KEEPING UP... Busy, busy busy (Part 166f)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy, busy (Part 166f)

Alan and Joe headed right for their room in spite of Davo offering them beer. That left me with Leigh and Davo. While he loaded up his pockets with bottles of beer Leigh went to unlock the door. Buster, who was fairly short, was curled up in a fetal position on the love seat as we walked in. Leigh thought it was funny but I didn’t. I went up and kicked the side of the seat. Buster jumped and ended up sliding off and into the space between the seat and the bed. By then Davo had walked in and started laughing at Buster… but he also told him to get up and to get out to the car. I never had to say a word… and I appreciated the support. Buster picked himself up and, after giving me a dirty look, headed for the car with his bag. At that point I was so tired I just pulled some clothes out of my duffel bag to make a pillow and ‘crashed’ on the love seat. My legs went over the end, bent at the knees. I have no idea what Davo and Leigh did or how long they stayed up because as soon as my head hit my makeshift pillow I was asleep.

Cliffy had told us to be back to the track by 8am. I heard someone knocking on the door and looked at my watch. It was past 7:30am and I quickly realized that there was no way we’d make it. Sitting up I could see Leigh asleep under the blanket and Davo, still in his clothes, snoring away. With him being 6’5” tall both his feet were off the end of the bed. I remember trying to get up and found myself stiff and hardly able to move. I had also forgotten there was hardly any room between the bed and the love seat. I was in the process of trying to extract myself from that situation when Leigh suddenly awoke. Joe and Alan were continuing to pound on the door. Before I got turned around and onto my knees I saw Leigh crawling to the end of the bed to answer the door. The sight of her panties butt sure got me awake! She crawled to the end of the bed and jumped off to open the door. Standing, I could only see a bit of her panties and she was obviously wearing one of Davo’s T shirts. When I got free of the bed/love seat a standing it made four of us in a space probably no more than four feet by four feet… cozy for sure. Alan was all business wanting to get to the track. Leigh’s attire didn’t seem to have an effect on him as he assessed the situation with Davo on the bed. He wasted no time in asking Leigh for the keys to Davo’s car but she immediately protested saying that she wasn’t going to spend the day at the motel. She quickly said she’d drive us there and then come back and get Davo. Almost immediately she moved past me and to her clothes piled on her suitcase against the wall. When she bent over to grab her pants I got an eyeful and a great view of her backside. The only light there was in the room at the time was through the Venetian blind that covered the window facing the parking lot. It had seen better days. There was enough light coming through for me to know the panties were a light blue. They had a nice, full crotch and my thoughts went to hoping I’d get a chance later on to take a close look at them. Leigh never put on a blouse just slipping her coat over the T shirt she was wearing. We all piled out of the room and, at the car, found Buster curled up in almost the same fetal position we’d seen him in the night before. Joe gave him a ‘shot’ in his butt and told him to move over He started to complain that he needed to use the toilet. Joe told him to hold it because we were on our way.

At the track we found that Dick and Cliffy had moved the hauler closer to the track and the pit entrance. We were about 15 to 20 minutes late and other than a slight ‘dig’ didn’t get any grief for being late. The schedule for the day was to have a one hour warm up session to get the engines and the gear oil in the transmission and rear end warmed up. It was to be for only an hour and the drivers had been told not to go racing around the track. Anyone who did wouldn’t be allowed to take part in the time trials. They were to start right at noon time and, with the large number of entries the officials were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to run the two consolation races for the cars that didn’t qualify based on their time. The mandatory driver meeting was at 9am and when attending each driver would get to pull a number to see when they were to take time. Alan was hoping for a low number to be out on the track early before the heat of the day made the track slippery. When Cliffy returned he had a big smile on his face and was waving a card with the number 24 on it.(49) The crew reacted as if we’d just won something. It was good thing but there was a lot of things that had to take place before we could really celebrate.

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A few words of explanation concerning the qualification time trials… The race promoters had come up with a ‘gimmick’ designed to draw big crowds to the race. They would sponsor a race at local race tracks from the mid-Atlantic area all the way up the East coast New Hampshire and Vermont. The winner of that race would be guaranteed starting position in the championship race if they could turn a lap at 100 mph or more. There were 20 such ‘preferred’ starters entered. There were 45 starting positions so that reduced the number of cars who could qualify through the time trials to 25. But… a few years earlier, they threw another ‘curve’ at the racers. With about 150 cars registered that meant over 100 would go home without racing. After a lot of complaining by the racers the promotors decided they’d hold two “Last Chance” races with the first two finishers being allowed to take the last four starting positions. I know this doesn’t sound like much but the promotors put up purse money for the two races so there was the opportunity to earn a little money. So… taking four more starting positions took that number down to 21. That’s not a high percentage… 21 cars out of approximately 130 or 16%. With that in mind we all knew we were facing high odds in getting into the race as the first car pulled out onto the track to take time.
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The fifth car to pull out on the track was the existing track record holder. Naturally, almost everybody was paying attention. When the time was announced I can assure you that it took everybody’s breath away… it was over two miles an hour faster that the old record. When they announced the speed… 113+ miles per hour we all just stood there in amazement. He turned the one mile in 31.765 seconds, almost four tenth’s of a second faster than the old record. Timing is taken out to the thousandths and even a tenth of a second is a major jump. In conversations leading up to the race our target was 43 seconds or 106 miles per hour. This guy just went 7 miles an hour faster than that. As we waited our turn we kept hearing times in the low 33 second bracket. Beth was the official recorder and I remember looking over her shoulder just before Cliffy pulled out on the track and was shocked to see that 19 of the 23 cars had gone faster than 34 seconds. When a car pulls onto the track it has to go all the way around to then take the green flag. Then the car makes two complete laps with the best time of the two being the one. Once Cliffy took the green flag I swear I didn’t take a breath until he’d completed the lap… and then I/we waited to hear the time… 33.209 or 108.404 miles per hour. No one could believe it.
     

This is the actual record that Cliffy's wife made that day.

To be continued…

KEEPING UP... Busy, busy, busy (Part 166e)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy busy (Part 166e)

Standing there I caught a glimpse of ‘Seeg’, C J’s father standing over by a stack of tires. He’d taken a liking to me back when I was racing my own car and the friendship had continued. He’d been influential in the decision to loan Cliffy and the team their Ford cylinder heads when they made the decision to switch to Chevy motors. He asked why our car was up on the hauler asking if we’d had a problem. I laughed and told him the problem was money… that we didn’t have enough to buy two sets of tires and had limited our practice time to conserve the wear on the ones we had. By then he was leaning on one of two stacks of tires and pointed to one saying that if we wanted we could use their tires to get more time on the track. I couldn’t believe my ears and told him I’d find Cliffy.

It didn’t take long to find him and some of the other crew members. After telling him of the offer we headed back to C J’s area and rolled the tires back to our car. With everybody involved it didn’t take long to unload the race car, change the tires and to get Cliffy back on the track. By then it was getting late and there were far fewer cars actually practicing which was good for us. Buster was the designated ‘timer’, assigned to take down the lap times as Cliffy circled the track. He’d taken lap times of some of the known ‘stars’ so had a bench mark of what lap times they were turning. I certainly don’t remember what it was but I do remember that our goal was to be able to go at least 106 miles per hour to even have a chance to qualify for the championship race. With our limited time on the track in the morning we weren’t even close. So, there was a lot of apprehension as the car pulled out onto the track. We knew that C J had put a lot of laps on these tires so when Buster called out the lap times we were rationalizing that with our newer tires we’d be faster than what he was turning. I don’t remember how many laps he made but I do remember we were close to 106 mph and pretty excited.

Davo was to arrive somewhere around 5pm as he had to work half a day. He was the one who’d made the motel reservations so even though we were all done as far as the track was concerned  Alan, Joe, Buster and I had to wait for him to arrive. Cliffy and Dick were staying in the camp trailer with their wives so they were already ‘at home’ when we finished picking up all our gear. Not unexpectedly, it was closer to 6pm when Davo and his girlfriend, Leigh, arrived. The four of us were exhausted having only gotten cat naps over the past 24 hours. We wanted to get to the motel, cleaned up and then be off to get something to eat. Davo didn’t want to hear any of our descriptions of what had taken place during the day but wanted it straight from Cliffy. That put our leaving off and after that it was a half hour to the motel.

I knew we were in trouble as soon as I saw the place. It was typical of the type of motels that that were built right after WWII… shaped in a U format with obviously small rooms what with the doors fairly close together. Davo went in the office to register and when, after a period of time, he didn’t return Alan went to find out why. It turned out that the situation wasn’t as ‘unreal’ as our experience had been at the track with the “today/tomorrow” fiasco but it still was disturbing. Davo had made a reservation for three rooms and sent half the money that would be due for two nights. The owner/clerk, or whatever he was, told Davo that he’d only made two reservations. Davo had gone a bit berserk when told that and the only thing that kept the owner/clerk from bodily harm was that Alan had walked in when he did. The two of them demanded to see the book with the reservations and with two of them against the one, the guy reluctantly pulled it out. One or the other of them flipped through it and when they found the one for Davo it was obvious that the number had been changed from a 3 to a 2 and that the money amount had been altered as well. I could go on, but I won’t. The end result was that we only had two rooms. But, Davo made it abundantly clear that the guy wouldn’t get one penny more from him. Now, to the rooms…

I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say they weren’t even the size of a walk in closet in a house built today. Davo had requested, and been given, a double bed. That about filled the body of the first room. There was a love seat under the window facing the parking lot but the space between it and the bed wasn’t even enough to walk past it. The bathroom was a joke. A rusty shower stall, toilet and a sink with the bowl not much bigger than a soup bowl. The other room had twin beds but nothing else. The bathroom pretty much mirrored the other one. So, it was pretty obvious there was going to be a problem when it came to sleeping. There was a lively ‘discussion’ that followed. Both Joe and Alan were big guys so there was no way they could (or would) share a twin bed and Davo, for sure, wasn’t giving up the double bed with Leslie. That left Buster and me. Normally, I try to avoid conflict and will back down from it to keep harmony. But, Buster just plain annoyed me. He’d not put his share of money into the partnership and often didn’t show up at the garage when there was work to be done. So, when the choices were the love seat or the car there was no way I was going to freeze my ass sleeping in the car and I let it be known. I was hoping for support from Joe and Alan but they’d been friends with Buster for a long time. Risking some alienation  from them I made my point clear and sat down on the love seat.

