FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167v)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167v)

The reason for the change in attitude was that our first ‘excursion’ to McDonalds was a  total disaster. There was nothing that went right about it and when we looked back on it all we could do was laugh. You’ve all experienced “Murphy’s Law”… if it can go wrong… it will… and it did, in spades! Elle was pregnant, about 4 months, at the time. The older two were three and four years old and were well behaved. I’d expected the trip to take about an hour and a half, planning on arriving around 5pm. Poor decision! We couldn’t even get into the parking lot. There was no drive-up so we had to park. It took almost a half hour before I was able to get a spot. Being November, it was fairly cold out so I went in to get our supper but didn’t wear my coat. By the time I got in the door I was cold, all the way through. It was chaotic with people jumping from line to line. I finally placed the order and waited… and waited… and waited. The person who took the order seemed to have disappeared. Frustrated, I called to the first server  I saw and complained. He seemed a bit disoriented but indicated he’d see if the order was “up”, using his term. Then, he disappeared. Not about to give up my space at the counter I was able to get the attention of another server to try and find the order. About ten minutes later I was handed a bag and was glad to get out of the ‘madhouse’. Back at the car I handed the package to Elle for distribution, anxiously awaiting my first taste of a famous McDonald’s hamburger.

The first word I heard from the back seat was Jean saying she had to go to the bathroom. I hadn’t paid much attention as to just where the rest rooms were located so when Elle asked I didn’t have an answer. In all the previous writings I’ve told you how just talking about a bathroom would sometimes ‘trigger’ Elle’s need for a toilet. She had gotten up on her knees, in the front seat leaning over to the back to help the girls put their coats on. I was just dying to get my lips on a burger and sat there watching her effort. Then I heard her curse and watched her let herself down a bit from fully leaning over the seat. The next thing I heard was a command to get a towel from under the seat. (We were always prepared with towels… in both cars.) I grabbed the one from under my seat and knew exactly where to put it… right between Elle's legs. When I did she immediately sat down all the way but with her knees still under her.  I knew what was happening with Elle but I wasn’t prepared for Jean, our oldest, to scream that she was wetting her pants. Somehow, Elle through it all, had the presence of mind to tell me to get the towel from under her seat and to give it to Jean and to tell her to stuff it under her ‘bottom’. From the chaos inside to the chaos outside!

I don’t remember how long it took to get things calmed down inside the car. Jean was crying about sitting in pee soaked clothes and Anne still wanted to go to the bathroom. Elle was fairly even keeled about the whole thing. I know it sounds bizarre but my primary thought at that time was getting some food in my stomach. When Elle was able to elicit a promise from Anne that she could “hold it” for a little longer she proceeded to open the bag of food. I was the first to bite into my bun and burger and it was cold… not cool, but cold. I remember siting there behind the wheel of our station wagon trying to figure out just how much time had elapsed from having the bag handed to me until then. By then Elle had bitten into hers and found the same. I don’t remember what my calculation turned up but when I told Elle I was going inside to complain she grabbed my arm and demanded that we leave. The only problem with that was there was now a man at my driver’s side window telling me I had a flat tire.

Sure enough, the right rear tire was flat. If we’d been in my car and not the station wagon it wouldn’t have taken all that long to change it. But, we were in the station wagon and I didn’t have my tools. I had to use the jack and wrench that came with the vehicle… and had to figure it out and pretty much in the dark. I left Elle and kids alone while I collected the tools and got the tire out. My biggest problem was that with the new design of the cars (no frame) I had to place the jack in exactly the right place. It was probably easy for the guy who thought it up while sitting at his desk but, in reality, it was not user friendly. By the time I got back behind the wheel both the girls were asleep. I looked at my watch and it was after 7pm. Elle was sitting there in the passenger seat and staring straight ahead. I didn’t know what to say so said something totally absurd… “So… who’s idea was this, anyway?” I remember her slowly turning her head sideways towards me. After a few seconds she started laughing… and I soon followed. There was nothing to say.

