be ready to accept visitors. I offered to do anything I could to help her and he said he'd let me know. I hoped he wasn’t just mouthing words.
The fall-out from the pants suit debacle had made the rounds of the bank by the time I got there the next morning. In thinking about it as I write this the big surprise was how upset meek and mild Lena was. She didn’t call out the Board members by name who’d raised the fuss but, by inference, she did. Trish was waiting by Hobie’s desk for him to get in and didn’t want to talk with me. At that point I was just a spectator.
When Hobie did arrive he told Trish to go upstairs to Bert’s office and he would soon follow. I didn’t dare say a word. All I could think of was that the whole thing was so stupid. After they both had gone Laura came over to tell me that Trish was going to quit. She’d told Laura that she’d been humiliated by what had happened. The thought of Trish leaving was a scary thought. I knew there were so many things that she did in a day that weren’t noticed by others that her absence would soon create havoc. I didn’t hold my breath but it sure felt like I was. Hobie returned and stopped by to say that Trish had been excused for the rest of the day and all of the next one as well. I didn’t dare follow up on what Laura had told me. I did find an excuse to go upstairs and saw that Lena was busy at her desk. That told me that something had been worked out. I just hoped that something could be worked out with Trish as well.
By Friday night I was looking for something to do that didn’t have anything to do with the bank. I'd had a toothache on top of everything else and was able to get an appointment after 4pm. Bret said he sit in for me for the late duty to 6pm. I was in and out of the dentist chair quickly. It allowed me to get home early and as I pulled up the driveway I recognized Ginger’s station wagon. I’d been so preoccupied with things at the bank and Peggy that I’d completely forgotten that Elle had given her a pair of her “dribble panties“ after the party the previous Saturday night. Walking up the path visualized Ginger wearing them. She’d lost a fair amount of weight but I still wondered how tight they might be on her. I knew I wouldn’t get any answers until after she left. It didn’t stop me from wondering how she’d made out with them and if she’d put them to the ”test“. Unfortunately, her visit had nothing to do with the panties. Anne, my middle daughter had become close friends with Ginger’s oldest daughter and she’d come over after school. My arrival hastened their leaving. It didn’t stop me from asking though. Elle just scrunched up her face and walked away when I asked. With that I pretty much knew it was going to ”cost” me something. However, Elle wouldn’t give me any satisfaction which made me mad.
To be continued...
Thursday, December 11, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127g)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127g)
Trish, ever the opportunist and having my undivided attention, asked, again, about modeling a pants suit for the Board of Trustees at the upcoming meeting when the dress code was to be discussed. I’d given it some thought and couldn’t come up with a plausible reason not to. The unplausable ones were the stumbling block, primarily the old geezers who believed women had no place in pants of any kind. I agreed to pass the idea by Hobie. She added that Lena was to speak to Bert, the president and her boss, about it and then walked away.
My major project was getting all the materials together concerning having a service bureau do our transaction processing. I knew from previous experience that I’d need “props” to support my presentation. The only things available were large pads on easels where I'd have to use marking pens to show comparisons. The problem with using pads was the design of the Boardroom itself. A long narrow room with a long narrow table along with an aging group of men who were loosing their hearing. Any display material had to be located at one end of the table and the person making the verbal presentation had to position himself in the middle. (Remember, this was WAY before Power Point presentations) I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it all off.
I’d only been back from lunch a short time when I got a big surprise. It was Elle. She’d come into town and had met with the school administrator about the temporary position she'd been offered. I could tell she was being “coy“ with me by the look on her face. She couldn’t hold it for long and admitted that she’d talked him into hiring her at the same rate of pay as a contract teacher. We’d gone over what it would mean at home and it was a substantial amount of money even with paying her mother to watch, Kaye, our youngest. As much as I wanted to celebrate with her it just wasn’t appropriate in a working situation. Before she left she told me that while she was in town she wanted to buy some clothes for Peggy’s new baby. When she mentioned that I suggested that she go to the new department store down the street and go to the basement where they’d just opened baby and children’s clothes section. At that point I headed back upstairs and she went out the front door.
I spent most of that afternoon creating charts and graphs on large pads. Before he left for the day I had Hobie sit in on a run through. He made some positive suggestions and when I asked about how to position myself so all the members could hear me he suggested getting Bret to come in and flip the pages for me. It seemed reasonable so we left it at that. He’d only been gone a short time when Trish popped in. She wanted to know how I’d made out with Hobie and the idea of both she and Lena modeling pants suits. I could’ve kicked myself. I immediately realized that by having Trish and Lena do the page turning in pants suits was a way to segue into the dress code issue. It was something to ponder overnight.
As soon as I walked in the door at home that night Elle ”attacked” me by asking if I’d seen any of the new Spring clothes at the department store. I had, but I hadn’t paid much attention to them. When the manager had taken me back to the store after the Chamber meeting to open an account I’d given a cursory look at everything but, as you would suspect, focused on the lingerie department. Elle wasted no time on reminding me what I’d promised for giving up information on Sandy and Ginger back after the party as well as the incident with Sandy at the basketball game. Before I could utter a sound she told me she’d seen the most beautiful velour outfit and I could pay off my “debt” if I’d let her have it. When I asked how much it cost she just shrugged her shoulders and gave me an innocent smile. I knew I was “hooked“. She told me she’d had them put it away for her and that told me it was all over.
I had to wait all the next day for the right opportunity to broach the subject of Trish and Lena doing the page turning and modeling at the same time. Hobie’s initial reaction was negative until I told him about Lena being a part of it. All the Trustees liked Lena and, when Hobie heard her name mentioned, he headed straight for Bert’s office. He was only gone but for a few minutes and gave me a ”thumbs up” signal as he walked back through the door. I was relieved when he told me that Bert would be the one to present the dress code to the Board after my presentation. I was happy about that as it wasn’t something I was looking forward to.
However, I knew I’d have to do another run through with the service bureau presentation using both Trish and Lena. Not wanting to let “the cat out of the bag” I decided to not fully tell them about their roll in it and why. Before leaving that night I told them that nothing had been decided about them modeling but to bring their “suits” and to be prepared to go before the Board. All in all I was pleased with my service bureau “pitch” and with both Hobie and Bert behind having the two women model pants suits, that gave me hope that the Board would approve the new dress code as well.
The last thing on my agenda for the day was to go get the outfit Elle had picked out. I will admit it was stunning, just on the hanger. It was robin’s egg blue with pants, skirt and jacket... and over $40. I about choked. I’d figured (hoped) it would be maybe $25 at the most as that was all the cash I had. I was about to head home without it when I saw the store manager and remembered that I’d opened an account with him. A few minutes later I was on my way home. I made Elle model it before she served supper and, in spite of the price, I loved it! The pants were snug, but not tight. I got a very nice VPL when she turned around. When she put the jacket on it came to to her hip bone and didn’t cover the VPL. I couldn’t wait for her to wear it.