The next ‘conflict’ came when it came to getting showered and ready to go out to eat. Davo was the ‘wheels’ for the group so we pretty much had to follow his lead. I don’t remember who it was that discovered there were only two towels in each room. No one was willing to go back to the office to face the guy there and to ask for more towels. That caused another discussion to take place… who absolutely needed to shower versus those who wanted to shower. Leslie volunteered to pass on it as she hadn’t done anything all day but to ride in the car. That left five of us to figure it out. Davo, a bit of a gambler, told the four of us to pull out a dollar bill from our wallets and we’d play poker with the serial numbers… low man out. It turned out to be Buster which just added to his displeasure. I was smiling (inwardly) at his discomfort.

When we were finally ready to leave, Buster, now pouting, said he wasn’t going to come with us. Davo had already left for the car when Buster pulled his stunt. When we told him he just shrugged his shoulders and we were off. There was a diner just down the highway from there so it didn’t take long. Davo had stocked the trunk of his car with a couple of cases of beer so we smuggled in two bottles each. Alan, Joe and I were so tired that just one bottle and the warm food had us falling asleep in the booth. It wasn’t until we got back that we realized what Buster had done by not coming with us as we found him curled up on the love seat… but not for long! 

To be continued...

KEEPING UP... Busy, busy, busy (Part 166d)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy, busy (Part 166d)

The racecar was all loaded up on the hauler on Wednesday night before the crew left the garage. The plan was to meet the next night at 8pm and to leave for the racetrack at 9pm. The reason for the late hour of departure was to avoid traffic. We had to drive through the city with both the truck with the race car on it and the pick-up that was towing the camp trailer. Having made the trip once before, Cliffy had learned his lesson when, in leaving in daylight, it had taken almost 8 hours because of traffic. By leaving at 9pm we would be in the city at midnight when traffic should be light. From the city it was about 2 hours to the track. Cliffy drove the pick-up with the trailer and riding with him was his wife, Beth, along with Joe and Buster. Dick drove the race car hauler with his wife, Ra, Alan, and I as passengers. Beth and Ra had bought food for breakfast and lunch and had it stored in the trailer. As we shut the garage door we were all ‘psyched’ to start our adventure.

As we’d hoped traffic in and around the city was manageable. We were actually a little ahead of schedule when we approached the race track. Cliffy had reserved a place for the trailer in the infield of the track. There were no amenities like electricity and water but just having a ‘home’ to use as a base was what we wanted. But, as we turned into the racetrack grounds we were about to have our well laid plans go astray. In my life I’ve been involved in some really bizarre situations but the one we were about to experience has served as the benchmark for all the others. I’m not sure my writing can do it justice but I’ll try.

It was about 1:30am when we pulled off the highway. Just inside the parking lot were probably 50 or more various types of vehicles with race cars on, in or behind them along with an equal number of cars and pick-ups. At the entry point to the infield there was a small building with three windows which we determined to be the ‘office’. There were a LOT of people gathered around and there was a lot of ‘chatter’ concerning the fact that there was no one in the office or at the gate to give us access to the infield of the track. No one seemed to know what was happening. When we started to get cold we climbed back in the trucks, turned on the motors to get heat and just sat and waited. I don’t know how long it was before someone saw lights coming from the ‘office’. Cliffy and Dick went to see what was going on. It didn’t take long before the vehicles with race cars started entering the track. When Dick came back to the hauler to take it inside to the infield it was obvious he was upset… and this is where it became bizarre.

Race cars could go on into the infield but the camp trailers couldn’t. The reason? “It isn’t tomorrow yet.” That’s what the women in the office told Cliffy. Even though our confirmation for the space read “Friday-Saturday-Sunday” she told Cliffy that Friday didn’t start until noon time. There were at least a dozen others there with camp trailers that were told the same thing. No amount of reasoning with the people in the little house was going to change it. A couple of pick-ups with camp trailers just bulled there way on inside the track and they were soon followed by two Police cars. At that point we made the decision not to try to do the same. So, for the next eight hours the pick-up and camp trailer sat in the parking lot along with a growing number of others who were also told the same thing. I still, to this day, do not know the reasoning behind the interpretation of just what constituted “today and tomorrow” or when today becomes tomorrow. What it meant for us (and others) was that after unloading the race car we had to walk at least a half mile to get to the parking lot where we’d left the trailer just to get our breakfast. Fortunately, the track wasn’t open for the race cars to practice on yet or we probably wouldn’t have eaten at all because there were no concession stands in the infield. We’d left Beth and Ra (the women) at the trailer and set a time that half of us would return to get a bite to eat.

When the speedway was built it was a one mile dirt track configured as a circle, the only one in the USA. It was changed about five years earlier by paving it with asphalt and making a short straightaway on the side opposite of the grandstands. The infield was nothing but grass and that’s where all the race cars were unloaded and where we prepared them for the race track. Without a hard, even surface it made it difficult to work. The first order of business was to get the car safety inspected. I’m smiling as I write this because this was back in the days before fire retardant driving suits, fuel cells and crash helmets that were safety ‘rated’. The people who raced back in those day were truly oblivious to the danger (myself included). In any case, as soon as we unloaded the car we pushed it into the inspection line. There was a local ordinance that prohibited the firing of any engine until 10am Monday through Saturday and not until noon on Sunday. We watched as a couple of cars that ignored it were escorted off the grounds. We were about 40th in line and we knew we had time to go to the trailer for coffee and breakfast. While there we checked with the ladies in the ‘office’ and were told it still wasn’t “tomorrow” yet. We also were told there were over 150 cars signed in. That was a bit of a shock because only 45 cars would start the race.

The track was open for practice at 10 am and with that many cars there was a limit on how many were allowed on the track at one time. I remember that there were a lot of ‘cautions’ because of cars spinning out and/or crashing. Because of our lack of tires Cliffy had decided on a limited number of practice laps. The problem was that while we were on the track we couldn’t get free of other cars so that Cliffy could see just what adjustments were needed. We put it up on the hauler in the early afternoon and spent the rest of it checking everything over. We got a chance to track down C J to see how he was doing with his NASCAR motor. If we were to believe his pit crew his lap times were right up there with the track record. While there with his crew I got an unexpected surprise. His girlfriend was perched up on the cab of his hauler timing some of the cars on the track. She was oblivious to those of us walking around which gave me a great opportunity to stand and look at her back. If there ever was a perfect DP this was it. Karen (her name) wasn’t wearing the white jeans that had been her standard (and had given me many a VPL) but was wearing what appeared to be standard blue jeans. That gave her white panties a nice contrast. But what was the most exciting to me was that because her back was less than a foot from my eyes I could readily see that the panties she was wearing were made by Shadowline. The waist elastic they used was unique to their panties and slips. As I’ve stated a number of time before, one of the ‘thrills’ for me was in knowing who made the panties the woman I was looking at or with was wearing. In this case I had at least a couple of minutes of uninterrupted viewing and without fear of being caught. Perfect!

To be continued...

KEEPING UP... Busy, busy, busy (Part 166c)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy, busy (Part 166c)

Peggy’s last day was Friday and I wasn’t going to be there. Her wedding, on Sunday, was to be a private affair with just family members attending. Because of Elle’s and my history with her I felt we should send a gift. As I said I hadn’t spent much time with her more because everything in her area was running so smoothly. I didn’t know what her plans were after the wedding and felt uncomfortable in asking her. I’m not sure exactly when it came to me to ask Woody. The two of them had ‘bonded’ right from the beginning. A couple of quick questions to Peggy on how Woody was progressing and getting a smile as an answer told me to leave them alone and to let Lorie oversee the details. But, since the two had been together for two weeks it was my thought they had to have talked about Peggy’s future. So, it was my goal to isolate Woody for a few minutes to see just what she knew. When the opportunity came Woody was a bit hesitant but I was able to find out Peggy was going to be a stay at home mom for her daughter. My first thought was to wonder just how much a radio announcer in a small town actually made and hoped it would all work out for her. In the few minutes I had to talk with her it was also very obvious that the two had become friends in a very short time.

Not normally a pessimist, I’d become concerned about how well the ‘busy period’ had been progressing and was secretly worried that something would end up going seriously wrong. What was in the very back of my mind was that I wouldn’t be able to go with the racer and team on Thursday night. As the days were winding down I was getting more and more excited. I’d been to the championships as a spectator but this was going to be my first as a pit crew member (and co-owner). I was at the point I was wishing I could close my eyes and then open them to find we were on the way there. However… there were still two nights to make sure everything was in order and Elle was prepared for me to be at the garage and then to be gone until Sunday night.

I was anxious all day Thursday. It was hard to stay focused and I found myself unable to concentrate. I was waiting on a customer at my desk and looked over at the gate to the platform and saw James, Peggy’s father. I felt guilty when I saw him because, since I’d become a part of the racecar team, I’d been buying my gas from Cliffy’s father. I and the others had been doing it as a courtesy because he’d let the team use his garage and tools and not charged us anything. I excused myself from the customer and went over to say hello to him. Joanie wasn’t there and I knew for James to be there during his business hours there must be something wrong. As always, I was greeted with a big smile. Before I could offer my mealy mouthed apology for not stopping by to see him he handed me a paper bag and asked if I could get it to Peggy. That was a bit if a surprise because with Peggy at the drive-up window he could have just driven up and left it. He, being polite, asked how Elle and I were doing and as soon as I said we were doing well he turned and was gone. I finished up with the customer and made my way back to the drive-up window area.