We still hadn’t eaten choosing to ignore the cold hamburgers. I knew nothing about the area and hoped I could find a diner or something where we could at least get some snacks. Gas stations didn’t have food offerings of any kind so we were on a ‘hunt’ for food of just about any kind. With the kids asleep we eventually decided we could make it back to the town where we lived and our mobile home. It wasn’t until we got there that Elle told me about Anne and how she’d told her to just go ahead and wet her pants to shut her up. It was pretty funny realizing that all the females in the car were wet.

Washing the kids up before putting them to bed woke them up and they let Elle know they were hungry. Elle wasn’t about to cook a meal and yet she wanted them to eat something. I don’t remember what she was offering them but whatever it was they rejected it. I spoke up and suggested cinnamon sugar toast. If looks could’ve killed the look she gave me would’ve pierced my skull, right between my eyes. It worked for the kids and, more or less to rub it in, I joined them.

Back to where we were… and with Elle in a good mood I got to ask about her new panties. She said she hadn’t really looked at them and then only to remove the tags before putting them on. After eating and back in the car I was able to work my hand up under her skirt and to feel the material. I was sure they were nylon satin (and, later, in reading the tags, confirmed it) and couldn’t wait to see what they looked like on her. But, first we had to pick the kids up at Ginger’s house. When we got to the door we were greeted by a chorus of “Can we stay over… Please!”. Elle wasn’t prepared for that and I remember her giving Ginger one of those looks that asked “is it really OK?”. Ginger had five girls of her own, in a very small house, and I know I wasn’t for it… but kept my mouth shut. A little chatter between the two women resulted in a compromise. Jean, our oldest, and Ginger’s oldest would come to our house. Elle wanted Kaye, our youngest, at home because she’d never had a sleep over anywhere else but at Elle’s mother’s house. A few tears and a promise to be able to do it sometime after Christmas solved that problem. Back home we got the two girls settled in and then it was now my turn.
           

Not the one we went to but very similar to it

To be continued...

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167u)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part167u)

There were two parts to the new construction. One was to build space for a new “anchor store” and the other was to make a food court and consolidate all the various food vendors into one place. To do it meant razing the wall at the very end of the mall and with it the rest rooms located there. There were signs to guide the shoppers to use the temporary ‘porta-potties’ located just outside the doors or to use the facilities in each of the existing anchor stores. Upon this unexpected discovery I asked Elle how she was doing and she indicated  she was OK but we needed to find a place for her… and soon. We retraced our steps heading for the Macy’s store because Elle knew exactly where the ladies facilities were located. We had to go past one of the new anchor stores and I suggested we head in there. As soon as we walked into the place Elle was handed a fairly small bag and told to find the packet inside. She asked what it was for and by then the attendant was handing a bag to the lady behind us. The store, being new, was very crowded and by stopping to find the packet we kept getting run into by people entering behind us. We got out of the main line of traffic and Elle found the elusive packet. On the outside were instructions to open it to see if there was a “mystery key” inside. We were both intrigued with it, so much so Elle forgot why we’d headed into the store in the first place. Ours had a key and instructions to take it to a display near the back of the store. It was a nice ploy to make you walk through all of their offerings. I could see a fairly large gathering of people and what was purported to be an island in which a wooden chest had washed ashore. We watched as people went up and tried the key in the lock with most not having any success.