I got an unexpected reward right after dinner. Elle cleared the dishes from the table and sent the kids to the basement to play, a rare treat for them. Then she took me by the hand and I followed her into the bathroom where she proceeded to sit on the toilet and pee through her panties with my hand nestled right up into her crotch. As I remember it, It had been a while since we’d done that. We both knew there wasn’t enough time for a ”quickie“ but I did persuade Elle to leave the wet panties on but with a pair of dribble panties over them, knowing I’d be back at her once the kids were in bed.
To be continued...
Trish, ever the opportunist and having my undivided attention, asked, again, about modeling a pants suit for the Board of Trustees at the upcoming meeting when the dress code was to be discussed. I’d given it some thought and couldn’t come up with a plausible reason not to. The unplausable ones were the stumbling block, primarily the old geezers who believed women had no place in pants of any kind. I agreed to pass the idea by Hobie. She added that Lena was to speak to Bert, the president and her boss, about it and then walked away.
My major project was getting all the materials together concerning having a service bureau do our transaction processing. I knew from previous experience that I’d need “props” to support my presentation. The only things available were large pads on easels where I'd have to use marking pens to show comparisons. The problem with using pads was the design of the Boardroom itself. A long narrow room with a long narrow table along with an aging group of men who were loosing their hearing. Any display material had to be located at one end of the table and the person making the verbal presentation had to position himself in the middle. (Remember, this was WAY before Power Point presentations) I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it all off.
I’d only been back from lunch a short time when I got a big surprise. It was Elle. She’d come into town and had met with the school administrator about the temporary position she'd been offered. I could tell she was being “coy“ with me by the look on her face. She couldn’t hold it for long and admitted that she’d talked him into hiring her at the same rate of pay as a contract teacher. We’d gone over what it would mean at home and it was a substantial amount of money even with paying her mother to watch, Kaye, our youngest. As much as I wanted to celebrate with her it just wasn’t appropriate in a working situation. Before she left she told me that while she was in town she wanted to buy some clothes for Peggy’s new baby. When she mentioned that I suggested that she go to the new department store down the street and go to the basement where they’d just opened baby and children’s clothes section. At that point I headed back upstairs and she went out the front door.
I spent most of that afternoon creating charts and graphs on large pads. Before he left for the day I had Hobie sit in on a run through. He made some positive suggestions and when I asked about how to position myself so all the members could hear me he suggested getting Bret to come in and flip the pages for me. It seemed reasonable so we left it at that. He’d only been gone a short time when Trish popped in. She wanted to know how I’d made out with Hobie and the idea of both she and Lena modeling pants suits. I could’ve kicked myself. I immediately realized that by having Trish and Lena do the page turning in pants suits was a way to segue into the dress code issue. It was something to ponder overnight.
As soon as I walked in the door at home that night Elle ”attacked” me by asking if I’d seen any of the new Spring clothes at the department store. I had, but I hadn’t paid much attention to them. When the manager had taken me back to the store after the Chamber meeting to open an account I’d given a cursory look at everything but, as you would suspect, focused on the lingerie department. Elle wasted no time on reminding me what I’d promised for giving up information on Sandy and Ginger back after the party as well as the incident with Sandy at the basketball game. Before I could utter a sound she told me she’d seen the most beautiful velour outfit and I could pay off my “debt” if I’d let her have it. When I asked how much it cost she just shrugged her shoulders and gave me an innocent smile. I knew I was “hooked“. She told me she’d had them put it away for her and that told me it was all over.
I had to wait all the next day for the right opportunity to broach the subject of Trish and Lena doing the page turning and modeling at the same time. Hobie’s initial reaction was negative until I told him about Lena being a part of it. All the Trustees liked Lena and, when Hobie heard her name mentioned, he headed straight for Bert’s office. He was only gone but for a few minutes and gave me a ”thumbs up” signal as he walked back through the door. I was relieved when he told me that Bert would be the one to present the dress code to the Board after my presentation. I was happy about that as it wasn’t something I was looking forward to.
However, I knew I’d have to do another run through with the service bureau presentation using both Trish and Lena. Not wanting to let “the cat out of the bag” I decided to not fully tell them about their roll in it and why. Before leaving that night I told them that nothing had been decided about them modeling but to bring their “suits” and to be prepared to go before the Board. All in all I was pleased with my service bureau “pitch” and with both Hobie and Bert behind having the two women model pants suits, that gave me hope that the Board would approve the new dress code as well.
The last thing on my agenda for the day was to go get the outfit Elle had picked out. I will admit it was stunning, just on the hanger. It was robin’s egg blue with pants, skirt and jacket... and over $40. I about choked. I’d figured (hoped) it would be maybe $25 at the most as that was all the cash I had. I was about to head home without it when I saw the store manager and remembered that I’d opened an account with him. A few minutes later I was on my way home. I made Elle model it before she served supper and, in spite of the price, I loved it! The pants were snug, but not tight. I got a very nice VPL when she turned around. When she put the jacket on it came to to her hip bone and didn’t cover the VPL. I couldn’t wait for her to wear it.
I got an unexpected reward right after dinner. Elle cleared the dishes from the table and sent the kids to the basement to play, a rare treat for them. Then she took me by the hand and I followed her into the bathroom where she proceeded to sit on the toilet and pee through her panties with my hand nestled right up into her crotch. As I remember it, It had been a while since we’d done that. We both knew there wasn’t enough time for a ”quickie“ but I did persuade Elle to leave the wet panties on but with a pair of dribble panties over them, knowing I’d be back at her once the kids were in bed.
To be continued...
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127f)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127f)
Elle told me she didn’t know what to say as Sandy and Ginger weren’t really close as their only interaction had been at the “group” parties. Sandy, with no kids, really didn’t have much in common with Ginger who had four. As Elle was was relating her observations I thought back to Ginger’s “accident” on our sofa and remembered that Elle and I didn’t even get to meet Sandy and her husband until later that Summer so there was no connection from that. Elle said she was in sort of a quandary because she didn’t want to say anything that would embarrass Sandy and yet couldn’t let the question go unanswered. She said the three of them stood there in the kitchen just looking at each other. Elle said it was Sandy who finally spoke and sort of somewhat drunkenly stated that she often “dribbled” and that Elle (and thankfully didn’t mention me) had come up with a solution to her problem. When Ginger asked what it was Elle, seizing the moment, said it would be easier to show her than to describe it. To avoid the possibility of Jon and Johnnie seeing the panties, she suggested they go up to our bedroom. And that was her explanation of why she (and the others) were up there.
As you can imagine, I wanted more than that and asked what Ginger’s reaction to the panties was. Elle wasn’t about to tell me and answered “it was between us girls and none of your business”.. After a little ”bartering“ (Spring was coming and she’d been angling for new clothes.) she relented and said that after showing Ginger a pair Ginger asked if Elle could make up a pair for her to try. With Ginger holding a pair in her hands she told her to just go ahead and try them. Elle then said that was the end of the story but I knew her well enough that the look on her face said there was more. There was, but the question for me was just how much was it going to ”cost“ to get it.