There was no sign of Woody and Peggy seemed to be all alone. As soon as she finished with the customer I asked about Woody. She just pointed to the ladies room which was located right there. Naturally, I asked if she was OK. The next car had pulled up to the window so all I got for an answer was that it was “a female thing”. It was obvious to me it wasn’t something she was going to go into any detail so I returned to my desk. It wasn’t until I got almost there that ‘the light went on’ and that Woody had gotten her period and that the bag probably contained clothes for her to change into. With that thought in mind I made it a point to go back to their area a short time later. As I’ve written , with the drive-up window located in an area out of my line of sight I’d sometimes not really see that much of either of the girls. However, on this particular day I’d noticed Woody wearing her jacket and pants. When I got to the area I could clearly see that Woody had on a different pair of pants. Peggy liked brighter clothes than what Woody had purchased and the pants she now had on were a lot brighter than the oatmeal color of the pants she’d been wearing earlier. To me, on  seeing that the mystery had been solved.

Before leaving the area I made it a point to tell Peggy I wanted to see her before she left for the day. I sensed that she was a bit concerned. It was just before 5pm when she arrived at my desk and when she sat down I could she her apprehension. As soon as I told her the reason she relaxed. I explained that I wasn’t going to be in to work the next day and that I wanted to give her my best wishes on her marriage. I also wanted to tell her how much I’d seen her grow as a person and that she was going to be missed. There are some people who are uncomfortable when receiving praise and Peggy was one of those. She, embarrassed, thanked me for giving her a chance and for being patient with her. She went on to say that she’d wasn’t going away and would stop by to see us. Then I asked for an honest appraisal of how she thought Woody would work out. That brought forth a small laugh from her and she said she’d be fine. Her only concern was the same one as for all new tellers… proving up at the end of the day. By then it was after 5pm and most of the employees had gone. As I escorted her to the door I told her that any time she stopped in I hoped she’d stop by my desk to see me. She stopped and gave me a big hug which caught me by surprise. Watching her walk across the parking lot I just hoped that the guy she was marrying would be good to her.

Bret was waiting for me when I returned to my desk. I’d gone over everything that I needed to get done on Friday so was a bit puzzled. As I’ve previously written Bret was a big stock car racing fan and he wanted to give me money to get him a souvenir program from the championships. That got us to talking and he told me the motor that C J was going to use in the championships was from a Grand National NASCAR stock car. That just about floored me making me wonder just how we were to compete against something like that. Driving home I sort of wished that he hadn’t told me. But, there was nothing I could do about it.

To be continued…

KEEPING UP... Busy, busy, busy (Part 166b)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy, busy (Part 166b)

On Sunday, I was anxious to get to church to talk with the minister. I’d left the Thrift Shoppe before the women had tallied the monetary returns and having got caught up in working on the racecar had put it out of my mind. Elle had persuaded me to attend the 10am service with her and the kids but I didn’t want to wait until then to find out how much money the church had netted. The minister was in his office preparing his sermon when I got there. I could tell he didn’t appreciate the interruption but I pressed on anyway. The news was good… very good! He didn’t have a dollar amount but did volunteer that there was enough to pay off the outstanding fuel oil bill from the previous Winter and to pretty much pay for a full tank of oil. That news made all the work and anxiety seem worth while. However… if there was one annoying thing about the man it was that he was always brimming with unrealistic optimism. Before leaving his office I heard him make a projection on just how much money we could expect from the shop each week.  I had to bite my tongue recognizing that he was not a business person. I don’t remember just what I said as I headed out the door but it had to do with tempering the expected amount to be made when announcing the results to the parishioners. I could tell he didn’t appreciate the advice.

That Sunday was also Anne’s 8th birthday. Both sets of parents came for a small party that night and, as usual, my mother outdid Elle’s mother in the way of gifts for her. I’d tried to persuade my mother not to try and outdo Elle’s mother but it was of no use. My mother was jealous of the amount of time all three of the kids spent with Elle’s mother and, in my mother’s mind, this was some sort of perverse ‘payback’. Our anniversary had been on Friday but we both agreed that we’d already celebrated it with our trip to Bermuda and didn’t want any attention paid to it. We told both sets of parents that we’d acknowledge it at Anne’s party but we didn’t it want to detract from her excitement. So, other than a few ‘glares’ at my mother from Elle’s mother it was a quiet evening. 

There were four days to go to get to the end of the ‘busy period’ and as I drove to work on Monday I remember hoping that it would remain as ‘calm’ as it had been. Woody had progressed well with her training and although Lorie had a little apprehension about her being apart from the other tellers when at the drive-up and in needing help I reminded her that to put one of the lobby tellers at the drive-up would be taken as a demotion by that teller. In a previous post I mentioned that I was about “meetinged out”. A new Federal law had been passed earlier in the year that concerned all types of financial institutions… Commercial Banks, Savings Banks and Savings and Loan Associations. It was called the “Bank Protection Act of 1968” and mandated that they focus on preventing bank hold-ups. I’d been designated as the security officer for the bank and had attended a few preliminary meetings as the ‘nitty gritty’ of the law was being promulgated. I hadn’t had to do much while waiting for the final rules and had pretty much let it slip from my mind. When the mail for the day was delivered to my desk there was one ominous piece that stood out. It was from the FDIC, the overall regulator for Savings Banks. Opening it I discovered the final rules concerning the Act along with the most onerous part… the date our plan (yet to be written) was to be in place.

I could go into a multi page diatribe concerning my feeling towards Government regulation… but I won’t (let's hear a loud “Thank you!”). The date for implementation was October 15th which gave me but five days to get it written (and approved by the Board) and in place. I was floored! I’d made arrangements to take Friday off to go to the stock car championships and I was damned if I was going to miss it. I’ll admit I went off the ‘deep end’ when I took the sheaf of regulations over to Hobie and started in about how could they reasonably expect all of what they wanted to be done accomplished in one week. He, very calmly, took the papers and looked at the timed outline and then picked up the phone. I stood there and listened as he talked with another banker about it for about ten minutes. Hanging up the phone he smiled and said, almost cavalierly, “Don’t worry about it.” And handed the papers back to me. Then he told me to just get started on it and not worry about the dates. I was about to leave his area when he added “Oh, by the way… the Board approved a $1,000 increase in your pay.” You probably won’t believe it when I tell you that it didn’t ‘register’ with me until I’d taken a few steps away from his desk. I’d been so caught up with being relieved of having to try and meet that unrealistic deadline that I wasn’t paying attention.

Two ‘gifts’ in less than a minute! When the increase registered with me I was standing right in front of the elevator and J J appeared. For the past few days he’d been very cordial towards me and I likened it to him having been ‘talked to’ by Bert, the president, about stepping over boundaries (his ordering Joanie to do some work for him). That notwithstanding, I stood there waiting for him to make another one of his ‘special’ requests. But, that wasn’t the case. He wanted to get some advice on buying a sailboat. I do remember standing there looking at him, somewhat in disbelief. There I was with a lobby full of people and he wanted to talk about personal matters. Typical J J! I probably said something I shouldn’t have but told him to see me after work.

What I wanted to do was to apply my raise to my bi-weekly net pay to see how much more I’d be taking home. I’d set a goal of netting $30 per paycheck and I knew this was going to make it more. Being the personnel officer I knew the salary for everyone, officers included. I knew this raise would get me above Jerry and I couldn’t conceive of him getting more of a raise than what I got. It was a ‘feel good’ minute (or more!). But… having just seen J J, I  also wanted to see how much closer to his salary this increase got me. He’d come in as an Assistant Vice President at a salary that was way out of line with the existing officers. However, I’d gotten more than he did in each my first two reviews. His anniversary was in November and I was anxious to see just what he’d get with the next one.

I ‘crunched’ the numbers as soon as I got back to my desk and was excited to see that my  net figure would be closer to $35 per paycheck, $5 more than I’d hoped for. In today’s world that doesn’t seem like much but back in the 60’s five dollars actually bought something. I’m not sure but I’m thinking gas was selling at around 33 to 35 cents a gallon which works out to a tankful. The next thing I did was to call Elle. Her first question was to ask how much more she could spend on clothes for the kids. The two older girls were exactly the same size which meant we had to buy two of everything. My thought was to save as much of the increase as possible. I’d started a special savings account the prior year and had been able to put almost $500 of my previous raise in it. In my ’numbers crunching’ I was hoping I’d be able to add at least $750 to it. The job was going to be to sell the concept to Elle.

To be continued…

KEEPING UP... Busy, busy, busy (Part 166a)

KEEPING UP… Busy, busy, busy (Part 166a)

It was like I was a juggler in the circus trying to keep everything in place and keeping a lot of people happy. When Hobie called me over to his area I thought it was to tell me about my salary increase… but I was wrong. It was to tell me that he’d designated me as the bank’s new Chamber of Commerce representative. Being that it was now October I knew what the first thing I was in for… the annual Halloween sales promotion. I’d been involved in it in the past but only from the bank’s participation. It had been delegated to me from Hobie to try and persuade employees to participate in the costume contest. It was a pain to do but the results were kind of fun. What concerned me most about the designation was that it meant monthly meetings. I was pretty much meetinged out but there was no option to say “No”. Hobie explained that the biggest commitment was to the annual Summer picnic. That sounded ominous. As a bank officer I’d been required to volunteer to help at the picnic itself but that was only for a day. What Hobie was telling me was I’d now be involved in the planning of the whole event and I was not looking forward to that. When I left his area I was very disappointed.

