HOME AGAIN... to some surprises (Part 157j)

HOME AGAIN… to some surprises (Part 157j)

Bull took immediate control of the situation but it took a few minutes for it all to be explained satisfactorily. By then my watch told me there was no chance at all to make the train. Then Bull formally introduced me to his wife, Bitsy, who explained that she’d taken an earlier train in to the city. She went to the hotel main desk, identified herself and been given a key to the room. As that was being explained I had a chance to take a close look at her. When I first saw her by the window the brightness of the daylight behind her had  blocked out most of her facial features. Now I had a chance to study them and she was very, very cute. As I mentioned earlier, Bull was a year behind me in college and hadn’t been a part of my circle of friends in the fraternity. If Bitsy had been Bull’s guest at any of the house parties I wouldn’t have remembered her. I remember thinking that he’d definitely picked a ‘winner’ as far as looks were concerned.

As interesting as that was I had a definite problem… how to get home. The trains ran until 8pm or so but only as far as where the bus had delivered me… which was about half way or 45 miles from home. I explained the situation and asked Bull if I could make some phone calls. My idea was to try get Elle and to have her drive to the town where the train stopped. But, there was no answer. My guess was that she was doing the grocery shopping and I’d have to wait for a while until she got home. Bitsy and Bull had left as she wanted to do some shopping before going to dinner and the theater so I was all alone. Sitting there thinking of just how to solve my problem I saw Bitsy’s suitcase on a luggage rack. They hadn’t said anything when they left other than “Good luck!” so I didn’t know exactly where they’d be going or how long they’d be gone. I figured that if I was going to take a peek inside I better get it done.

Some people are organized and some aren’t. Elle was a very organized person… everything in it’s place. I popped open the latches of the suitcase and saw what I would’ve expected to see if it belonged to Elle… neatly stacked piles of clothes. In fact, it was so neat that I wondered if she’d even gone into it since she arrived. I did debate with myself as to if I wouldn’t be better off to just skip peeking this time… but the debate didn’t last long. As carefully as I could I moved things around looking for the ‘pot of gold (or white, blue pink, etc.)’ but the best I found was a slip. To say I was disappointed is to put it mildly. When I assured myself that I hadn’t missed anything and that everything I’d touched was back in place I closed the suitcase up. It was back to the phone again.

My guess had been right… Elle had been at the supermarket (new to our town) and was definitely not in a good mood. When I asked if she could/would come pick me up her response was less than lady-like. When she got to the third reason why she wouldn’t I knew I was stuck. Then she asked why I hadn’t called Cliffy since he was always picking people up at the airport. It was a reasonable idea. But, for that to happen I had to speak with him. When I called the shop the mechanic that worked only on farm equipment answered. I’d known “Nobby” since I was about eleven or twelve. He could definitely be classified as ‘different’. I won’t go into it but if I’d heard him say more than three or four words at any one time it wasn’t all that often. All I got from him was “He ain’t here!” and then the sound of a disconnect. Then I tried to get Bret at the bank before he left but had completely forgotten that he didn’t have a car on Fridays as his wife, now a practical nurse, needed it. The one option I had left was to take the train and then a taxi… if I could persuade one to travel that far.

By then I had to use the toilet. Once inside the bathroom I spied a small Samsonite travel case on the counter… and it was open. I just had to look inside and there, right before my eyes, was the prize (or I should say, prizes). Bitsy had removed all her cosmetics leaving just a few items among them a bra and, much to my surprise, four pair of panties. They were all folded and stacked to one corner. I reached in and carefully lifted them out. I held them up to the bathroom light and could see that two were cotton and the other two were nylon. Making sure I noted how they were folded I opened each one up. All bikinis, the cotton ones were Lollipop, size 5. Inspecting them I could see a fair amount of yellow staining in the crotch area of both. The nylon ones were without a name brand label but would definitely be classified as ‘fancy’ with a combination of lace and appliqués.  Both looked to be fairly new. As I folded them back up I wondered why she brought four pair with only staying two nights. And then there was the question of why two types… cotton and nylon. It was puzzling to me, for sure.

After returning them to the case I went back into the bedroom and tried to come up with another plan for the night. There was one option that I really didn’t want to pursue and that was to call my aunt and uncle to see if I could stay with them. Visiting with them was ‘painful’ and I was just about to call when Bull and Bitsy returned. It was obvious that they were surprised to see me still there. I brought them up to date and told them the call was my last chance. I’d looked up my uncle's work phone number and was reaching for the dial when I heard Bull say “You can stay here if you want…”

To be continued…