Even though Sandy and Ginger didn’t really know each other. because they had been drinking Elle said they both were very candid about their problems. In so doing Ginger admitted that she had just dribbled a bit when using the bathroom downstairs and was a bit wet as they stood there. Sandy then said she should go and put the panties on as there was no better time to try them... and she did just that, going into the upstairs bathroom. But that was all Elle was going to say on the matter and she made it clear that I’d gotten way more information than I should’ve. Later on, lying in bed, I went to sleep having a fantasy of the three of them, all wearing ”dribble panties“ with me in a position to observe them. As I said, it was definitely a fantasy!
On Sunday, ”B“ came by to pick up the folding chairs he’d loaned me and then we headed out to work on the racecar. I’d come up with what I hoped would be the solution to get the motor into the car without using the chain hoist and taking a chance on the beam in the garage breaking. That was to contact my racecar driver friend, Cliffy, and ask if he could bring his father’s tow truck to the garage and use it to hoist the motor up so we could install it. If that didn’t come off then we’d have to chance using the hoist. We were discussing that scenario when we headed up the driveway towards the garage. As we did we could see two vehicles pulled up by the house and by the back door. ”B“ recognized one as belonging to Jon and Rob’s parents but he didn’t recognize the other one, a Thunderbird. I didn’t know the parents so stayed at the garage as ”B“ went up to the house.
I'd not had any success building a fire in the pot bellied stove we used for heat so left it for "B" to handle. By the time I saw him returning I was cold to the bone. Before I could say anything he told me that we were going to have ”visitors“ and warned me that Jon’s father was going to make a scene about our stove so to be prepared. Jon had told us it was OK but when the father saw the stove pipe coming out of the window he was quit upset. I saw a tall, thin man wearing a long tweed overcoat heading in our direction. I also noted a female with short hair, a short coat and short skirt following right behind him. ”“B” introduced the man who, in turn, introduced the female... Leigh, Jon and Rob’s sister. As I’ve posted many times before, I always wanted to see the face of any female who’s panties I’d seen and in this case I actually had a pair of hers. It was a bit of a disappointment.
I have one outstanding memory of my first sighting of her... she had the biggest, widest mouth I’d ever seen. In looking at her face it was hard to see anything but that mouth. The father and daughter didn’t stay long with the daughter driving off first in the T-bird. The father made it clear that we were not to use the stove again and wanted it removed by the next weekend when he’d be back. As he drove away “B” looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. We did a few more things to prepare the motor to go into the car and then left for the day. On the way back to my house “B” surmised that the father had come out to follow up on what “B” had told Jon about the use of the house and had brought the daughter out to confront her. He noted that she never said a word but just stood there looking at the ground.
On the way into work Monday morning I decided to stop to see James at his service station and to find out how Peggy was adjusting to the whole situation. I remember looking at him and thinking that he’d aged in the little over a week since I’d last seen him. He reported that they’d had an uneventful trip back and that the baby was doing well. He didn’t say anything about Peggy and I decided to let that go. He told me he and his wife were truly surprised to find that Laura and all her things were gone when they arrived. I told him that Laura had found a new place to stay and that Trish (who James had come to know over the months Laura had lived there) and her boyfriend helped her move out. I remember James making a comment along the lines that he and his wife were going to miss her.
I’d become concerned about spending too much time talking with Laura especially since she wasn’t under my supervision so made a point of avoiding her that morning. Trish filled me in on moving her things and getting her settled. She said that she and her mother would feed Laura until the combo stove, sink, refrigerator unit was installed and that she would be fine. The only thing Trish added was that in moving her clothes she could see that Laura desperately needed some new ones.
To be continued...
Elle told me she didn’t know what to say as Sandy and Ginger weren’t really close as their only interaction had been at the “group” parties. Sandy, with no kids, really didn’t have much in common with Ginger who had four. As Elle was was relating her observations I thought back to Ginger’s “accident” on our sofa and remembered that Elle and I didn’t even get to meet Sandy and her husband until later that Summer so there was no connection from that. Elle said she was in sort of a quandary because she didn’t want to say anything that would embarrass Sandy and yet couldn’t let the question go unanswered. She said the three of them stood there in the kitchen just looking at each other. Elle said it was Sandy who finally spoke and sort of somewhat drunkenly stated that she often “dribbled” and that Elle (and thankfully didn’t mention me) had come up with a solution to her problem. When Ginger asked what it was Elle, seizing the moment, said it would be easier to show her than to describe it. To avoid the possibility of Jon and Johnnie seeing the panties, she suggested they go up to our bedroom. And that was her explanation of why she (and the others) were up there.
As you can imagine, I wanted more than that and asked what Ginger’s reaction to the panties was. Elle wasn’t about to tell me and answered “it was between us girls and none of your business”.. After a little ”bartering“ (Spring was coming and she’d been angling for new clothes.) she relented and said that after showing Ginger a pair Ginger asked if Elle could make up a pair for her to try. With Ginger holding a pair in her hands she told her to just go ahead and try them. Elle then said that was the end of the story but I knew her well enough that the look on her face said there was more. There was, but the question for me was just how much was it going to ”cost“ to get it.
Even though Sandy and Ginger didn’t really know each other. because they had been drinking Elle said they both were very candid about their problems. In so doing Ginger admitted that she had just dribbled a bit when using the bathroom downstairs and was a bit wet as they stood there. Sandy then said she should go and put the panties on as there was no better time to try them... and she did just that, going into the upstairs bathroom. But that was all Elle was going to say on the matter and she made it clear that I’d gotten way more information than I should’ve. Later on, lying in bed, I went to sleep having a fantasy of the three of them, all wearing ”dribble panties“ with me in a position to observe them. As I said, it was definitely a fantasy!
On Sunday, ”B“ came by to pick up the folding chairs he’d loaned me and then we headed out to work on the racecar. I’d come up with what I hoped would be the solution to get the motor into the car without using the chain hoist and taking a chance on the beam in the garage breaking. That was to contact my racecar driver friend, Cliffy, and ask if he could bring his father’s tow truck to the garage and use it to hoist the motor up so we could install it. If that didn’t come off then we’d have to chance using the hoist. We were discussing that scenario when we headed up the driveway towards the garage. As we did we could see two vehicles pulled up by the house and by the back door. ”B“ recognized one as belonging to Jon and Rob’s parents but he didn’t recognize the other one, a Thunderbird. I didn’t know the parents so stayed at the garage as ”B“ went up to the house.
I'd not had any success building a fire in the pot bellied stove we used for heat so left it for "B" to handle. By the time I saw him returning I was cold to the bone. Before I could say anything he told me that we were going to have ”visitors“ and warned me that Jon’s father was going to make a scene about our stove so to be prepared. Jon had told us it was OK but when the father saw the stove pipe coming out of the window he was quit upset. I saw a tall, thin man wearing a long tweed overcoat heading in our direction. I also noted a female with short hair, a short coat and short skirt following right behind him. ”“B” introduced the man who, in turn, introduced the female... Leigh, Jon and Rob’s sister. As I’ve posted many times before, I always wanted to see the face of any female who’s panties I’d seen and in this case I actually had a pair of hers. It was a bit of a disappointment.