Being the first of October I knew that the money from the bond from the trust fund that had been "called" was available for investment over at the stock brokerage office so I headed there during my lunch break. Lynda had returned and as soon as I walked in she announced that she had something for me. She was seated in her chair at her desk and almost as soon as she spoke I watched her push away from the desk. Using her left leg and foot to get herself turned around I watched as her knees spread apart and for a split second I saw patch of white appear.  As much as  you might like to think that I’m always ready for an upskirt , VPL or a DP… that’s not always true… and this was one of those occasions. Lynda quickly grabbed the item she had for me from the back counter and then swung back towards her desk… and I got a second viewing of white. Both, combined, might have taken a couple of seconds but they had caught me by surprise. When Lynda actually looked at me she started to laugh a bit. I, obviously, was somewhat embarrassed and was made even more so when she, very quietly, asked if I saw something I liked as she handed me an envelope. Thankfully, it was Stan, her boss and my broker, who got me out of the situation when he walked in the door right behind me.

Ruthe had given me the research papers on the stocks that Stan thought I might be interested in the previous week. I had read the material but wasn’t excited about any of them. Even though the bond hadn’t paid much in the way of interest none of the suggested stocks paid a dividend and that was  something I’d decided I wanted. Lobby traffic had been moderate at the bank but it being the ‘busy period’ my conscience wouldn’t let me stay to discuss other choices with Stan. I told him I’d be back to him later and headed for the door. Lynda intercepted me to explain what was in the envelope she’d given me. When I’d brought the bond to the office I’d failed to clip the last interest coupon and it was inside. As I was opening the envelope Lynda was whispering something to me but I couldn’t make it out. I remember thanking her for giving it to me and headed back to the bank.

The first thing I did was to cash in the coupon. Like I said, it wasn’t a lot of money but it was like ‘found money’.  Once back at my desk Bret turned to me and asked how the preparations for going to the championship were going. Bret was a big racing fan and was a good friend of one of our competitors and would periodically give me an update of the things that C J was doing. C J had ended up being ‘rookie of the year’ in his first season racing at the track and had won a couple of feature races. His switch to Chevrolet motors had proven to be a good one but Bret told me that for the championship weekend he was switching back to run a Ford. That was a complete shock especially since he’d loaned us his Ford cylinder heads. My first thought was that he’d want them back. Bret could see the shock in my face and quickly put my mind at ease when he told me that C J had picked up a sponsor who owned a really big, powerful engine. I sat there relieved… but envious. I asked Bret if he was thinking about going but I knew the answer even before he made an attempt. Even though I liked his wife I really felt sorry for him. She really had him under her thumb. He’d been one of the best athletes when he was in high school and a lot of his friends and former teammates still participated in sports… but Bret wasn’t allowed to. In thinking about his situation it made me feel really fortunate.

Saturday was the grand opening of the re-organized Thrift Shoppe at the church. The advertisement had run in the Thursday Pennysaver paper and the signs I’d made had been put out on Friday. After getting up early I went right to the church. The minister was clearly in charge and had managed to get enough volunteers to have each of the tables manned. That way there would be some control and some semblance of order could be maintained as the people perused the clothes. The two women who Elle had worked with in sorting the donated clothes had decided it would be best to segregate the new clothes my friend Judith had donated from her boutique. That turned out to be a pivotal decision. At the opening there were so many people there another vestryman and I had to limit entry. One out… one in. All in all it went fairly smoothly. The doors closed at 1pm with people still inside. I’d promised to be at the garage by 1pm to put the motor back in the racecar with Alan so I took my leave without knowing the money results of the day.

By the time I left the garage to go home the motor was in and had been running. I have to tell you that my heart was in my mouth when it came time to start it up. I’d put motors together in the past but they were nowhere near as complicated and powerful as this one. Cliffy had a family affair to go to so once the engine had been running for about ten minutes we all left. I was pretty proud of myself as I drove home. Elle was actually surprised to see me as I’d forewarned her that she might not see me until 10pm so she and the kids had already eaten. I was so ‘hyped’ about the motor that I didn’t care. I don’t remember what I ended up eating but what I do remember was that for ‘dessert’ Elle served up a real treat for me.

After I’d settled in on my recliner she took the the kids to the basement to play. On her return she proceeded to climb up so that she was pretty much straddling me… and then just let ‘it’ go, soaking me. It was messy but enjoyable (at least to me). What made it special was that she’d done it on her own. I hadn’t had to try and persuade (bribe) her. Because there was no telling when one or more of the kids might appear we didn’t stay that way for long. But, as we cleaned ourselves up we had some ‘fun’ and I got a promise of a special ‘treat’ once we got to bed. All in all… a pretty good day.

To be continued...

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165t)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165t)

Most panty peeks and VPL’s are complete surprises. This one surely was! As I walked up to the drive-up area I saw Woody’s whole backside just under the hem of her jacket. The best way to describe the color of the jacket is to suggest it was about the shade of iced tea. So, with her pants the color of oatmeal there was a contrast. I’d been a student of VPL’s as long as I could remember so I was able to detect crotch lines without really having to search for them. There were certain ones that would readily identify the maker of the panty. For example, there was no way not to recognize a pair of Sans Soucie or VanRaalte panties. And there were also some others that I could make an educated guess about. But in Woody’s case I wasn’t really sure. The sight of it left me momentarily speechless. I’d walked past Peggy and stopped when I saw the VPL. Peggy brought me out of my trance when she asked if everything was OK. I told her why I’d come to the area and she agreed that it was a good idea to prepare Woody for what might soon be happening. The comment brought me back to the real world.

It was little later in the morning that I got a good look Woody and her new outfit. The dress code called for the back of the jacket to cover the “dupa” or butt cheeks. This one barely did but since it had been Trish who’d been with her when she was picking her clothes out I didn’t dare say anything. Trish had been called the “dupa” police by Bret right after the dress code was changed to allow females to wear pants at work as she was critical of most of the jackets that were initially worn. In any case I didn’t have a problem with the jacket’s length although I wasn’t crazy about the color. However, it worked with pants she was wearing. I remember wishing I was in a better position to observe her during the workday.

There are no notes indicating that anything untoward happened during the first couple of days of the ‘busy period’. Having a staff of experienced tellers was probably as good a reason as any. Bret reported that Jerry, at the branch, had seen a little more lobby traffic but I dismissed it as a product of it being the industry wide ‘busy period’. I told Bret it was probably him being worried about his job and was trying to justify his salary. My reason for thinking about that subject was I expecting to be told what my salary increase would be sometime during the week. It still upset me that he was making the same salary as I was making and only had about 10% of the responsibility I carried. But, at least with Bret as the go-between I didn’t have to worry about getting into a ‘pissing contest’ with him. Bret had been good about keeping me up to date on just about everything and anything going on at the branch. Speaking of the branch, lurking in the back of my mind was just what the Trustees were doing with the report Morris, the consultant they’d hired to advise them on branch matters, had presented to them back in August. There was always the temptation to give him a call but… I didn’t know just how ‘close’ he and the Trustees had become. The last thing I wanted was to develop more negativity towards myself so chose to keep my mouth shut.

At home, for one night, I focused on making the signs for the church thrift shop. It was to open on Saturday and I decided to run an ad in the Pennysaver paper because of the confusion that aborting the first attempt at an opening had caused. I was still not ‘sold’ on the idea of it but, as a vestryman, was committed on “giving it a go”. Based upon the good will the donation of the rejected clothes to the CAST organization had generated there were some positives to the effort. Elle hadn’t given up on the project as she'd threatened and along with the two women she’d been working with had gotten some kids and baby clothes donations from the stores that Judith had suggested. Actually, sign painting is a mindless effort once the design has been established so, as I put the brush to the surface it came to mind that an effort to contact the people who ran the similar type shop at the church we had attended when living in the mobile home would be a good idea. I remembered that Elle had shopped there regularly for clothes for the kids.

I was able to contact the lady who’d been in charge when we attended that church. I’d actually seen her any number of times in the bank and, if possible, would chat with her about how her daughter was doing. The daughter had been one of the part timers I’d hired when the bank ran the first gift campaign. All I wanted was a few ‘pointers’ but she insisted that she come to the bank to meet with me. She was one of those people committed to whatever project she was involved in and it was obvious that she’d been a ‘mover and shaker’ when it came to the thrift shop. When she walked up to my desk she presented me with an outline of what to do and what not to do. She made a point of verbalizing the fact that if an item remained for more that four weeks to get rid of it. Before leaving she gave me an update on her daughter, Karen, who I remembered, vividly. A very bright girl, she was in her junior year at college but was taking courses to graduate early. I remember her more from the fact that as she sat at the table opening accounts she kept her knees spread and that I’d had many peeks at her ‘magic triangle’.

On my way home I stopped at the house where the minister lived to leave the paper that I’d gotten with ’tips’ on running a thrift shop. When I knocked on the door I was greeted by the young man I’d recently met who had been invited to live with the minister. He introduced himself as Nick and invited me in. The minister was with a parishioner so I got a  chance to chat with him. Just discharged from the Army he explained that he had no idea what he was going to be doing. I can’t explain the reason but I was impressed with him. Since Nick didn’t know how long the minister would be I just gave him the paper and headed home. I told Elle about meeting with the lady and the paper with suggestions. One of the biggest that Elle agreed with was to get more kids clothes. That night I was to work on the racecar and I hoped Alan and Dick remembered my request for their kids used clothes.

At the garage Cliffy brought us all up to date with the plans for the championship weekend. His father had a 20 foot long camp trailer and he was going to let Cliffy use it. He and Dick, along with their wives, would sleep in it but the really big thing was that they’d be able to cook for all of us and save us a lot of money. Davo had made reservations for the rest of us at a cheap motel that was less than a half hour from the track. The racecar refurbishing was on schedule but we still needed more money. When he mentioned money all eyes turned towards Buster. He’d not put anything into the operation since his original $100 used to buy the car. Usually it was Cliffy who spoke up but on this night it was Dick. He went right at him telling him if he didn’t show up with at least $50 by the weekend he was finished as a partner. In my mind it was about time.

