WARMER DAYS... on to Florida (Part 156f)

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156f)

As Elle changed she would touch the curtain giving me a quick peek. On one I could see her bare bottom so knew she’d given in to my request even before emerging. When she did I wanted to pat her butt to feel the crotch lines of the two panties but  more customers had come into the store. Even without the ‘feel’ I was happy. While paying I asked where we could find a drug store. Back in those days the primary place for women to buy sanitary pads was the local drug store and not grocery stores. At home Elle had found an “off’ brand that she liked and our hometown druggist ordered them special for her. To complete our shopping quest we needed pads and, if we were really lucky, a pair of plastic pants. There was no mistaking where we were headed,. The lady had told us to look for the biggest sign on this side of the street. You couldn’t miss it… APOTHECARY… in gold letters on a black background. As an amateur sign painter, I stood and looked at it and marveled at the craftsmanship. Inside, it was almost like stepping back in time to when Elle and I were teens and she worked behind the soda fountain at our local drug store. Right to the left of the door as we walked in was an old fashioned marble counter with permanent stools. A young man was behind it washing some glasses. I’d always loved black and white ice cream sodas (vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup) and hadn’t had one in over ten years. Neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast at around 11:30am and we looked at each other and decided “Why not?”

After I ‘inhaled’ my soda and Elle had finished her ice cream cone we went looking for the sanitary pads. There were not a lot of companies making them so you pretty much had to take what was available. The brand they has was Modess, one that Elle didn’t like. But, beggars can’t be choosey so we took two boxes of 12 each. With three a night for the four nights we were going to be there one should’ve been enough. However, I was thinking about our trip home and the situation Elle had found herself in on the way down. Better to be safe was my thought.

The man who waited on us wore a white coat and looked old and tired. His greeting was just short of brusque. As Elle asked about the pads I noticed that the very back of the store seemed quite dark and didn’t look like it was open to the public. As I was about to pay for the pads I noticed a box on the shelf behind the man and I could only make out part of the words printed on it. When he moved to make room for the cash register drawer to open I was able to complete it… Incontinence Pant. I was vaguely familiar with what they looked like. They were rubberized and had snaps down each side. I’d always questioned how they could work when asleep what with the gaps between the snaps. Reluctantly, I asked to see it. I’ll admit that I was embarrassed and to make matters worse, Elle had moved away from the counter. I questioned him and he couldn’t give me an answer but he said he thought he had something like what I was looking for. He walked back into the darkened area and after a few minutes returned with a small box. I could make out the word Kleinert’s. That was the company who made the sanitary panties that Elle wore. In the box, marked “Bloomers”, were a pair of plastic panties that were longer in the leg than regular panties. To keep Elle's bed dry I was willing to take just about anything.

With that purchase we had all that we’d set out to get… and more. By then it was after 3pm. The second half of our venture was to take in Castillo de San Marcos, one of my favorite places to go while in St. Augustine. I knew from the map we had that it was just down the street. I’d told Elle about the place any number of times and, although not as excited as I was,  she seemed happy to go there to see it.

============================
A bit of history… and a short history lesson…

My fascination with Castillo de San Marcos (really a fort) goes back to when my parents took my brother and to see it the first Winter we spent at the resort Elle and I were currently visiting. At age 13 I had no fascination with history, especially ancient history. I won’t say my brother and I went ‘kicking and screaming’ but will admit we did offer up some resistance. That was quickly reduced by the tour guide. There were a few other kids in the group and we all pretty much felt the same about our involvement. The guy decided to win us over by making us a part of the tour. He’d spout some history describing the people who occupied the fort and would tell us what they did inside the fort. He’d designate different ones of us to play a role and we bought into his scheme. By the time it was over were were all pretty intrigued with the life and times of the occupants. What really got my attention was when he told us the fort had been built by Spaniards, who occupied Florida at the time, to protect the small city of St. Augustine from the potential of British marauders. When the tour reached the top level of the fort we could see the cannons and how they were placed to shoot cannon balls at any foreign ships that tried to enter the river that led to the city. The guide asked us who we thought was the most important person in the fort. I think each of us named the person(s) who fired the cannons.  He told us we were wrong and pointed to a small tower located at the North East corner of the fort. He said it was always manned by a lookout who, should he see a ship, was to ring the bell in the tower to wake all the men to prepare for battle. When it was time for role play I was selected to be the lookout and to go into the tower and peer out the narrow opening facing the inlet. After a few minutes I was told to ring the bell and the other kids were to go man the cannons. It was really fun and I became interested in learning more about the role the fort played in our history. Each succeeding year that we went to Florida for the months of January through March I made my parents take me to the fort. After each visit I’d end up fantasizing about life and times inside the place.
============================
History lesson…

The fort was built in the late 1600’s. The first attack came from the British around 1700 or so. The role of the fort ended up being a safe haven for the residents of St. Augustine as the Brits burned the city down. The fort withstood all the cannon balls shot at it by the British because they were too small to do much damage. The second attack came many years later and the same thing happened. The city residents stayed in the fort until the Brits gave up. Today it’s a US. National Monument and is the oldest masonry fort in the United States.
             

The bell tower is in the upper left hand part of the fort

To be continued...