I have one outstanding memory of my first sighting of her... she had the biggest, widest mouth I’d ever seen. In looking at her face it was hard to see anything but that mouth. The father and daughter didn’t stay long with the daughter driving off first in the T-bird. The father made it clear that we were not to use the stove again and wanted it removed by the next weekend when he’d be back. As he drove away “B” looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. We did a few more things to prepare the motor to go into the car and then left for the day. On the way back to my house “B” surmised that the father had come out to follow up on what “B” had told Jon about the use of the house and had brought the daughter out to confront her. He noted that she never said a word but just stood there looking at the ground.
On the way into work Monday morning I decided to stop to see James at his service station and to find out how Peggy was adjusting to the whole situation. I remember looking at him and thinking that he’d aged in the little over a week since I’d last seen him. He reported that they’d had an uneventful trip back and that the baby was doing well. He didn’t say anything about Peggy and I decided to let that go. He told me he and his wife were truly surprised to find that Laura and all her things were gone when they arrived. I told him that Laura had found a new place to stay and that Trish (who James had come to know over the months Laura had lived there) and her boyfriend helped her move out. I remember James making a comment along the lines that he and his wife were going to miss her.
I’d become concerned about spending too much time talking with Laura especially since she wasn’t under my supervision so made a point of avoiding her that morning. Trish filled me in on moving her things and getting her settled. She said that she and her mother would feed Laura until the combo stove, sink, refrigerator unit was installed and that she would be fine. The only thing Trish added was that in moving her clothes she could see that Laura desperately needed some new ones.
To be continued...
Saturday, December 06, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127e)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127e)
Saturday was basically taken up with preparing for the so called party with the ”group“. Everybody had indicated that they were coming and that meant having to borrow some folding chairs. It was now up to eighteen people if everyone came. We could accommodate up to twelve with chairs we had so it meant tracking down six more. I was in the process of doing that when I got a call from ”Big B“ about the racecar. We were almost ready to put the motor in and he’d borrowed a chain hoist. He’d gone to the garage where we’d been working on it to see how to get it hung. When he did he was concerned that the beams wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of it and wondered what we were going to do. Neither of us had thought about that when putting the motor together. It was on a a dolly that we could roll around on the floor but that was it. It was just another thing to add to the list of problems. I told him that I couldn’t think about it at the moment as I was trying to locate chairs. ”How many? was his response. Within the hour I had eight folding chairs.
I was putting the liquor I'd borrowed from my father on the kitchen counter while Elle was getting dressed when the kitchen door opened. It was only a little after 7pm and the party wasn't to start until 7:30pm. In stumbled Rob, obviously drunk. I asked where his wife Lisa was and all he did was to shrug his shoulders. He made straight for the bourbon and I tried to intercept him. He was almost 100 pounds heavier than I was so that didn’t work. I pleaded with him to wait until the others got there hoping his brother Jon could control him. He promised that he’d only have one so I agreed. But that one was a high ball glass half filled with Jim Beam. I shuttled him into the den and into my recliner, turning on the TV and wondering what the rest of the night would be like.
Once everybody was there Pat took over and it became a full blown meeting and anything but a party. Fritz, who she’d been trying to recruit to run for the other school board position, was officially “off the hook” as Pat reported that a “local” had filed for it. When she announced who it was I shuddered. “Wally” was a plumber, in business with his father. I knew him because they’d done all the plumbing work for my father. Wally was one of the most negative people I’d ever met. No matter what position you took on a subject, he’d take the opposite one. But Pat proceeded to list all the reasons why he was going to be good for what we all wanted to accomplish. Her main points were that he had a son who was in the junior high school and had vocally made known that he was dissatisfied with his progress and he was a “local”. With Bob, from the “group“, already running and considered to be an ”outlander“, having Fritz run would just dilute our chances. She said two outsiders might be too much to overcome. There wasn’t much discussion (not that there ever was when she was talking) but she didn’t stop there.
The PTA needed to raise money. She'd come up with an idea and we, the ”group”, were the key to it. What she wanted to do was geared to getting kids from the school to promote a Parents versus Teacher event. She wanted us to come up with ideas for different types of competitions that could be used. In looking back on it now, the rest of the night proved to be pretty interesting. Although there were no "fun and games" as in the past, time flew by. Because the “group” had a total of 23 kids (20 of them girls) and none older than 10, baby sitters were always needed so 10:30pm became the “witching hour” to keep costs down. Rob had passed out in my recliner and we had all been happy to just leave him there. However, I wasn’t about to let him sleep it off there. Jon volunteered to drive him home but needed help in getting him out to his car and Johnnie volunteered to help.
I held the storm door open as the two of them struggled to get Rob out and down the two steps to the patio. As Jon passed me by he asked if I’d seen his wife, Ginger. When at a party with Ginger I always had an eye peeled for her as I’d usually glean a few “peeks”. The last I’d seen of her was just before they got Rob out of the chair and she was headed into the bathroom. The window for it was right there and I pointed to it and Jon acknowledged. It took some “doing” but the three of us managed to stuff Rob and his 200+ pounds into Jon's back seat. I remember asking Jon what he was going to do with him once he got to Rob’s house. I couldn’t see his face when he answered “Just dump him!” so I didn’t know if he was kidding or not.
Since neither Ginger or Sandy had followed us outside we all made our way back into the kitchen. I fully expected to see the three women waiting for us but no one was there. The door to the cellar was partially opened so I called down to see if, for some unknown reason, they’d gone down there. I saw there was a light on but no one answered. That left me to call upstairs. On the third try I saw Elle stick her head out from our bedroom door and heard her say that it’d only be a minute. I was puzzled. What were they doing in my (our) bedroom?
I waited at the foot of the stairs for all three to come down. For some reason Ginger looked a bit embarrassed as she walked past me. Good nights were said leaving Elle and I to pick up the residue from the party. That was the one thing hated the most after hosting... the clean up. Elle insisted that it be done before going to bed as she didn’t want to face it in the morning. However, on this occasion I realized that it would give me the time to inquire about the women's visit to out bedroom. As usual, Elle didn’t want to go into detail trying to get out of answering by saying it was “girly stuff” or something like that. I wasn’t buying! I told her I wanted the whole story or she was going to face the clean up by herself. I got a pouty look in return but when I started to leave she called me back.