To be continued…

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165s)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165s)

The weekend was busy. First it was my normal routine… lawns, landfill and then on to work on fully closing up the sailing club. Rex had left a message with Elle that he’d contacted a few of the members and wanted me to help. I still to pick upon of my Sunfish sailboats and by going there I knew I’d have help to load it on my trailer. I was done with the closing of the clubhouse and had the boat home right after the noon siren went off. From there it was off to work on the racecar. It was only two weeks until the championships and Cliffy was adamant that we be ready a week in advance. Alan and I had made good progress on the motor and it was our goal to have the ’short block’ (crankshaft, piston rods and pistons) finished up by the time we left for the day. Fan interest was also picking up as we had people stopping by to see how we were doing. Among them was Davo and his girlfriend, Leslie. It had been  quite a few weeks since I’d seen them at the garage but they were always at the races. Davo was amazing. I can honestly say that it was rare to see him without a beer in his hand… and I don’t ever remember seeing him obviously drunk. It wasn’t the same for Leslie. Two beers and she was on her way. On this afternoon it was obvious she’d had more than two. Davo and Cliffy were pretty close so he ‘camped out’  at the back of the car where Cliffy was working. I, because I’d seen Leslie when she was drunk, tried to position myself so I could observe her. In the past she and Davo had shown up at the garage at night. Cliffy’s father would lock his office whenever he left and since the only toilet was in there we were left to fend for ourselves. Leslie, with any number of beers in her system, had experienced a couple of ‘accidents’ and I’d seen the results. Even though the office was open I wanted to be sure to catch the ‘action’, if there was to be any.

Of course, I had no idea how many beers she’d consumed nor when the last time she’d visited a rest room. But I managed to position myself to observe her as she sat on a folding step stool. I was amazed to see Leslie drink two beers and not get up to relieve herself. I was disappointed to hear Davo call to her that he was leaving. The whole time she’d been sitting there she hadn’t said much but when she did speak her words were slurred. I think Davo called a couple of times before he came over to where she was sitting. When he got to her she mumbled to him that she couldn’t get up. I remember him grabbing her by her wrist and yanking her up. When he did she fell into him and then to the floor. I also remember him cursing at her as she started to pee. Then he let her go and she fell completely to the floor… still peeing. I was stunned by both actions but Davo continued to curse her. It was Cliffy who came over and told him to stop and when he did Davo just turned and walked out the door. Leslie was just laying there on the concrete floor in a very large puddle of pee and not saying anything.

Of the group who was there, Dick, Alan, Joe and me, Cliffy knew Davo and Leslie the best. I just stood there wondering what he was going to do. I think he asked if she was hurt but don’t know what she said. He then went over to the phone and quickly returned. He said his wife was coming to get her. Someone asked if we shouldn’t get her up off the floor and I remember looking around with no one moving towards her. Finally, Dick and Cliffy went over and lifted her up to a sitting position. She started mumbling something while Dick steadied her by holding her shoulders and pulling them back so her back was against his legs. It was around 4:30pm and I remember wondering how anybody could get so drunk so early in the day. Cliffy’s wife showed up soon after and Cliffy and Dick pretty much just stuffed her into the back seat of his station wagon. None of us said much of anything that I can remember.

When I got home Elle wanted to go to a party at Ginger and Jon’s (the milkman) house saying that her mother was willing to take the kids for the night. It had been a long, busy day and going to a party had not been on my agenda. However, Elle knew how to ‘push my button’ and as she was cleaning off the dinner she invited me to follow her into the bathroom. Of course, I took the ‘bait’ and watched her pull down her slacks and sit on the toilet… with her panties still on. After a little ‘playing’ she persuaded me to go to the party. I followed her up the stairs but grabbed the Polaroid camera out of the closet while on my way. I can’t say she was thrilled to see it but didn’t make a fuss. As usual, it was just one picture and then it was time to get washed up and ready to go.
   

Note: two pair

We hadn’t been to a party in quite a while and as far as Ginger and Jon were concerned I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d been there other than to leave off one or more of the kids. It wasn’t really a topic of conversation but Elle had told me that the procedure Ginger had to help with her incontinence had really made a difference. Ginger had been losing weight and seeing her that night she was actually attractive. One thing that hadn’t changed was her tendency to give panty peeks. Their house was small and, with four guest couples, seating was somewhat at a premium. Being a good hostess she ended up sitting on the floor a couple of different times and was true to form… and I got a sighting or two. However, it was the new neighbor that made the evening somewhat memorable. She was wearing slacks and on one occasion I got a memorable DP (downpants). She was wearing two pair of panties and what really made it stand out was that they were different colors. Other than Elle I’d only observed a couple of females wearing two pair. So, for the rest of the evening my thoughts were on them and why she chose to wear two. By the time we left I was glad agreed to come.

The following week kicked off the ‘busy period’ at the bank. A quick meeting between Bret, Lorie, Trish and I before the doors opened had me feeling quite confident that we were prepared. The way the calendar worked out for this quarter it was going to be a long one taking up eleven days. Lobby traffic the first two days were usually a good predictor of how would play out and I had my fingers crossed. One reoccurring problem was at the drive-up window. There was only room for five cars before creating a traffic problem on Main Street. For the last ‘busy period’ I’d stationed Mike, the messenger custodian, out at the curb to try and keep some semblance of control and had assigned him the same duty. Mike was not the most diplomatic person when under pressure. That meant when some of the customers who’d been chastised by him got to the window itself they were a bit upset. Peggy had learned how to adjust for that but I was concerned about Woody and how she’d take a bit of grief so made a point of going back there to warn her.

As I’ve mentioned, the drive-up window was basically out of the line of sight for those of us who worked on the ‘platform’ at the very front of the building. We could still see all the rest of the tellers but the drive-up was usually one of those ‘out of sight… out of mind’ operations. I’d mentioned that it had been a while since I’d paid much attention to Peggy and that was one of the reasons. That and the fact that it had been running smoothly all Summer. So, it was unusual for me to venture back there that morning. Woody and her new clothes were far from my main thoughts that morning but as soon as I saw her that changed. She was wearing pants… and a jacket per the dress code. But, the physical layout at the drive-up window was unique. There was a chair but it seldom was used because of the differing heights of the counter and the teller machine. It was easier to stand, bend over to operate the drawer used to retrieve the transaction that to have to get up and down all the time. In Woody’s case she was bending over to get the contents of the drawer and, jacket notwithstanding, I got a very nice VPL.

To be continued…

      

BACK TO REALITY Same ole, same ole (Part 165r)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165r)

It had been months since I’d seen Gracie. However, when I saw her waiting for me the next morning I still had a trace of guilt from having taken a pair of her panties the night I’d stayed at her house back when I was going through my training on the teller machines. Even with that to me she was the lady with the dimpled panties. Once over that little trauma I was actually glad that the person that had been sent was someone I and most of the staff knew. It took meeting between Lorie and Liz to get the process started. I wasn’t exactly sure how it worked and I was positively sure that Liz didn’t. Thankfully, there hadn’t been many transactions and by the time they were all processed it was a little after noon. I offered to take her for lunch but she said she needed to get back to the office. I told her I owed her one and would call the next time I had a banking meeting at the restaurant just down the street from the data center. I was pleased when she said she’d like that.

Time wise I was glad she didn’t accept the offer. I’d gotten a telephone call from Stan, my stock broker, that one of the bonds that had been part of the trust fund my grandfather had set up for me had been called. I was still learning my way when it came to stocks and bonds. The one thing I knew about bonds were that they were a pain to work with .The reason people invested in them was to earn interest on their money To get that interest the investor had to cut off coupons that were attached to the certificate itself and take them to a bank. For the tellers it was a pain and often led to problems when it came to proving up at the end of the day. From the time the trust was turned over to me they had been a pain. I’d forget to clip the coupon and it would be months until I’d realize it. So, having all that, hearing the the last of my bonds had been called was good news. Even though the call date was October first I wanted to get it to Stan so I’d have access to the principal on the first. It was also a chance to find out if Lynda had returned from her trip. Visiting the brokerage office without her there wasn’t nearly as ‘interesting’.

I was disappointed when I walked in and didn’t see her. Stan was busy with a customer which meant I had to deal with Ruthe. She’d been a lot more friendly with Lynda gone and it continued on this day. She took the bond from me and gave me a recipt for it. As she did she asked a strange question. She wanted to know which road I took on my way to work. I knew where she lived and had, one Saturday, seen clothes on a clothes line in her yard. Hard as I tried I couldn’t come up with a reason for stopping to see just what was hung on it. So, I willingly told her. The reason for her asking was that her car had “died”. She was wondering if it were possible for me to pick her up on my way in for a few days until she could get it repaired.

I’ve always had a problem saying “No” when asked for a favor. But this time I had no reason to. I can tell you that as soon as she asked I had to keep from seeming to be too eager to say yes. Ruthe was a single mother involved in a nasty divorce. Her husband, an alcoholic prone to causing trouble was a constant worry for her. Her mother would pick up her kids after school to keep their father from having access to them. Ruthe would then pick them up on her way home. Now, without a car her mother was going to drive in to the brokerage and then take them all to their home. My only involvement would be to stop and get Ruthe in the morning. I didn’t drag out my “Sure…. I’d be glad to do it’” answer for long and by the time I did I was already contemplating viewing a full clothes line.

With Gracie working with Liz and Lorie I was able to finalize the advertising for the “busy period”. Bret had been the go-between between the main office and the branch since I’d left for vacation. Nothing much had happened at the branch and none of the suggestions that Morris had made to the Board had been acted upon. One had been to severely cut back media advertising geared for the branch area and I’d thought about it… for a short time. It was time to make the ‘buys” for ad space. But, before I did I made a call to the branch to talk with the staff to get an idea of what the addresses were of the new accounts that had been opened over the past few weeks. I felt it would give me an idea of what area to target and then to use the Pennysaver paper that covered those areas. I just couldn’t abandon the branch even if I knew in my heart that Morris was probably right when he told me… “Shut it down and start over…”. It was the first time I’d talked with anyone from the branch since returning from Bermuda and from what they told me things were slow but running smoothly. I remember shaking my head in thinking about all the things the board had done wrong in deciding to open a branch.

