THE HEAT GOES ON... August (Part 163e)

THE HEAT GOES ON… August (Part 163e)

Sunday was pretty much run of the mill… church, sailing club, hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on the hibachi in the back yard at home. I think this was the day Elle won her second race but even if I was off by a week it did create a bit of a ’stir’. She wanted to start racing against the guys and when she approached the racing chairman he told her she’d have to wait for another year. I stepped in and reminded her that if he let her do it they guys would resent her and give her a hard time and the women, of whom most were friends, would be mad at her for abandoning them. There was a race at another sailing club on Labor Day weekend and I told her that we could both go. It was an ‘open’ regatta with everyone lumped in together, men, women and juniors. It was enough to calm her down for a bit.

The girl/woman that was to replace Joanie in J J’s area was waiting at the back door when I arrived at the bank. She was obviously excited, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet as I approached her. She reminded me she wanted to go by the name of Bea and promised that she would stay with the bank for a while. It was Trish who’d told me that she’d left to have a baby when she’d been there before. I’d seen her original job application and she wasn’t married then and, according to the current one, that status hadn’t changed. I was tempted to ask who was looking after the child but, since she hadn’t brought the subject up I kept my mouth shut. Trish had already had her fill out all the necessary forms so there wasn’t anything more except to wish her luck… and hope J J would release Joanie fairly quickly. As Bea walked away I was able to get a fair look at her backside. A little bit on the ‘chunky’ side it was more than offset by her ‘frontside’. Bret had commented when she’d been in for her interview with J J that he thought she’d “filled” out a bit… in all areas”.

I’d told Bret to call Betsy at the branch and get the activity for the week. I’d been doing it on a daily basis but with the turmoil of the previous week I’d not kept up with it. The use of the word “activity” was a bit of a misnomer because on one of the days I had called they didn’t do even one monetary transaction. Never far from my thoughts was the upcoming report due from Morris who was now a ‘consultant’ to the Board. I was planning to update him on the lack of activity hoping that he’d give me a hint or two in what he was going to tell the Trustees. I didn’t know him all that well but the lasting impression I had was that he was a ‘maverick’ and wouldn’t hold back… or at least that was my hope.

It was a real surprise to get a phone call from J J to tell me Be a looked like she would work out. She’d only been there for a little more than half a day so I had to ask why such a favorable judgement so soon. I think I heard him give off a bit of a laugh as he told me he’d had a “parade” of people come to his door to tell him how good she was when she’d worked there before. That gave me some hope we’d see Joanie downstairs by the end of the week. J J hung up with one last comment…”but she isn’t as pretty as Joanie…”. A ladies man to the end!

August was traditionally the slowest month of the year for lobby traffic. That worked out well as far as staffing and vacations were concerned. It also gave the savings area a chance to get caught up on some things that had been put aside because it was one year ago that the decision was made to put all our deposit accounts in the hands of a service bureau. All our focus had been on preparing for that event happening and when the bank was audited by both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the state banking department they agreed to overlook some of the minor items of concern provided they were addressed by the next examination. The auditors from each organization had taken some of the burden off me and the staff by sharing information because of the circumstances at the time. But, we were warned that the next time they were in we would be faced with what they called a “tight” audit. With me unofficially not overseeing Jerry for the next two months it gave me the freedom to, hopefully, get everything in line and ready for the examinations. Another positive thing, as far as my being ‘removed’ from daily contact with Jerry was that it was only two weeks until Elle’s and my trip to Bermuda… and I could really use the time off.

I got up the nerve to contact Morris on Wednesday. I got the impression that he was annoyed by my call but he did get on the line with me. I took the approach I’d previously mentioned… up dating the so called activity at the branch. When I gave him the numbers he kind of mumbled something that, to my ears, sounded like “They should just close the damn thing and start over.” I asked him to repeat what he’d just said but he wouldn’t. The only positive thing I took away from the call was that he expected to have the report to the Trustees for their next meeting which was a week away. I held my tongue and didn’t remind him that he’d told me he’d let me know (verbally) the basic content of the report and as I put the receiver back I just hoped he remembered.

Another benefit of not having to worry about Jerry was that I was able to get home early enough to be able to eat with the kids. Wednesday night was bit of a hassle as it was ladies night for racing lessons at the sailing club and a work night on the race car. Elle didn’t like taking the kids because the older two had been at sailing lessons earlier in the day. In an “Oh… by the way…” moment she told me that there was something broken on the boat she usually sailed. I asked what had happened and there was nothing but silence for an answer. Only because I was knew it was useless to pursue the matter said I’d stop by the sailing club on my way to the garage. When I got there I was happy to see a number of women already there. One of them was Janie, the lady I’d met when rescuing some of the Sunfish back during the big storm. I’d seen her crewing for her husband in their Comet class sailboat the previous two Sundays but had no idea that she’d was sailing with the other ladies on Wednesday nights. Rex had agreed to loan her his boat and was showing her how to rig the sails. To do it she had to bend over to fleet the halyard (the line used to hoist the sail) through a small pulley on the deck of the boat. VPL and panty peek at the same time… a real rarity. I had to get to Elle’s boat to fix it before she arrived so had to leave a very favorable viewing point. 

The ‘fix’ to the boat was simple and just as I was about to leave Janie walked up to me and asked if I could do her a big favor. I hardly knew the woman and here she was asking me for a favor. Elle wasn’t there yet so I decided I’d ask what it was. She wanted me to drive her home. She said she’d been dropped off by her husband and he couldn’t be reached. She was sure she’d left something simmering on her stove. I knew approximately where she lived and felt we could get there and back in less than fifteen minutes so pointed her towards my car. She wasn’t in a talkative mood, worried about the stove. I just drove the car and at the house I got my reward. Their property was pie shaped and as I sat in the car while she ran inside I could see three pair of panties on their clothes line. I knew, for sure, I’d be back to visit them again.

To be continued…