SUMMER HEAT... so much going on (Part 161o)

SUMMER HEAT… so much going on (Part 161o)

On my way back to the office I decided I'd wait to have my talk with Hobie until the morning. As I said, I did feel guilty and figured one more day of pay for the temporary help wouldn’t hurt the bank. I could see things were still busy but under control. New account activity had fallen off a bit but lobby traffic was still brisk. It was mostly customers coming to get the interest their deposits had earned the previous three months. Some of them still believed that if the amount wasn’t posted to their passbook they wouldn’t get it.  Bret had been keeping close tabs on the gift count and it was still blankets in the lead. He gave me a warning that there was a chance we’d run out of them before the program was over. Having seen how much the new account business had fallen off at the branch, I wasn’t really concerned.

Jerry was what was really concerned me. A few ‘asides’ from Betsy, added to what I’d observed, put me in an untenable situation. Under reasonably ’normal’ circumstances Jerry would be gone… in a nanosecond… but these were not normal circumstances. Bret and I’d been keeping a sort of log concerning our observations about Jerry almost the whole 5 months he’d been at the main office. However, making Hobie aware of them brought nothing but frustration. I remember spending most of the rest of the afternoon debating with myself about my most recent observations. In the end I decided there was to much good (pay…location) with my job to risk it by antagonizing Hobie (again) with more of “Jerry’s Follies” as we had dubbed the log.

Hobie’s reaction to my suggestion on downsizing the staff at the branch didn’t meet with much opposition. He was mostly disappointed with the overall acceptance of the branch in the area. I gave him all the numbers so he could do the math on it. Approximately 300 accounts in four days did not warrant a staff of eight people. He weighed his decision and finally agreed going along with my suggestion that we allow the temporaries to work through Wednesday. I could see he felt a bit guilty as well. I called Betsy first. I told her I’d be calling Jerry with the decision and I’d be instructing him to tell them of the decision. I remember asking if she was OK with that and getting a delayed response. I’m sitting here with a smile on my face recalling what she had to say… “I don’t know if he’ll be able to…”.

By the time the doors closed to the public on Wednesday everybody was ready for a day off, even if it meant for a rough day on Friday. I know I was. I had a chance to call Cliffy about the motor. He said Joe was picking the cylinder heads up on his way home that night and we’d get started putting the motor back together. I was somewhat ‘torn’ about going to the shop that night but knew I was pretty much obligated to do it as a ‘partner’. Elle and I’d had some discussion as to what we wanted to actually do on the 4th. The one thing we both agreed on was that we wouldn’t go to any fireworks displays after our experience the previous year. Elle felt we should do something that included Barbara. That was one of the things that had me hesitate when Elle had volunteered to take Barbara in for the two week period. I just knew she'd get in the way. Her father had decided to go and visit his wife, kids and relatives for a few days so she wouldn’t be spending any time with him and would be alone. I told Elle not to ask the kids what they wanted to do and to leave the decision up to us. With the sails and gear for Big B’s sailboat just inside the garage door they served as a reminder that it was an option. However, Barbara had an aversion to doing anything that might put her in harm’s way in and around the water so that pretty much precluded doing that. So, it was my idea to ask Barbara what she might like to do. Elle wasn’t all that keen on that idea but agreed to talk with her while I was off working on the race car.

All of the crew was there at the shop by the time I arrived. The cylinder heads were on the work bench and the discussion about them that was underway was quite animated. The machine shop who did the repair had cut circular grooves into them for each cylinder and then had inserted copper wire into the grooves with the idea being that when the heads were torqued back onto the engine block the soft copper would compress and make a tight seal. Most of us were in disbelief that it was going to work but Cliffy was convinced it would. We had no choice because they were the only heads we had so we started to install them. Because Cliffy’s father had a rule we couldn’t start a motor after 10pm we all left not knowing what would happen when we started it up. Because everybody but Joe was married with kids and with plans for the 4th there was no move to come to the shop the next day.. It would have to wait until Friday night. Driving home I had a distinct feeling we’d been ’taken’.

It turned out that one of the best parts of my 4th of July was in the morning right after getting up. I’d not slept well, rolling and tossing while mulling over a myriad of things. I knew I was bothering Elle so threw on a pair of pants and headed downstairs. It was just starting to get light and I didn’t feel like doing anything productive so just headed for my recliner in the den. I have no idea how long I was there before I heard a ‘thump’. I called out and almost immediately Barbara appeared in the doorway. I think she was as surprised to see me as I was to see her. She was wearing one of her father's t-shirts which hung off one shoulder enough for me to almost see her breast. But the best part was the length of it. As she stood there leaning on the door frame I could almost see her panties under the bottom of it. If she’d stood up straight I know I would’ve seen something. But she didn’t, continuing to lean into the den area. We might’ve both said the same thing at the same time…”What are you doing up?”

Some version of “I couldn’t sleep…” came from both our lips but Barbara said she wanted to take a shower before everybody else was up. I’d been leaning back in the recliner and when I pushed myself to a sitting position Barbara straightened herself up and turned to go. I’m going to say I had at least an inch and a half view of her “package”, obviously used, as she walked away. The bathroom with the shower was right there and she grabbed the door as she started in. The door was part way closed when she pushed it back open. I think I asked if she was OK and she, now blushing, said she’d forgotten her bath towel. I was about to tell her to take one from the linen closet right there in the bathroom but she darted out and headed down the hall. It was a ’stirring’ few seconds. When she reappeared she was holding the front of the t-shirt down so there was nothing to see… until she rushed past me. I knew I should’ve moved while she was gone but I hadn’t. I could see almost her whole backside encased in the plastic panties, up to the waist elastic, and I’ll admit that even though I’d seen it hundreds of time with Elle, seeing it on Barbara was a special thrill.

To be continued...