It was near the end of the day before I got to see Woody wearing another of her purchases. I was a bit disappointed because it was a chocolate colored skirt and not colorful at all. However, it, like the plaid one she’d worn the day before, was well above her knees. I did make a comment to Trish and all she’d say was that it was part of an outfit. She added that it might be a while before I’d see what she was talking about and smiled. Seeing and talking about Woody triggered my thought concerning her comment to me about Peggy being “special” and I decided to pursue it before she left.

Talking with her was refreshing as she was so positive. I made ‘small talk” to start with but didn’t waste much time before segueing to Peggy. I ‘danced’ around the question a bit asking how they were getting a long and if she thought Peggy was a good teacher. I knew what the answers were before asking so I waited a few seconds to ask why she called Peggy “special”.
Other than for her periods of shyness right after her being hired this was the first time I’d seen her pensive. I think I shocked her when I brought it up. In fact, initially she didn’t remember actually calling her that. But I insisted that she’d used it when she was thanking me for helping her out with the clothes. Then I saw her blush. She really didn’t want to talk about it. I guess you could call me cruel for continuing… but I did.

What had happened was that Peggy had told her about all the ways I’d helped her. I was not happy to hear that she’d done it because I’d made her promise not to tell anybody but her parents (and they weren’t supposed to know about some of it). In any case, what doing it had accomplished was to convince her that I was, for lack of any other words, not to be feared. It was a bit of a shock for me to hear that… but, later, on the way home I managed to grasp the concept. Here she was, young, away from home, living with people she didn’t know all that well, in need of monetary help and working with people she didn’t know and someone offers to give her money for clothes. It made sense. But, getting back to Peggy being “special”, it was because she had made a real effort to make her (Woody) comfortable. It was in hearing her say it that it made sense.

To be continued...

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165q)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165q)

The next morning Elle was in a much better mood, thankfully. She said she’d given the names of the kids clothing stores to the other women and they were going to pursue it. Remembering my conversation with Judith at her boutique, she had said having kids clothing would bring in younger people who, while there, might peruse the adult clothing which would be where the money would be. I won’t say I felt optimistic but at least there was a plan. Before getting in my car I popped the garage door to take a look at just how many items they’d chosen and it was still a fair amount. It reminded me I needed to get to work on the signs the minister had requested.

I won’t say I was obsessed with seeing what Woody had chosen to wear. In both Laura’s and Joanie’s cases I’d been more involved and had seen some, if not all, of what they’d chosen. As soon as I walked in the door I forgot all about Woody and her clothes. Mike, the messenger/custodian told me that we had no electricity. No power meant that we couldn’t open as all the teller machines were powered by electricity. I was the most senior officer there at that moment and I’ll admit I didn’t have a clue as to what to do. Liz, the auditor, came through the door just minutes later and I called her over to my desk. We’d had a few occasions where we were without power before we’d switched over to the service bureau but had the ledger cards to work with. Now, all the records were kept by the computers at the data center. Knowing that we had to come up with something I had the idea that since the customer had a passbook the chances were close to 100% that the balances showing in them would be correct. With that number in hand we could at least offer some service for those that requested a withdrawal. I asked Liz if she would be satisfied with just the signed withdrawal slip as proof of the transaction. She, being ultra conservative hesitated and while she was contemplating her decision I saw the first customers walking into the lobby. Bret, Trish and Lorie were standing just behind Liz and I made the decision for her and told the three of them to let the tellers know what we were doing and to stay behind the teller counter to explain the situation. Ignoring Liz, I called the data center to find out how they handled situations like this within their own system. I remember the answer… “With difficulty…”.

I spent most of the first hour on the phone with them. I had Mike do a bit of investigation to see how serious the outage was. The simplest way to explain it was that the electric power company had split the downtown area into quadrants and it was the quadrant where we were located that had the problem. Their regional office was also located in the same quadrant which gave me perverse pleasure but also some real hope that the problem would be solved quickly. Almost all the customers were reasonable. That, and the fact that we were on the cusp of the busy period where few people were willing to make withdrawals and to lose accrued interest, made the situation tolerable. I don’t remember why Hobie was late that day but as soon as he arrived I briefed him on the situation. I tried to explain the procedures that the data center had given to me but Hobie didn’t understand and insisted upon calling himself.

As I’ve written in past posts, Hobie had moved from the area where Bret, Trish and I sat to the space under the stairs to the second floor. There had been a number of cases where female employees had unwittingly come down the stairs and not realized the if someone were standing in front of Hobie’s desk there was a distinct possibility and getting an upskirt peek. I was in that position when the “upstairs Sandy”, J J’s recent hire, came down the stairs. I’ve explained that she was not all that attractive but… she was female… so when I saw the form above me I looked up. The first thing I saw were two legs. I don’t remember if I saw that she wasn’t wearing a slip first or her panties. I must have had at least 10 seconds of uninterrupted viewing before she reached a level on the stairs that the hem of her skirt blocked me from seeing anything. What was sort of unbelievable was that even when she reached the bottom of the stairs she was oblivious to the fact that I was there. Hobie brought me out of my trance when he said that he still didn’t understand the process but the data center would send someone out to oversee it once we had our lights back up. As he was telling me this I was still following “upstairs Sandy” out of the corner of my eyes as she headed for the mortgage teller at the far end of the teller line.

I checked with Lorie to see how the tellers were handling the situation. It was then that I realized that the drive-up window was inoperable. I’d never given it a thought so I headed in that direction. Peggy and Woody were sitting at a table and were working on the school savings program. Peggy had taken it upon herself to get Woody involved in it even though the prime focus was to teach her all the nuances of being a teller. When I approached them I still wasn’t looking at what Woody was wearing but was thinking of how proud of Peggy I was for taking that initiative rather than to just sit around to wait for the lights to come back on. I couldn’t help but to think of how Peggy had grown as a person since she’d started. It also triggered something that Woody had said when I dropped her off the previous afternoon. She had used the word  “special” in referring to Peggy but I hadn’t taken the time to ask why. When I looked at Woody I could see she was wearing a plaid skirt with more blue in it than the traditional colors. I think she was wearing a pale blue blouse to go with it. I spoke to them collectively so as not to single Woody out but used the opportunity to praise Peggy for getting Woody involved in the school savings program. In leaving them I remember wondering just how short her skirt was.

A cheer went up when the lights went back on. Fortunately, it had been a sunny day so working without lights wasn’t all that bad. Another call went in to the data center to let them know we had power and to take them upon their offer to send someone out to guide us on the reentry procedure for the transactions that had been completed during the outage. I was told someone would be there at 9am. I didn’t ask who it would be because it didn’t matter as long as they knew what they were doing. An effort was made to do something of ‘proof’ to make sure all the debits equalled the credits. I left that up to Liz and Laura to handle. That was when I finally got a good look at Woody’s skirt and I have to tell you I was a bit surprised. It was at least two inches above her knees.The skirt she’d worn every day since I’d first seen her was knee length and really didn’t do anything for her except make her look older than she was. Seeing her dressed in the shorter, more colorful skirt made her look like the young girl she was.. I was looking forward to seeing her progress.

To be continued…

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165o)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165p)

Trish approached me to ask if I had the clothes. When I told what had happened she was obviously upset and asked what she should say to Woody. I took a deep breath and told her that I’d ‘borrowed’ money from petty cash  and was headed back to pay for them. I remember her saying that Woody was still back there waiting and that she doubted that she could even make her bus. I hated being in that type situation where there was pressure from multiple directions. I probably took a deep breath at that point. What I do remember is that I asked Trish if she could go back to tell Woody what had happened and to ask her if she was interested in going to the store with me and then letting me drive her to where she was staying.

I stood by my desk and watched as she spoke with Woody. Even though she was way in the back I could see the expression on her face go from disappointment to excitement. By the time Trish was back to me it was after 5pm and the exodus of the employees had started. I could see Woody looking in our direction and waved her on up. I fully expected that the look of excitement would still be there when she walked top but I sensed apprehension. I’d not spoken with her all day and all the conversation was between she and Trish. I could sense her summoning courage to speak and when she did she looked at me with big eyes and I heard a very shaky “Thank you” come forth. Trying not to let the situation get out of hand I took a kind of hard nosed approach and told her that it was a loan and that Trish would work out a repayment schedule with her. Even though in my first sighting of her I’d thought she was older than she actually was, right at that point I could see how young and innocent she really was.

As excited as she was about the clothes there was definite concern about having missed her bus. I explained that I’d drive her to the store, pay for the clothes and then drive her to her friend’s home. It was hard to tell how she assimilated all of it as she, at that point, stood there with wide eyes and not saying anything. Trish broke the silence by saying she couldn’t wait to see what Woody would choose to wear the next day.

The cost of what the two of them had chosen was just a little over $120. Normally I only carried about $20 cash but, luckily, had enough to cover what the money from the petty cash fund didn’t. It wasn’t until we were leaving the store before I asked exactly what was in the boxes (back in those days that’s what some clothing stores did). I made a point of asking about the jacket and she seemed a bit uncomfortable about it saying she’d never had a “dress jacket”. I got the feeling that she was bit uncomfortable talking about the clothes so changed the subject. It took little more than ten minutes to get to where we were going so the wasn’t a lot of time to talk, not that she wanted to. But, I was able to get a little information about her and her family. Her father had been a pilot in the Air Force but had been grounded for health reasons and he hated it. She didn’t come right out and say it but I got  the distinct impression that her life at home hadn’t been the greatest from that time on. There was a reference to being “free” and to it was added that she really, really wanted the job to work out. That had been obvious in just the few days she’d been at the bank. She was gathering her packages from the back seat when she called my name. I turned towards her and could see she was fighting back tears. I’ve written any number of times that tears and women just don’t work for me. I tried to cut it short by saying that I hoped she’d wear the favorite thing that she’d gotten. That was enough to stem the tears and brought forth a weak smile.

