MORE SUMMER HEAT... lots of it (Part 162r)

MORE SUMMER HEAT… lots of it (Part 162r)

To be truthful, I didn’t know what to make of it. I thought I was going there to make a choice of a stock, not to sell one. Lynda was still facing the file cabinet when I asked “Why?”. Somewhat bent over, she turned her head and whispered “Trust me…”. When I hesitated she added “You won’t be sorry…”. I can’t give you a logical reason why I said “OK”. It was not like me to make a decision without a specific reason or asking questions. As soon as I told her it was OK to put the order in she headed back to her desk and motioned for me to follow. Now, in writing this, I’m hard pressed to go back and relive the ways stocks were bought and sold in those days but I had to wait at least five minutes for it to get processed. (i.e.: I was in my broker's office yesterday and put an order in and watched it be placed and confirmed in less than 5 seconds) While on the phone I saw Lynda scribbling something on a pad. After a few seconds she thrust it towards me and on it was a cryptic note. It read “You just made 75% on that stock”.

I was dumbfounded. I’d purchased it at the suggestion of my broker, Stan, Lynda’s boss about five months earlier. I’d used some of the proceeds from the first bond that had matured from the trust my grandfather had created for me but had some reluctance in doing so. All the holdings in that trust were either ‘blue chip’ stocks or triple A rated corporate bonds. Taylor instrument was but a small company making various measuring instruments. When making the decision to purchase it I rationalized it by the fact the both my father and I had some of their products and liked them. However, there was some buyers remorse after I made the purchase. Now, here I was but five months later looking at a 75% profit. I did some quick mental calculations as I tried to remember what I’d paid for the stock. A quick guess was that my profit was more than $2,500. The immediate thought was that it couldn’t have come at a better time as I had to make a payment to Gertrude at the travel bureau on our upcoming Bermuda trip. It also triggered a wild thought that I could make some real money in the stock market.

I glanced at my watch and saw that I’d been gone from the bank for almost a half hour. I’d asked Bret to cover for me so I could run a quick errand. It had passed the “quick” stage so I mouthed the words “Call me…” to Lynda and headed out the door. I remember walking back and feeling like I was a couple of feet off the sidewalk. As soon as I walked in the door Trish told me to go up to the president’s office. That was a quick way to be get.  be brought back to reality. Lena, Bert’s secretary, told me to just go right in. As soon as I did I saw Gee, the Trustee/attorney, along with Hobie and Bret with Bret speaking. I took a seat and listed to him give the reasons why we wanted to accelerate the process of promoting Trish. I could see he was very nervous but didn’t interject my thoughts into his presentation. I was not into ‘body language’ at the time so can’t say I got a ‘read’ on Gee’s position on the idea. But what I did take away was that for him to be there so quickly to discuss the matter, Hobie had done a good ‘sell job’ on him and was solidly behind it. After a few questions from Bert and Gee both Bret and I were excused. On our way down the stairs I noticed the perspiration on Bret’s brow. I told him he’d done a good job and that now we were really in for the ‘waiting game’.

Approaching the platform area Trish was standing behind her desk with the phone receiver in her hand. “Lynda…” was all she said but she did it with one of those ‘knowing’ type smiles. I was able to ask her some of the questions I had about the trade and got the basics of what had triggered it. Not to bore you with details but when I ended up with Stan as my financial advisor (broker) I got lumped in with a number of ‘in the know’ people from his Wall Street days. A call had come in for Stan from one of them but with him on vacation Lynda took the message. Among the items was a comment on Taylor Instrument concerning an upcoming merger. The stock had been run up in price (unknown to me) on the prospects of it but now the rumor was that it was in jeopardy and anyone who owned it should bail out of the stock before the news reached the public. Lynda thought I should get the news even if it was meant only for Stan’s ears. I was still standing when she was telling me this. Before I could muster the words “Thank You…” I heard her say “You owe me… BIG TIME!” And then laugh. I tried to say something but she’d already hung up. Before I thought about sitting down Trish was back at me telling me Hobie was on the line. All he would say to me was “No guarantees…” but I was still upbeat about the prospects. When I finally sat down all I could do was shake my head. It wasn’t even the end of the day and I was worn out. Wednesday couldn’t get there fast enough.

At home, Elle had a nice surprise for me. She and the girls had made a conscious effort to finish cleaning up the twigs and leaves in the yard.  However, it ended up that there was a bit of a ‘cost’ to it. One of the anticipated events of the Summer in our town was in having a Dairy Queen franchise open just outside the village. I’d drive by it both on my way to work and home and knew the building was finished. Of course all the area kids were excited in anticipation of the grand opening. Passing by that evening I saw a big “GRAND OPENING” sign out by the road and thought it would be a nice reward to treat the kids. Elle wasn’t much on ‘sweets’ for the kids but this was a special event and I felt I owed them something for their efforts. So, after eating we loaded them into the station wagon and headed do Dairy Queen. Big mistake!

What I hadn’t seen on the sign were the very small words “Free ice cream cones after 6pm for kids up to 8 years old” It was a zoo! My first reaction was to leave but Elle pointed out that it had been my idea and also that the kids deserved a reward. I’ll bet there were easily 50 kids there. The one common thread was the constant ‘eye rolls’ of the parents, like us, who were there. It was too warm to stay in the station wagon so I’d wandered over to observe the ‘action', not that I expected any. Being Summer, the majority of the people there were not ‘locals’ so I didn’t recognize but a few. I’d found a hip high stantion to lean against and waited for the seemingly endless line to finally get to my kids. We’d been there for at least a half hour by the time they finally got to the window to place their order. I didn’t see Elle and it was obvious that Kaye was too short to give the clerk her order. The older girls had managed to push ahead and left Kaye behind. I rushed over to help and that’s when being a good father paid off. The clerk was a good looking strawberry blond with a very ample bosom. The uniforms for DQ at the time were basically white and the one she had on was just a mite tight… everywhere. Kaye wanted sprinkles on her ice cream which meant the clerk had to leave the window and when she did I was mesmerized for about ten seconds. The see through aspect of her uniform showed off her bra and the very noticeable leg bands of her panties. There was also a glorious crotch line VPL… and this was even without her bending over! When I left the window I knew I’d be back to DQ and probably sooner than later.

To be continued…