I don’t remember everything she told me and I’m not sure of the sequence but, basically, this is what had happened... Ginger, with four kids, one right after another was left with a bit of an incontinence problem, exacerbated by alcohol. She’d full out wet herself on our couch at the first “group” party we’d hosted. I’d seen other instances of it and had, from time to time talked with Elle about it. Then, if you’ve been reading more recent posts, you're probably aware of Sandy’s “dribble” problem and how, between Elle, Sandy and I, had created what, for lack of a better description, we called “dribble panties” for her (and for Elle). When all the other people were leaving Elle and Sandy had chatted a bit and Elle asked her if she’d gotten her medications straightened out (referring to her “situation” at the last basketball game). Not really thinking, (probably because of the alcohol) Sandy announced that her “dribble panties” had been sufficient that night. Ginger overheard her comment and wanted to know what she was referring to.
To be continued...
Saturday was basically taken up with preparing for the so called party with the ”group“. Everybody had indicated that they were coming and that meant having to borrow some folding chairs. It was now up to eighteen people if everyone came. We could accommodate up to twelve with chairs we had so it meant tracking down six more. I was in the process of doing that when I got a call from ”Big B“ about the racecar. We were almost ready to put the motor in and he’d borrowed a chain hoist. He’d gone to the garage where we’d been working on it to see how to get it hung. When he did he was concerned that the beams wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of it and wondered what we were going to do. Neither of us had thought about that when putting the motor together. It was on a a dolly that we could roll around on the floor but that was it. It was just another thing to add to the list of problems. I told him that I couldn’t think about it at the moment as I was trying to locate chairs. ”How many? was his response. Within the hour I had eight folding chairs.
I was putting the liquor I'd borrowed from my father on the kitchen counter while Elle was getting dressed when the kitchen door opened. It was only a little after 7pm and the party wasn't to start until 7:30pm. In stumbled Rob, obviously drunk. I asked where his wife Lisa was and all he did was to shrug his shoulders. He made straight for the bourbon and I tried to intercept him. He was almost 100 pounds heavier than I was so that didn’t work. I pleaded with him to wait until the others got there hoping his brother Jon could control him. He promised that he’d only have one so I agreed. But that one was a high ball glass half filled with Jim Beam. I shuttled him into the den and into my recliner, turning on the TV and wondering what the rest of the night would be like.
Once everybody was there Pat took over and it became a full blown meeting and anything but a party. Fritz, who she’d been trying to recruit to run for the other school board position, was officially “off the hook” as Pat reported that a “local” had filed for it. When she announced who it was I shuddered. “Wally” was a plumber, in business with his father. I knew him because they’d done all the plumbing work for my father. Wally was one of the most negative people I’d ever met. No matter what position you took on a subject, he’d take the opposite one. But Pat proceeded to list all the reasons why he was going to be good for what we all wanted to accomplish. Her main points were that he had a son who was in the junior high school and had vocally made known that he was dissatisfied with his progress and he was a “local”. With Bob, from the “group“, already running and considered to be an ”outlander“, having Fritz run would just dilute our chances. She said two outsiders might be too much to overcome. There wasn’t much discussion (not that there ever was when she was talking) but she didn’t stop there.
The PTA needed to raise money. She'd come up with an idea and we, the ”group”, were the key to it. What she wanted to do was geared to getting kids from the school to promote a Parents versus Teacher event. She wanted us to come up with ideas for different types of competitions that could be used. In looking back on it now, the rest of the night proved to be pretty interesting. Although there were no "fun and games" as in the past, time flew by. Because the “group” had a total of 23 kids (20 of them girls) and none older than 10, baby sitters were always needed so 10:30pm became the “witching hour” to keep costs down. Rob had passed out in my recliner and we had all been happy to just leave him there. However, I wasn’t about to let him sleep it off there. Jon volunteered to drive him home but needed help in getting him out to his car and Johnnie volunteered to help.
I held the storm door open as the two of them struggled to get Rob out and down the two steps to the patio. As Jon passed me by he asked if I’d seen his wife, Ginger. When at a party with Ginger I always had an eye peeled for her as I’d usually glean a few “peeks”. The last I’d seen of her was just before they got Rob out of the chair and she was headed into the bathroom. The window for it was right there and I pointed to it and Jon acknowledged. It took some “doing” but the three of us managed to stuff Rob and his 200+ pounds into Jon's back seat. I remember asking Jon what he was going to do with him once he got to Rob’s house. I couldn’t see his face when he answered “Just dump him!” so I didn’t know if he was kidding or not.
Since neither Ginger or Sandy had followed us outside we all made our way back into the kitchen. I fully expected to see the three women waiting for us but no one was there. The door to the cellar was partially opened so I called down to see if, for some unknown reason, they’d gone down there. I saw there was a light on but no one answered. That left me to call upstairs. On the third try I saw Elle stick her head out from our bedroom door and heard her say that it’d only be a minute. I was puzzled. What were they doing in my (our) bedroom?
I waited at the foot of the stairs for all three to come down. For some reason Ginger looked a bit embarrassed as she walked past me. Good nights were said leaving Elle and I to pick up the residue from the party. That was the one thing hated the most after hosting... the clean up. Elle insisted that it be done before going to bed as she didn’t want to face it in the morning. However, on this occasion I realized that it would give me the time to inquire about the women's visit to out bedroom. As usual, Elle didn’t want to go into detail trying to get out of answering by saying it was “girly stuff” or something like that. I wasn’t buying! I told her I wanted the whole story or she was going to face the clean up by herself. I got a pouty look in return but when I started to leave she called me back.
I don’t remember everything she told me and I’m not sure of the sequence but, basically, this is what had happened... Ginger, with four kids, one right after another was left with a bit of an incontinence problem, exacerbated by alcohol. She’d full out wet herself on our couch at the first “group” party we’d hosted. I’d seen other instances of it and had, from time to time talked with Elle about it. Then, if you’ve been reading more recent posts, you're probably aware of Sandy’s “dribble” problem and how, between Elle, Sandy and I, had created what, for lack of a better description, we called “dribble panties” for her (and for Elle). When all the other people were leaving Elle and Sandy had chatted a bit and Elle asked her if she’d gotten her medications straightened out (referring to her “situation” at the last basketball game). Not really thinking, (probably because of the alcohol) Sandy announced that her “dribble panties” had been sufficient that night. Ginger overheard her comment and wanted to know what she was referring to.
To be continued...
Thursday, December 04, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127d)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127d)
I was to visit another of the service bureaus at the end of the week and really didn’t want to do it after seeing the first one... but I had to go through with it as one of our Board members was a friend of that bank’s president. When Laura came in to work on Wednesday she’d heard from James and he and his wife were bringing Peggy and her baby home on the weekend. The one thing she didn’t want to do was to go back to living at home full time. Being there on the weekends was hard enough. She’d met a boy she liked and even though she was over 18 years old her father prohibited her from dating. Hobie, the vice president and my boss, overheard me talking with her and her concerns with renting the quarters that Betsy had offered. Hobie’s wife and Betsy were close friends. After hearing Laura explain the situation he said he'd speak to Betsy and see what he could do. At that point, thankfully, the matter was out of my hands.