I thought I was ‘home free’ but after a few steps towards the house she stopped and came back to the car. I sort of held my breath. But all she wanted to say was that she really appreciated the help… and that Peggy was “special”. Then she headed up the path to the house. On my way home I wondered how I kept getting involved with these naive young women… Laura, Joanie and now Woody. I was just up to the mobile home park that we’d lived at and realized that I’d not been keeping track of Moira and her battle with her husband. I rationalized it by thinking that if anything was happening she’d let me know… at least I hoped she would.

My ‘side trip’ had gotten me home a little late and it was obvious that Elle had not had a good day. Six o’clock was my target unless I called and I’d been pretty good recently. But, this was not a good night to be late. She and the kids had eaten and she was just about finished cleaning up. When I walked in I asked a simple question… “How did it go today?” For an answer… “Don’t go there!”… and she  proceeded to walk out of the kitchen. I didn’t need this aggravation so followed her into the den. The kids were in the cellar so they weren’t a problem. Normally I’d just let her cool off but I felt I hadn’t deserved her wrath for being just a few minutes late so I let her have a taste of her own anger. Long story short… the teacher who she was substituting for had no lesson plans for her to work with. On top of that it was an unusually rowdy class. I’d written that from the time that the call came in until she headed for school was pretty chaotic. She left without ‘spares’ and her ‘dribble’ panties got a “workout”. She ended up being pretty wet for the whole afternoon and didn’t dare to sit down. So by the end of the day, having spent most of it standing, she was exhausted and all she wanted to do was lay down when she got home. That wasn’t to be as the two ladies she’d been working with on sorting the clothing for the church shop showed up. Telling me about it and ‘venting’ ended up calming her down as we both apologized to each other. I suggested that for the future she get some ’supplies’ together and packed so she’d be better prepared the next time the school called. With a smile she stuck her tongue out at me.

Before heading to bed she said she and the two women had identified enough clothes to be able to open the Thrift Shoppe. When I told her the Vestry had decided to wait until the first Saturday of October she wanted to know why I hadn’t told her. I don’t remember what I answered but it wasn’t a satisfactory one and she said that she was through working on the project. I remember thinking that I wished I could do the same. But, before turning out the light I did ask her what to do about all the kids clothes that I’d been promised. She didn’t say anything to that which gave me hope that she’d change her mind. With the lights out she let me know the clothes that they had selected were in the garage ready to go to the church. I think I had a nightmare about clothes that night.

To be continued…

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165o)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (part 165o)

Having Trish involved was both good and bad. The good was that she would put some ‘insulation’ between me and Woody. The bad… let me put it this way… in just a few days I’d be celebrating my third year at the bank and in all that time I’d not seen her in anything that could even be loosely considered colorful and certainly not form fitting. I think I may have seen a few VPL’s during that time and as far as panty peeks, she kept her dresses and skirts to below the knees. To say that she dressed ‘matronly’ would be a little harsh but to her a bright color might be a battleship gray skirt. Back when I got involved with Lorie and the robins egg blue pants suit she about had a fit. It wasn’t that she was old… (actually only 25) but her taste in clothes was to be conservative and drab. So… I could see her leading 20 year old Woody down the same path and it bothered me.

At home I was confronted with more clothing as Elle and the other two ladies had gone through the latest donations to the church Thrift Shoppe. Looking at the all stuff in the back of the station wagon I wondered if they had kept anything at all. When I got out of my car I went over and took a look at it and the one thing I took away from it was the obvious smell of moth balls and I wanted it out of there as soon as possible. I’m going to admit I was a little peeved so I started just grabbing stuff and pulling out of the back. Elle came running out of the house and was yelling at me as she did. It turned out that the ladies had contacted the people at CAST, the organization that had taken the first of the rejects, and someone was stopping by that evening to pick it up. Now, faced with having to pick it up I was really pissed.

While eating, the phone rang and it was Alan to tell me the parts for the motor were in and that he could work on it that night. I really wasn’t in the mood but since I’d gotten Elle upset decided I couldn’t get her much madder so said I’d meet him at the garage. We got along very well and without much conversation got a lot accomplished. In cleaning up I, to make conversation, asked if he and his wife had any kids clothes that they didn’t need any longer. I told him why I was asking and he said he’d have some things together by Friday, the next time the whole crew was to be together. That simple question gave me the impetus to plan on asking both Dick and Cliffy who both had young kids. On my way home I thought I had something to ease the tension between Elle and myself. By the time I drove up the driveway I’d added Bret to my list of possibilities. Unfortunately, Elle had gone to bed so I had to wait with the news.

It was the phone that woke me/us up. It was a call from the school for Elle to come in and teach. It was her first call for the new school year and, because it was, it created a bit of panic. Totally unprepared, she was like the proverbial ‘chicken with no head’. I have no idea why she’d put off the inevitable as she’d been told by Bill, the principal, that she was first on the substitute list. In any case as she headed down the driveway I was saddled with making sure the older girls were prepared for school. My bigger worry was in finding someone to watch Kaye. By the time I did I knew I was going to be late and I’d wanted a word with Trish before she spoke to Woody. Like they say, ‘the best laid plans…’.

She’d waited for me and seeing that, it relaxed me a bit. Not wanting Bret to hear what we were planning I suggested that we head for the Board room but that we take different routes. Once there I started in on a prepared speech but no sooner had I started when Trish interrupted. Because of ‘asides’ and sort of snide comments about her dress from time to time, plus the ‘dust up’ between the two of us on Laura’s blue pants suit, she wanted to get her ‘two cents in”. Acknowledging the fact that her ’tastes’ were “narrow” she’d decided to encourage Woody to pick out some things that she liked. (and I remember her her sticking her tongue out at me when she said the words “with some color”) She said her role would be to only address the bank’s dress code. It was refreshing to hear but there was one other thing… budget… or how much money she’d be limited to. I wanted her to get practical things that could be interchanged… mix and match type things. I felt a jacket that would go with multiple colors of skirts and pants was critical and would be the most expensive. Since it would be over two weeks until she got her first paycheck I also stressed variety and as I did Trish, with an impish grin, again added the word “color”.

I’d had a hand in some of the choices both Joanie and Laura made but, for a number of reasons, felt it better that Trish go it alone. Trish also felt that she should make Lorie aware of what was going on. Not really happy with that I didn’t protest and we headed back down the stairs. I’d left it at $100, plus or minus and told Trish I’d take an early lunch and go to the department store where I had credit and let the manager know there would be some things put on lay-away in my name.

The rest of the morning had me in a meeting about advertising for the upcoming ‘busy period’ so I lost track of what was happening between Woody and Trish. It wasn’t until after the lunch break that I caught up with Trish. I asked her how it had gone and she gave me a thumbs up but didn’t comment. That snippet of information was good news but I wanted more. It seemed like Trish avoided me until the doors closed to the public. Thinking I could finally get the ’scoop’ I went to her desk. Like in the morning, she didn’t give me a chance to speak before starting in. It was to say there had been a small problem and she was frowning. When she’d gone to speak to Woody about the offer she wouldn’t hear of it. It took getting Laura to join them and confirming she’d been offered the same sort of arrangement to get her to even consider it. She finally agreed to at least go with Trish to take a look at some clothes. That was when Trish finally smiled a bit. The end result was that Woody had picked out some things she really liked and Trish emphasized that they had some “color” to them and hoped I’d like them. My only question was to ask about a jacket. Trish said she didn’t really like the one she chose but it would work with multiple skirts and slacks. I avoided asking how much they all cost and I can’t tell you why. We finished up with me saying I’d leave a little early to take care of the charges. As she got up to leave I asked how Woody felt when they were finished and she laughed… “Like she couldn’t believe something like this could happen to her”. That made me smile too.

There was one final hitch to the plan and that was when I showed up at the store to put the items on my charge card with the store. I hadn’t realized it back when the manager had set me up with my account and that was it had to be re-approved every six months. I put forth the card and was told it would have to be approved by the manager. It had been a while since I’d shopped in the store and hadn’t seen him since the start of Summer. The problem was that he was attending a meeting at the main office. All I could think of was how disappointed Woody would be if I didn’t get the situation resolved. Because it was almost 5pm there was no chance to make a personal withdrawal of cash. On my way back to the bank I remembered the petty cash that I had control of. I debated with myself all the way back to my desk but once there pulled it out. As I did I could see Woody kind of hovering back by the coat room. A quick glance at the clock told me there was no way to go get the clothes and have her make her bus.

To be continued…

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole, (Part 165n)

BACK TO REALITY… Same ole, same ole (Part 165n)

When finished I turned her over to Trish to get all her paperwork done and then to introduce her to the others. I don’t remember how long it was before Lorie was at my desk and I could see she was upset. The words she spat out came out like bullets… “Why wasn’t I a part of the interviewing process?” I think I sat there and blinked a few times before attempting to speak. The truth of the matter was I’d not given any thought to include her. This was the first teller hired since Lorie had been promoted to chief clerk. Right from the time I’d started with the bank I’d been the one to do the interviewing and actual hiring of the tellers. I hadn’t deliberately ignored her and it took me a few minutes to convince her. I told her to wait at my desk and caught up with Trish and Woody. I led them back and introduced Woody to Lorie and  explained to Woody that I’d neglected to have Lorie, who was to be her supervisor, be a part of her interview… and apologized to both of them. Not a very good start. However, the day got better.

