MAYHEM IN MAY... life goes on (Part 159l)

MAYHEM IN MAY… life goes on (Part 159l)

Winning on opening night had generated a lot of local interest and it seemed like it was continuing as there were a number of fans there to chat with Cliffy. One of them was a guy I’d seen hanging around the car after Saturday night’s race. He wasn’t talking to anyone in particular so I asked if he was there to see Cliffy. He didn’t give a definite answer so I went back to unloading all the gear from the hauler. It wasn’t until we had the car on the floor and were inspecting it that he finally walked up to Cliffy. It didn’t take long for Cliffy to call us all over and introduced us to ‘Robob’. His name was Robert but said he preferred to be called Robob so Robob it was.

He was a parts manager for a heavy equipment dealer up West, about 40 miles away. For some reason he’d taken a liking to our car and wanted to know if we could use some help in the pits. Of course Cliffy said “yes” and introduced him to the rest off us. My first impression was that he was nice guy but just what did he bring to the operation. By the time we left to go home I (and the others) knew…   his uncle worked for Quaker State petroleum and they had just created a special oil for racing. If we’d run their decal on the car we could get oil for free. Cliffy was all for anything that came for free so we had a deal… and a new crew member.

The damage to the car was mostly superficial which was good from a monetary standpoint. By the time we quit for the night all the important stuff had been taken care of. We agreed to meet again Thursday night and, according to Cliffy, we’d have our new tires to mount along with checking over all the suspension parts… an easy week. I left feeling a lot better than when I’d arrived.

Tuesday, at work, was better too. An announcement about the chairman was made right before the doors opened. There was nothing in it that I didn’t already know but at least it stopped the rumors. With the latter half of the month coming up I took the time to make a list of some major things involving me before the end of the month. The most important was the ninth birthday for my oldest daughter, Jean. It was two days prior to Memorial Day and for that I’d been asked to help ‘stage’ the local parade. There were three villages in our township and each one took a turn hosting it. It was nothing major… the high school band, cheerleaders, a few fire trucks and a bunch of local veterans trying to march with some semblance of order. I’d received a notice in the mail that a corporate bond that I’d received in the trust account my grandfather had set up for me was being “called” and interest on it would stop on May 31. I had to turn it in to get the money so that meant getting it from our safe deposit box. It was at the bank I’d first started my banking career so that meant taking time off to retrieve it. I can’t tell you why I didn’t think to move it but I hadn’t. And… I still had to stop to see Gertrude about the Bermuda trip for Elle and I.

For the bank, I had to make another branch inspection and to decide on when the teller machines were to be delivered. That meant another trip with Jerry, something I could do without. I’d been doing business with a salesman who sold ‘give aways’ like matches, pens key fobs and the like and had suggested he stop by to get a new order. I knew we’d go through a lot of them with the increased lobby traffic with the new account campaign. I liked doing business with him because he put no sales pressure on me. However, it was something else to take up time I didn’t really have. And then, I had to meet the new guidance teacher at the high school about hiring some kids to open new accounts during the gift/premium campaign.

“First things first…” was something my grandfather said all the time. It was ingrained into my brain so of all the things on the list I did the one that had been postponed from the day before… make the reservations for Bermuda. At lunchtime I walked down to the travel agency and was greeted by a smiling Gertrude. I’d called on Monday to tell her I’d be there and then never called to say I wouldn’t make it. That didn’t seem to be an issue as she had two folders on her desk for me. As I mentioned before, cost was my big issue. Because we would be there “out of season” (“in season  started on September 15) we would be saving about 30%. On top of that, Gertrude was giving us an additional 5% out of her commission. But that wasn’t all. Eastern Airlines (anybody remember them?) had a special promotion for tickets purchased three months in advance. I don’t remember what it amounted to or just what the airfare was but between the combination of the two it kept me within the budget I’d established. I told Gertrude to book it all and I’d drop off a bank check on my way home. As a rule I hated to spend money but on the walk back to the bank I felt good. The only problem was it was over three months until we were to leave. The good thing about that was it was Summer and time would fly by.

Later, at home, when I told Elle that the reservations had been made and paid for I got a ‘reward’. No, it wasn’t what you’re thinking… it was strawberry shortcake. John (the neighbor farmer) had a strawberry patch between our houses and some had ripened early. He picked some and dropped off a quart. It was a sweet surprise and I was also able to elicit a ‘promise’ from Elle for later.

To be continued...