Elle had received a phone call from the principal of the first school she’d taught at after I’d given up racing horses and moved back to the area. He was now an administrator for the school district where the bank was located. He was faced with finding a substitute teacher to finish out the school year for a woman who was pregnant and having difficulties. At one time Elle and I had talked about such a situation that had occurred in our own school district. She felt it was unfair for a substitute to have to do all the duties of a salaried teacher while only being paid about 40% of what that teacher was paid. She was also aware that if she were to turn down an opportunity that she’d go to the bottom of the call list so she called and asked what she should do. I was up to my eyeballs with everything I was involved in and didn’t have the time to go over what we’d already discussed so, more or less, blew her off by telling her to go see the administrator and tell him how she felt. She wasn’t happy with me when I hung up.
The appointment with the other service bureau was geared to a luncheon so I'd had time to go in to work before heading out. When I looked over at Laura she was wearing a smile, something that had been missing all week. I didn’t want to be too obvious so waited to ask Trish what was up. Hobie had done what he said he’d do and had spoken not only to Betsy but to her husband as well. He'd talked them into lowering the rent but had also persuaded them to buy a “combo” unit with a sink, small refrigerator and stove. It seemed like one of my “problems” was well on the way to being solved. At least I didn’t have that on my mind as I drove to the appointment.
The man in charge of this service bureau was very definitely Swedish, from the blond hair, his accent and his name, Sven. I was a bit concerned as we ate lunch because he spoke as if it was a done deal between his bank and mine. I let it slide as him being an optimist. My real concern came when viewing the facilities. The operations center was located in the basement of the main office and definitely an afterthought. There was absolutely no room for expansion. When I asked about that, Sven said they’d address it when it became necessary. The other service bureau had been located in a stand alone building with room for at least two more computers. As the afternoon progressed, I began to have more and more doubts about the viability of doing business with them. Without going into details, we (my bank) would be nothing more than like a branch of their bank, only able to offer the same services, products and rates they offered. There was no customization of any of their programs allowed. Their cost per transaction was lower but there were other expenses that wouldn’t be covered like the messenger service to deliver the daily reports. Each of the two service bureaus used a different equipment manufacturer and the purchase cost was basically the same for each. My first attempt at bringing the bank into the present (using electronics) had been shot down by the cost of the equipment we’d need but the Board had somewhat come to grips with that. As I left for home I knew I’d have to “sell” the idea based upon our need to be competitive with other financial institutions. I didn’t “know” many of the Board members but what little I did know about them was that they enjoyed living in the past. It was going to be difficult.
I went straight home only to find Elle still mad at me for not taking time to fully listen to her about the job offer. She, rather curtly, told me she’d made an appointment to go in and see the administrator the following week. All I could say was that I agreed with her position. Even though it had been primarily me who had negative feelings about Pat (the PTA lady), I found that part of Elle’s anger was derived from a call Pat had made to her that afternoon. I’d seen her as a “control freak“ for quite a while but Elle had pretty much defended her. Pat had called to tell Elle what she (Pat) wanted served at the party we were hosting for the group on Saturday evening. So, needless to say it was a ”chilly“ meal and evening for me.
My goal was to be at work early the next day to try and intercept Hobie before he got too involved. The reason was to find out just how ”tight“ the Board member was with the president of the bank with the service bureau that I’d just visited. The one thing I didn’t want was to create friction by knocking that service bureau if it really was a ”done deal“ with them. Hobie was somewhat distressed but asked me to give him my unbiased comparison of the two. When finished I could see he foresaw a problem. He thanked me for being honest with him and told me that he’d get back to me as far as how to proceed with my presentation at the full Board meeting the next week. That meant I’d have to worry about it over the weekend.
When I got back to my desk Trish was waiting with the typed report on the dress code project I’d been working on. That, too, was to be presented at the upcoming Board meeting. Trish, not knowing the pressure I was under concerning the service bureaus, asked if I thought it would be appropriate if she ”modeled“ a pants suit for the Board since they were the basis for the whole dress code project. Like the day before, with Elle, I didn’t have the patience for a discussion on the matter right them and there and tried to defer her. But, Trish, as usual, ”pushed“ and said that Lena, the secretary for Bert, the president, had come up with the idea and was willing to do it if she had someone to join her. Lena, as I’ve described way earlier, was an unmarried, somewhat plain, woman, now in her late 30’s. Of all the females at the bank she was probably the most fashion conscious and best dressed. As the skirt hems went up so did hers but not to the extent of Katie and Jerena, the tellers that some of the Board members wanted to censure. The fact that she thought it was a good idea made me back off so I told Trish that I’d give it some thought.
To be continued...
I was to visit another of the service bureaus at the end of the week and really didn’t want to do it after seeing the first one... but I had to go through with it as one of our Board members was a friend of that bank’s president. When Laura came in to work on Wednesday she’d heard from James and he and his wife were bringing Peggy and her baby home on the weekend. The one thing she didn’t want to do was to go back to living at home full time. Being there on the weekends was hard enough. She’d met a boy she liked and even though she was over 18 years old her father prohibited her from dating. Hobie, the vice president and my boss, overheard me talking with her and her concerns with renting the quarters that Betsy had offered. Hobie’s wife and Betsy were close friends. After hearing Laura explain the situation he said he'd speak to Betsy and see what he could do. At that point, thankfully, the matter was out of my hands.
Elle had received a phone call from the principal of the first school she’d taught at after I’d given up racing horses and moved back to the area. He was now an administrator for the school district where the bank was located. He was faced with finding a substitute teacher to finish out the school year for a woman who was pregnant and having difficulties. At one time Elle and I had talked about such a situation that had occurred in our own school district. She felt it was unfair for a substitute to have to do all the duties of a salaried teacher while only being paid about 40% of what that teacher was paid. She was also aware that if she were to turn down an opportunity that she’d go to the bottom of the call list so she called and asked what she should do. I was up to my eyeballs with everything I was involved in and didn’t have the time to go over what we’d already discussed so, more or less, blew her off by telling her to go see the administrator and tell him how she felt. She wasn’t happy with me when I hung up.
The appointment with the other service bureau was geared to a luncheon so I'd had time to go in to work before heading out. When I looked over at Laura she was wearing a smile, something that had been missing all week. I didn’t want to be too obvious so waited to ask Trish what was up. Hobie had done what he said he’d do and had spoken not only to Betsy but to her husband as well. He'd talked them into lowering the rent but had also persuaded them to buy a “combo” unit with a sink, small refrigerator and stove. It seemed like one of my “problems” was well on the way to being solved. At least I didn’t have that on my mind as I drove to the appointment.