I spent some time with Lorie as Trish resumed introducing Woody to the tellers. It was my thought to having Peggy, who was the drive-up teller, train Woody as that was the position she’d be filling. I didn’t get a positive response but also didn’t get any real opposition. Things had been going very well between Lorie and I and I remember hoping that this incident wouldn’t change it. Normally it would’ve been my job to explain what Peggy was to do in training Woody but I had to stay back and watch Lorie do it. As I did I really wanted to have a chat with Peggy but didn’t. I waited until Lorie took her lunch break and then went back to the drive-up area. Even though I’d only spent a short time with Woody I can honestly say I wasn’t surprised to see that she and Peggy were working well together. Peggy had matured a great deal since her hire and, over time, had come out of her ‘shell’ and was now exhibiting an outgoing personality. She and Woody were the same age but came from two different backgrounds. I guess ‘protected’ would be an appropriate description for Woody. Peggy, on the other hand, married at eighteen and a mother and widowed at nineteen, had lived a fairly tough life. I’d known her since she was sixteen and had watched her go from a carefree teen to a woman in just a short period of time. I was a bit  concerned about that difference but in observing the two of them working together was pleased.

The was another Sandra that I had some concerns about… the one that was now working under J J’s supervision. Lena, the president’s secretary was talking with Joanie about something and when she was finished I called her over. I asked how she thought the lady was doing filling in for Lynn and I got a sort of smile as an answer. I ‘pushed’ her on it and sort of got an answer. She professed not to know but, got an unsolicited comment. She told me that Bert had made it clear to J J that he was “to go through channels” when it came to any personnel moves. Hearing that was certainly good news but what was of concern to me was just what were the “channels”.

I’m not sure exactly which day it was when Trish came up to my desk and if she could talk with me. That was totally unlike Trish. Her normal way was to just walk up and unload what was on her mind. I sort of held my breath as I pointed to the side chair. I fully expected for her to tell me what was on her mind but… she hesitated and made a couple of false starts before finally getting it out. She asked if I’d noticed that Woody seemed to be wearing the same clothes since she’d started. In a way it was a strange question coming from Trish. But as you readers know, I was always looking for VPL’s, and given the chance, upskirt peeks. However, I’d not taken much notice of what Woody wore, more because she, working at the drive-up, was out of my line of sight. So, I told Trish that I hadn’t. She then went on to know if she should ask her about it. I wasn’t expecting a question like that so told her I’d like to think about it and would get back to her.

As she walked away I couldn’t help but think about how Trish and I had helped both Laura and Joanie out right after they started work. But, Laura was related to Trish so that wasn’t too awkward. However, in this case Woody was a complete stranger and how to broach the subject would be difficult. Time and time again things happen in our lives that can’t really be explained. I’d not come up with a solution to Trish’s comment by the end of the day but as the tellers were leaving I saw Peggy approach. I’d wanted to ask her how things were going but without Woody (or Lorie) around and this was the chance. I never got a word out of my mouth because she proceeded to ask when Woody would get paid. It was a strange question because she knew that we got paid every two weeks. But… and this is what was confusing, the bank paid one week in arrears. That meant, in Woody’s case, she wouldn’t get paid on Friday like all the rest of the employees. Peggy couldn’t explain why and Woody didn’t want to “make a fuss”. While explaining the situation to Peggy I saw a way to take up Trish’s question.

I summoned up the courage to ask Peggy the question Trish had asked me. She was a bit taken aback but quickly said that it was pretty much the case. She went on to tell me that she’d only brought enough clothes for a week and other than her “travel clothes” (the skirt and blouse she’d been wearing) they’d all been casual… shorts, tank tops and the like… and not enough money to buy clothes. She’d not planned on staying but had been egged on by the friend she’d come to visit to stay and to get a job… and she had. So excited about landing the job she hadn’t concentrated on just when it was that she’d get her first pay. After listening to Peggy (there was more but I’ve spared you) had the seeds of a plan. I know I was being a bit bold but asked if she had some old clothes Woody could borrow and she said she’d offered but had been turned down. Then I asked about borrowing clothes from her friend and/or her friend’s mother. She laughed and then said Woody had told her there was no way she could fit in them. That was why she wanted to know when she’d be paid.

By the time I finished up with Peggy it was well after 5pm. Trish lived but minutes away so I tried calling her and got lucky. I filled her in about Woody and her situation and told her I was willing to do the same thing as we’d done with Laura. I could hear the change in her voice when she said we’d work on it in the morning. Hanging up the phone I couldn’t believe I was involved in yet another situation that concerned clothes.

To be continued…

BACK TO REALITY... Same ole, same ole (Part 165m)

BACK TO REALITY… Same one, same ole (Part 165m)

While I was off to the sailing club Elle had started in on the boxes of clothing I’d stacked in the garage. She didn’t go very far as the stuff appeared to be much like what had been rejected when she and the other two women went through the things at the church. She told me she’d come up with a reason for so much of it to be out of style… the majority of the parishioners were over 60 and the clothes that they were seeing were mostly pre WWII or from just afterwards. She thought that when the call went out for donations it was a way for them to get rid of it. It made sense to me.

Part of my Saturday chores was to mow the church lawn. I usually did that after doing my own but something told me it would be a good idea to go do the church’s first. Sure enough, some people showed up looking for the Thrift Shoppe to be open. I explained the situation and told them to come back in October. I ended up making up a sign to post on the door when I left. From the church I headed for the landfill and while I was there saw the husband of the lady who ran the boutique in the town where I started my banking career. I hadn’t seen the lady in a while and her husband told me that she had a sale going on. Judith always had a sale going on but I decided to go the extra few miles and stop in to see her. I’d been to her new expanded space and found that she’d done the same thing as before… overfilled it with product to the extent that it was hard to find anything. So, when I walked in I was pleasantly surprised to actually see a little open space. I asked what she’d done with all the clothes she’d moved and she said they were stored out back of the shop. Not that I knew much about ladies fashions, it didn’t seem like a reasonable idea to put things in storage that would be out of style in a short period of time. We chatted a bit and to make conversation she asked if I’d gotten involved in anything new. I really hadn’t but mentioned that Elle was sort of involved in opening a shop at our church for pre-owned clothes. She asked how it was going and I’m sure I laughed. One thing led to another and by the time I left she’d given me the names of the owners of a couple of children’s clothing stores who might help us out. At the door she asked if I thought that the church would be able to sell some of her out of style clothes.

I loaded about 20 pair of women’s slacks, at least 30 blouses and maybe a dozen skirts into the station wagon and all she wanted was a statement from the church that she’d donated the items. She pointed out that the tags were still on most of the goods and we should probably price them at 50 to 75 percent off. Almost all were for larger sized women and in the short time I’d observed the women at the shop the previous Saturday, that fit the description of most. Not having bought anything I felt a bit guilty so went back inside to see if there was anything I thought Elle might like. I chose a sweater. It looked like it was hand knit but Judith said it was mass produced in the Philippines. That didn’t matter so I ended up leaving with a lot of clothes and, hopefully, some that would sell and put some much needed money in the bank for the church.
 
Between the church and Judith’s, time had flown by and it was noon when time I got home. Elle was a bit concerned but thought that I’d gone to work on the race car. When I showed her the the clothes she wasn’t nearly as excited as I thought she’d be saying that the people who go to thrift shops don’t normally buy clothes that had been on sale at an upscale boutique. With that comment I was about ready to give up on the whole project. Then I remembered that Judith had given me the names of some children’s clothing stores where she knew the owners. When I did I told her to get with the other ladies and make the calls using Judith’s name. That seemed to make her happier.

Alan and I worked on the motor until about 5pm. Just to be sure, Joe, Dick and Cliffy took the rear end apart and even though it had been new earlier in the season it was good that they did. One of the main gears had a chip in it and if it had broken all the way it would’ve pretty much ruined it. All in all, we were pleased with what we’d accomplished. Dick told us he’d have at least $150 by the first of the month and Alan gave Cliffy $50 before we left. As I had written not too long ago, I was waiting for some of the others to make a commitment before I did. I offered up $200. I was hoping Joe, who was right there, might speak up but he didn’t. Buster, as usual, wasn’t there but, we’d come to expect that. I, for one, didn’t think we’d see any money at all from him. Cliffy had set a goal of $500 and we now had most of it. I was getting excited.

At church on Sunday Elle brought the other ladies who she’d worked with on the clothes up to date and showed them the things Judith had given to me. I’d gone to the 8am service, as usual, and brought the minister up to date. He seemed enthusiastic and asked if I could make up some signs that they could put out on the sidewalk when the shop was open. The timing couldn’t have been worse what with my commitment to the race car and the “busy period” coming up at work but told him I’d take care of it. At the same time he introduced me to a young man who he’d raised as a foster child. He was just finishing up his Army duty and this was the first time he’d seen the minister since he’d taken over as pastor of the church. I was immediately impressed with the guy and asked what his plans were after being discharged. He said he didn’t know but I heard the minister tell him he’d be welcome to stay with him until he got a job. That raised a few hackles with me because the minister was already housing his daughter, her husband and their daughter as well as his two younger daughters. When the vestry offered the position to him it had been our understanding that only his wife and two unmarried daughters would be living in the manse. Since the church paid all the utilities it was an added expense plus wear and tear on the house. However, I didn’t say anything.

Waiting at the back door at the bank on Monday morning was “Woody”, ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’. I’d been ’taken’ by her positive attitude on Friday evening when talking with her. It was still there as we walked through the door and into the lobby. I’d thought about her on and off the whole weekend and had become curious as to her background. Even though I wanted to get her working with Peggy as soon as possible and also had to get her paperwork completed I took her to my desk. An Air Force ‘brat’, moving from base to base, she’d also spent time in England with her family. Her father had been stationed at the Air Force base just down the road and she had graduated from the high school located near the base. She told me that she’d loved her time there and the whole area. But, right after graduation her father retired and the whole family moved back to where her parents were from… Iowa. She hated it there and when her best friend from high school invited her to come back for a visit she did… and decided to stay. She’d only been at her friend’s house for a week when she started looking for work… and I had a feeling I’d end up being glad she did.

To be continued…