BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165l)
In talking with
“Woody”, I’d lost track of time. It was after 6pm when I let her out
the back door and I knew Elle would not be happy with me. But, upon
arriving home I saw the station wagon was gone. A note on the kitchen
counter told me my dinner was in the oven and the she’d be back before
dark. There was no mention of where she’d gone so, after eating I called
Alan to see when he planned on going to work on the race car motor. He
thought we could disassemble what had to be done in about three to four
hours so suggested we meet Saturday afternoon. That worked for me as it
gave me Saturday morning to get my chores done. I’d just hung up the phone when Elle
pulled up at the garage. I could see some boxes in the back and asked
what they were. She explained that more donations of clothes had been
dropped off at the church. One of the ladies who she’d worked with going
through all the stuff in the undercroft earlier in the week called to
let her know. She didn’t have room in her car for the boxes and didn’t just want to leave
them there overnight. The vestry had decided to wait until the first
Saturday in October to re-open the shop but there had been no formal
announcement concerning it. She was afraid that some people who’d showed
up the previous Saturday would do so again and might just decide to go
through the things on their own. I asked her what we were supposed to with the boxes
and she just shrugged her shoulders. I needed the station wagon to go to
the landfill in the morning which meant unloading them and putting
them in the garage like before. As I’d written in an earlier post, I was concerned
about how much time this whole venture was taking up. Reluctantly, I
started moving the boxes. There was one major difference from the
previous ones… these were much smaller and of various sizes. They were
also much flimsier.
I’d gotten most of them in the garage and was
having Elle stack the few that were left in my arms when she knocked a
couple of them off. As soon as they hit the ground the sides split open
spilling the contents on the ground. After depositing the ones I still
had in my arms into the garage I came back out to help Elle pick up the
mess. As I approached I could see what appeared to be baby clothes. Elle
seemed excited about it and I didn’t understand why. She explained that
when she and the other ladies had been sorting though the things at the
church they hadn’t found much in the way of baby and children’s
clothes. I smiled (to myself) remembering that Elle had gone though the
bags that had been part of the original items that I’d stored and had
picked out a group of them to keep. She went on to say that the three of
them had decided that it would be a big help if the shop offered baby
and children clothes. After picking the things up Elle said she wanted
to go through some of the other boxes saying she wanted to see if there
were more of the same. I told her she was on her own and that
I wanted no part of it.
Stacking the boxes in the garage
reminded me that I still had to pick up our two Sunfish sailboats from
the sailing club. By leaving them there I thought it would be an
incentive to use them on the weekends in September because we usually
had decent weather during the month. But, I hadn’t thought the idea
through and here we were into the last part of the month and they hadn’t
been touched. I was now committed to the race car the next day and,
according to my father, the amateur weatherman, we were due for some
nasty weather on Sunday. With Elle now ‘attacking’ the boxes I made the
decision to go get at least one of the boats. I knew I’d need help and
immediately thought of Marty as he owed me a favor and lived less than
five minutes from the club.
I know you’re thinking that my
thoughts were also on his neighbor’s wash line… and you are right. I
called and he’d just gotten home from work. He threw me a ‘curve’ and
told me he’d meet me at the club as he had to do some things when we
finished up. I remember thinking that “you can’t win them all…” as I
headed out. I wasn’t expecting to see Rex, the unofficial watchman for
the facility, putting up the Winter storm windows across the front of
the club. That usually didn’t happen until after the first of October.
As I approached the porch I saw his brother and his brother’s wife also
there. I asked about the windows and he, quite disgustedly, said that
vandals had broken some of the windows and had “camped out” inside. With
rain expected by the next afternoon he thought this was the quickest
way to remedy the situation. He was just about done when Marty arrived.
With two more people now there, John, Rex’s brother and his wife took
off. I looked at Marty and sort of shrugged as we held the last panel up
as Rex screwed to the frame. I couldn’t help wondering what was
happening to our tranquil little community what with the incident at the house next door to us and now
the sailing club. Life around us was sure changing.
It didn’t take long to
finish up but I asked Rex if I could have the keys. I had some things
stored in the office and figured while I was there I’d grab them and
bring them on home. He told me to keep them as he had another set and then
headed down the steps. It only took Marty and I about five minutes to
load my boat on the trailer. I remember looking at the racks where the
boats had been stored and it told the story that Summer was, indeed, over
as there were only three boats left. I apologized to Marty for getting
him involved. I’d told him it’d only take a few minutes and now it was almost
dark. He just smiled and told me to stop by his house some night the next week to see the
progress he’d already made on the boat I’d helped him move. As soon as I
heard the invitation I was conjuring up a picture of that wash line
right next door to him.
I’d left a couple of old life jackets at
the club in case someone needed one but wasn’t about to leave them now
that people had broken into the building. Rex said he'd made a cursory pass and
couldn’t see anything missing, not that there was anything of real
value there anyway. After leaving the office I took a look in the bathrooms and
checked to see if he’d turned the water off and he had. That was the
sign that the club was now closed for the season. Without rest rooms Rex
had found it an invitation for trouble. It also meant those of us
members who lived locally would have to put together a work party to finish up
what he’d started. I spied the lost and found box as I was walking out
and figured that since no one would be looking for any of the stuff why not
take it home to have Elle wash it. Then, if anything looked decent we
could sell it at the church. I pretty much knew she’d give me a hard
time about it but on my way home I came up with something to put her in
her place if she complained… it was to tell her that since she’d become
an 'expert' in used clothing this would be a “final exam” for her. When I walked
in the house and told her what I’d done she completely fooled me and
said it was a very good idea. Hmmmmmmm…
To be continued…
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