The man in charge of this service bureau was very definitely Swedish, from the blond hair, his accent and his name, Sven. I was a bit concerned as we ate lunch because he spoke as if it was a done deal between his bank and mine. I let it slide as him being an optimist. My real concern came when viewing the facilities. The operations center was located in the basement of the main office and definitely an afterthought. There was absolutely no room for expansion. When I asked about that, Sven said they’d address it when it became necessary. The other service bureau had been located in a stand alone building with room for at least two more computers. As the afternoon progressed, I began to have more and more doubts about the viability of doing business with them. Without going into details, we (my bank) would be nothing more than like a branch of their bank, only able to offer the same services, products and rates they offered. There was no customization of any of their programs allowed. Their cost per transaction was lower but there were other expenses that wouldn’t be covered like the messenger service to deliver the daily reports. Each of the two service bureaus used a different equipment manufacturer and the purchase cost was basically the same for each. My first attempt at bringing the bank into the present (using electronics) had been shot down by the cost of the equipment we’d need but the Board had somewhat come to grips with that. As I left for home I knew I’d have to “sell” the idea based upon our need to be competitive with other financial institutions. I didn’t “know” many of the Board members but what little I did know about them was that they enjoyed living in the past. It was going to be difficult.
I went straight home only to find Elle still mad at me for not taking time to fully listen to her about the job offer. She, rather curtly, told me she’d made an appointment to go in and see the administrator the following week. All I could say was that I agreed with her position. Even though it had been primarily me who had negative feelings about Pat (the PTA lady), I found that part of Elle’s anger was derived from a call Pat had made to her that afternoon. I’d seen her as a “control freak“ for quite a while but Elle had pretty much defended her. Pat had called to tell Elle what she (Pat) wanted served at the party we were hosting for the group on Saturday evening. So, needless to say it was a ”chilly“ meal and evening for me.
My goal was to be at work early the next day to try and intercept Hobie before he got too involved. The reason was to find out just how ”tight“ the Board member was with the president of the bank with the service bureau that I’d just visited. The one thing I didn’t want was to create friction by knocking that service bureau if it really was a ”done deal“ with them. Hobie was somewhat distressed but asked me to give him my unbiased comparison of the two. When finished I could see he foresaw a problem. He thanked me for being honest with him and told me that he’d get back to me as far as how to proceed with my presentation at the full Board meeting the next week. That meant I’d have to worry about it over the weekend.
When I got back to my desk Trish was waiting with the typed report on the dress code project I’d been working on. That, too, was to be presented at the upcoming Board meeting. Trish, not knowing the pressure I was under concerning the service bureaus, asked if I thought it would be appropriate if she ”modeled“ a pants suit for the Board since they were the basis for the whole dress code project. Like the day before, with Elle, I didn’t have the patience for a discussion on the matter right them and there and tried to defer her. But, Trish, as usual, ”pushed“ and said that Lena, the secretary for Bert, the president, had come up with the idea and was willing to do it if she had someone to join her. Lena, as I’ve described way earlier, was an unmarried, somewhat plain, woman, now in her late 30’s. Of all the females at the bank she was probably the most fashion conscious and best dressed. As the skirt hems went up so did hers but not to the extent of Katie and Jerena, the tellers that some of the Board members wanted to censure. The fact that she thought it was a good idea made me back off so I told Trish that I’d give it some thought.
To be continued...
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
SPRINGING AHEAD... a busy time (Part 127c)
SPRINGING AHEAD... A busy time (Part 127c)
I knew I had to be patient when asking Elle about Sandy but it was hard. The smile that had been on her face was one that I’d come to know was going to cost me something. After a little ”bartering“ (the cost of which was for a new Spring outfit) she started in to tell me. Since the middle of February she said Sandy had told her she’d been very ”uptight“ and hadn’t been feeling all that well. She went to her regular doctor who prescribed a tranquilizer to calm her down. She was supposed to take one first thing in the morning but had a hard time remembering to do it and, on this day, mistakenly, had taken two. She told Elle she felt like she was drunk and that her legs were like rubber but she insisted on being at the game. Johnnie was concerned but got her to her regular seat behind the bench but she hadn’t remembered to visit the rest room. When she tried to get up to go her legs wouldn’t hold her up so she sat back down. Johnnie had to be there an hour before the game and there were no people there to help her so she proceeded to just sit there and wet herself. Between the tranquilizers and her embarrassment she wasn’t the usual hyperactive Sandy that we were used to see at the games. We were in bed with the lights out and under the covers when Elle told me this. It always bothered Elle when I’d show ”excitement“ when I’d see the panties of another female or to see (or hear) about a wetting ”accident“ so I had to be especially careful what with she and Sandy being such good friends. When I didn’t comment I think Elle might've asked if I was still awake. I don’t remember how I responded but I do remember thinking that I’d just spent almost two hours sitting next to a woman in wet pants and hadn’t even known it. That upset me!
One thing for sure was that the incident with Sandy had taken my mind off Peggy and Laura’s problems... until the morning. I had a meeting with one of the service bureaus who the bank was considering to process our deposits and withdrawals. I should’ve been thinking about that but was consumed with thoughts of what was soon to happen with Peggy's return. The meeting was with with a regional commercial bank who maintained their own operations center. I met with the two men who oversaw the center, Alan and Bruce. I liked them right from the first handshake and, without taking you through the whole process, was ready to sign a contract before I left, but it was not my decision. If there was one piece of positive information that I was able to glean from my day was that if the bank was truly going ahead with plans for a branch, there was no way it could process the added transactions with the processing equipment we were presently using. I’d spent way more time than I anticipated so by the time I was back at the bank the employees were on their way home. Trish was still there and the look on her face told me she had some good news.
There were any number of people at work who knew James and his family. It didn’t take long for the news of the tragedy to spread and for the word that Laura would also soon need a place to live. The mother-in-law of the lady who was in charge of the accounting department, Betsy, had died right around the Christmas holiday. She’d lived in a converted garage out behind Betsy’s house. Her sister worked in the mortgage department and, after the death, had asked if Betsy would let her oldest daughter live there for a few months while her husband was waiting to be reassigned. The assignment came a lot sooner than expected and Betsy wasn’t in any rush to do anything with the space until she heard about Laura. The two of them had left early so Laura could see the space. I remember Trish holding up her crossed fingers.
At home, Elle had agreed to host the upcoming party for the ”group” on that Saturday. I was not looking forward to it. Since neither Elle nor I drank I had to “borrow” the liquor from my father. He’d been good about it in the past but I knew he’d be looking for replenishments in the not too distant future. After a call to him it was agreed he’d deliver it to the house, saving me a trip. As I was talking to him I saw lights on in the house next door. Concerned, I put on my coat to go take a look. I knew workmen had been there on a “hit or miss” basis for a few weeks but hadn’t taken the time to see, up close, what they were doing. Peering in from the back porch I didn’t recognize the kitchen. All new white cabinets rimmed the three walls I could see. There were florescent lights on the ceiling and, although no walls were moved, the space looked a lot bigger than it had when I’d been there when Celia lived there. On my way back to the house I wondered who would end up living there and if we’d like them.
When Laura went to see the space that Betsy showed her there was on major problem. There was no provision for cooking. When the mother-in-law lived in it she ate with Betsy and her family. Laura, on the other hand, had been fed by Trish’s family when she lived there and, presently, by Peggy’s parents. Betsy wasn’t interested in doing that so things were up in the air. At Peggy’s, Laura wasn’t paying rent because she was doing the bookkeeping for James’ business. Betsy wanted $20 a week rent but utilities were included. At that time Laura was making around $65 a week (gross). Trish had told me that she’d just started to put money in the bank and rent was going to be a hardship. We just didn’t know what to do.
