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

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156y)

None of us had ever seen an enclosed mall this big. Recently built, it was the forerunner of the regional malls that became commonplace throughout the country. One vivid memory was this immense waterfall in the center. We were told it had something to do with the air conditioning for the whole place. I didn’t have any more film for the Polaroid and had given the Brownie camera back to my mother. Jane had left hers in the car so we didn’t get a picture. I remember there were three large department stores, none of which I’d ever heard of. Jane was bound and determined to get a bathing suit so that was to be our first stop. I think the name of the store was Belk's. Right next to the bathing suits was a section with ladies tennis clothes. Elle had enough bathing suits but was always interested in finding cute tennis attire. She’d decided that skirts and dresses were the best for her with her ‘problem’. By that point in time we were way over budget for the trip and I wasn’t interested in adding to that deficit. HOWEVER… Elle found a dress that she just “had to have” and, after she tried it on… I knew I had to buy it for her. It was everything I could’ve wanted for garnering peeks. Even though she knew it was short she wanted it and I wanted to see her in it. The price was a bit ‘much’ but I took a deep breath and pulled out my American Express card.

Jane had found two suits she liked and caught up with us as I was paying for the dress. When Elle held it up for her to see she offered that if she was a tennis player that was a dress she’d want to have. Now, with Jane’s ‘mission (for a bathing suit) accomplished I wondered what we’d do next. Stupid me! Women in a mall… together… equals disaster. I asked Doug how he put up with just following his wife from store to store. I remember the smile on his face when he gave me his answer… “paradise”. I wondered if he had to ‘bargain’ from time to time to get what he wanted like I did. I held my breath every time Elle held another piece of clothing up to look at. By the time we’d made a cursory visit through the three big stores it was around 6pm and we were all hungry. Doug had mentioned that he’d originally wanted to be back in time for dinner but had changed his mind so we decided on a meal at the restaurant in one of the department stores. We we headed for one when Jane spied something in a store window and we stopped, yet again. My ankle was throbbing by then and all I wanted was to sit down. If there had been anything in the area I probably would’ve. But, there wasn’t… so I trudged on into the store with the rest of them.

It was a boutique very much like my friend Judith’s back near home. Jane asked for the dress she saw in the window and a clerk got one for her in her size. I was just standing there, pretty much talked out by then but noticed that the changing rooms didn’t have doors but only curtains… and Jane was disappearing behind one… or so she thought. Doug was flipping through a rack of clothes that were on sale as was Elle. I was free to look where I pleased… and that was at the little booth that Jane was in. The gap between the partition and the curtain was at least two feet and by the time she’d stepped out of her dress and into the new one I’d had about a 270 degree look at her in just bra and panties. I’d become somewhat accustomed to seeing bikini panties and when I’d had the up skirt view of Jane by the side of the pool I thought that was what she was wearing. But, as I stared at her there was no doubt about them being brief style panties. One of the reasons I remember them so well was that there was a cut out with a lace insert on one side. I wasn’t more than ten feet away so it wasn’t my imagination. All in all I had almost a one minute, uninterrupted peek… probably a record. She ended up getting the dress and after cutting the tags off decided to wear it to dinner.

We all made a pact there would be no talk of cars or kids at dinner. We had a perfectly enjoyable evening discussing how similar all our upbringing had been. Doug and I had spent time in a city and had summered in a small beachfront community. Jane and Elle had grown up in a small beachfront community and had met their spouses there. We had three girls… they had three boys. The only difference was that they were now living in a suburb and wished they were in a more rural area. We finished up around 8pm and headed out for the airport. It was only 15 minutes away and when we were saying our good bye’s, promised to stay in touch… fully knowing it wouldn’t happen. As I was shaking Doug’s hand and thanking him for being so accommodating he handed me his business card and told me if he could be any help in my racing endeavors to give him a call. I didn’t have the heart to tell him the race car had a Ford motor in it.

At the airport I managed to call Cliffy (the race car driver and friend) to confirm our arrival time. I figured he’d be at the shop working on the car and was right. He said not to worry, that he’d be there for us. Hearing his voice was a vivid reminder we’d soon be home and back to the reality of every day living. Elle called her mother to talk with the kids and they were excited to know that they’d be sleeping in their own beds the following night. We both felt the same. Five days was enough for the first time being away from them and although Elle never got ’teary’, by the third day she was talking more and more about them. For me, it was work that was starting to impinge upon my thoughts. I put my best effort into not thinking about it but Monday was right around the corner.

The flight was uneventful but retrieving our baggage was a total disaster. Somehow, the baggage handlers took the bags from our flight to a different carousel area and no one knew. By the time we found out and got our suitcase Cliffy had had to make about a half dozen passes around the terminal. (They were a lot different back in those days!) He wasn’t in the best mood when we finally climbed in his station wagon. It was almost 3am by the time we got into the house and, because we’d turned the heat way down the house was cold. We just left the suitcase and other things in the kitchen and headed on upstairs. Elle put her “package” on, grabbed an extra blanket and made the comment that she wasn’t going to set her alarms as she climbed in bed. We snuggled together for warmth. Our vacation was over!

To be continued…