At the Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting that week I ended up sitting next to the manager of the new department store that had opened on Main Street the previous Fall. In the course of conversation he offered to open a charge account with the store for me. Up to that time I’d avoided getting credit cards with the exception of a Sears card. He was a good salesman. As soon as the meeting broke up we walked over to the store. I’d only been in there a few times and never to buy anything. They had just expanded into an adjacent building and moved the furniture and appliance section. That freed up the basement of the original space where they’d added kids and teen clothing as well as a large lingerie section. The manager’s office was down there as well and as we made our way to it I couldn’t help but notice all the panties they had displayed. There was one brand that I recognized but hadn’t seen in any local store... Shadowline. They were available at department stores in near the city and I’d bought a few pair for Elle but, because they were “fancy panties” with lace and appliques, she wouldn’t wear them all that often. They were made almost entirely of nylon satin tricot, my favorite material, and were a bit expensive. I still made a note of the fact that they were now readily available.
When filling out the papers for the charge account I found out that I was to be deemed a “VSC”, a Very Special Customer and would get a 5% discount on all my purchases. I was tempted to take a look around before going back to work but I’d been gone for over two hours by then. I do remember making a point of not telling Elle about the card though.
To be continued...
I knew I had to be patient when asking Elle about Sandy but it was hard. The smile that had been on her face was one that I’d come to know was going to cost me something. After a little ”bartering“ (the cost of which was for a new Spring outfit) she started in to tell me. Since the middle of February she said Sandy had told her she’d been very ”uptight“ and hadn’t been feeling all that well. She went to her regular doctor who prescribed a tranquilizer to calm her down. She was supposed to take one first thing in the morning but had a hard time remembering to do it and, on this day, mistakenly, had taken two. She told Elle she felt like she was drunk and that her legs were like rubber but she insisted on being at the game. Johnnie was concerned but got her to her regular seat behind the bench but she hadn’t remembered to visit the rest room. When she tried to get up to go her legs wouldn’t hold her up so she sat back down. Johnnie had to be there an hour before the game and there were no people there to help her so she proceeded to just sit there and wet herself. Between the tranquilizers and her embarrassment she wasn’t the usual hyperactive Sandy that we were used to see at the games. We were in bed with the lights out and under the covers when Elle told me this. It always bothered Elle when I’d show ”excitement“ when I’d see the panties of another female or to see (or hear) about a wetting ”accident“ so I had to be especially careful what with she and Sandy being such good friends. When I didn’t comment I think Elle might've asked if I was still awake. I don’t remember how I responded but I do remember thinking that I’d just spent almost two hours sitting next to a woman in wet pants and hadn’t even known it. That upset me!
One thing for sure was that the incident with Sandy had taken my mind off Peggy and Laura’s problems... until the morning. I had a meeting with one of the service bureaus who the bank was considering to process our deposits and withdrawals. I should’ve been thinking about that but was consumed with thoughts of what was soon to happen with Peggy's return. The meeting was with with a regional commercial bank who maintained their own operations center. I met with the two men who oversaw the center, Alan and Bruce. I liked them right from the first handshake and, without taking you through the whole process, was ready to sign a contract before I left, but it was not my decision. If there was one piece of positive information that I was able to glean from my day was that if the bank was truly going ahead with plans for a branch, there was no way it could process the added transactions with the processing equipment we were presently using. I’d spent way more time than I anticipated so by the time I was back at the bank the employees were on their way home. Trish was still there and the look on her face told me she had some good news.
There were any number of people at work who knew James and his family. It didn’t take long for the news of the tragedy to spread and for the word that Laura would also soon need a place to live. The mother-in-law of the lady who was in charge of the accounting department, Betsy, had died right around the Christmas holiday. She’d lived in a converted garage out behind Betsy’s house. Her sister worked in the mortgage department and, after the death, had asked if Betsy would let her oldest daughter live there for a few months while her husband was waiting to be reassigned. The assignment came a lot sooner than expected and Betsy wasn’t in any rush to do anything with the space until she heard about Laura. The two of them had left early so Laura could see the space. I remember Trish holding up her crossed fingers.
At home, Elle had agreed to host the upcoming party for the ”group” on that Saturday. I was not looking forward to it. Since neither Elle nor I drank I had to “borrow” the liquor from my father. He’d been good about it in the past but I knew he’d be looking for replenishments in the not too distant future. After a call to him it was agreed he’d deliver it to the house, saving me a trip. As I was talking to him I saw lights on in the house next door. Concerned, I put on my coat to go take a look. I knew workmen had been there on a “hit or miss” basis for a few weeks but hadn’t taken the time to see, up close, what they were doing. Peering in from the back porch I didn’t recognize the kitchen. All new white cabinets rimmed the three walls I could see. There were florescent lights on the ceiling and, although no walls were moved, the space looked a lot bigger than it had when I’d been there when Celia lived there. On my way back to the house I wondered who would end up living there and if we’d like them.
When Laura went to see the space that Betsy showed her there was on major problem. There was no provision for cooking. When the mother-in-law lived in it she ate with Betsy and her family. Laura, on the other hand, had been fed by Trish’s family when she lived there and, presently, by Peggy’s parents. Betsy wasn’t interested in doing that so things were up in the air. At Peggy’s, Laura wasn’t paying rent because she was doing the bookkeeping for James’ business. Betsy wanted $20 a week rent but utilities were included. At that time Laura was making around $65 a week (gross). Trish had told me that she’d just started to put money in the bank and rent was going to be a hardship. We just didn’t know what to do.
At the Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting that week I ended up sitting next to the manager of the new department store that had opened on Main Street the previous Fall. In the course of conversation he offered to open a charge account with the store for me. Up to that time I’d avoided getting credit cards with the exception of a Sears card. He was a good salesman. As soon as the meeting broke up we walked over to the store. I’d only been in there a few times and never to buy anything. They had just expanded into an adjacent building and moved the furniture and appliance section. That freed up the basement of the original space where they’d added kids and teen clothing as well as a large lingerie section. The manager’s office was down there as well and as we made our way to it I couldn’t help but notice all the panties they had displayed. There was one brand that I recognized but hadn’t seen in any local store... Shadowline. They were available at department stores in near the city and I’d bought a few pair for Elle but, because they were “fancy panties” with lace and appliques, she wouldn’t wear them all that often. They were made almost entirely of nylon satin tricot, my favorite material, and were a bit expensive. I still made a note of the fact that they were now readily available.
When filling out the papers for the charge account I found out that I was to be deemed a “VSC”, a Very Special Customer and would get a 5% discount on all my purchases. I was tempted to take a look around before going back to work but I’d been gone for over two hours by then. I do remember making a point of not telling Elle about the card though.
To be continued...
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