Approaching the end of the line we could see a list of the prizes with a four day, three night trip to Paradise Island in the Bahama’s as the top one. Always a bit skeptical of contests like this, I remained in line to appease Elle. It was truly a surprise to see the key Elle inserted in the lock actually open it. Inside the trunk were a whole bunch of white envelopes and the attendant, dressed like someone who’d been stranded there for an extended period of time, instructed Elle to pick one.  She did and once off the platform opened it up. It was gift certificate worth $5 but the caveat was that it had to be used by January 1. While we were reading it I saw Elle sort of shiver and almost immediately say “Uh oh!” And knew what was happening. My first reaction was to look down between her legs. I saw nothing there and asked Elle if she was OK. In thinking about it now I have to give her credit for not panicking. We stood there for a minute or two with people coming and going around us and it gave me a chance to think about what to do. Basically, we’d accomplished what we’d set out to do and had gifts for the kids. I told her the best thing she could do was to find the ladies room and to pull out the soaked sanitary pads. The plastic pants would contain the wetness of the panties and we could head for home. I wasn’t ready for her to disagree and, still holding the gift certificate, she said we could buy some panties… that she didn’t want to ride the whole way home, wet.

It took a few minutes for us to find the lingerie section. As we searched for it I was thinking back to the Gaymode panties I’d seen at the Penney’s store just a couple of hours earlier. But, we were looking here at this store. As far as where it stood in the hierarchy of department stores it was on the higher end but not in the highest echelon. It was definitely a higher quality than the regional department stores especially when it came to prices. As was common in that period of time for lingerie departments in the large stores there were small tables with panties laid out in rows, by size and/or brand. Because of the crowds of people that were there the panty tables were pretty much in disarray. Elle wasn’t comfortable looking through them but I, with many years of experience, went right up and picked out a couple. As I lifted a group off the table I saw a rather unusual thing in the form of a four inch, blue and white tag attached to a pair of panties with a string. I’d never seen panties with a tag like that before so reached for it. (Note: I tried to remember what the tag said as I put the outline for this part down on paper but couldn’t come up with it. However, I woke up at 4am and it came to me… but I was too lazy to get up and write it down… and now it’s gone…) I pulled the panties out by the tag and turned it over to see the panties were made by Kayser and to top it off, they were Elle’s size. I took a look at them and saw a couple of things that made them a bit unique, at least to me. They were definitely nylon but seemed a bit heavier material and more opaque. Another thing was that the leg elastics were covered much like the waist elastic of the Gaymode panties I’d just seen at Penney’s. The waist elastic was the tunnel type like the VanRaalte panties I liked. The only thing I didn’t like was that the crotch was fairly small. It only took me a few seconds to look them over and to hand them to Elle.

Now our job was to find the ladies rest room. Elle saw a hanging sign and headed in that direction. I knew I wasn’t going in with her so stopped and returned to the table with the panties. I went looking for another blue and white tag and it didn’t take long to find a few of them. The first panties were way too large but I didn’t give up and found another pair Elle’s size. I grabbed them and immediately went to find Elle. Luckily, the ladies room had a line and Elle was still waiting to get in. I walked up and handed her the other pair and, much to her dismay, told her to put them on with the other ones. She looked at me in disbelief. I remember her shaking her head as I backed away… but she stayed in the line.

It wasn’t until I saw her coming out that I thought about the wet panties. She was still upset with me so I didn’t say anything about them. She had the presence of mind to keep the price tags because I hadn’t thought to pay for them first. We probably could’ve gotten away without paying because of all the people who were there but we walked up to the counter and Elle handed the clerk the tags and the gift certificate we’d won. I still remember the look on the woman’s face when she asked Elle where the panties were. Elle didn’t know what to say at first but, thinking quickly, she pointed to the bag she’d been given when we first walked in. When we got away from the counter I asked what she did with her wet things and she, again, held up the bag.

Back out in the mall itself I asked her about the new panties. I don’t remember exactly what she said but I do remember her making a comment about not being “bare-assed”. Still not over her snit about me telling her to put the panties on when in line for the ladies room, I felt we’d done just about all the shopping we were going to do. The first McDonald's in the county was located not far from the mall. When I suggested we go there to eat it changed her mood immediately. We’d gone there right after it opened about five or six years earlier even though it was quite a trip for us. We’d read about McDonald's and seen pictures of them and decided to make it an excursion. We’d talked about that trip many times and they were good memories. My suggestion to go there brought them back… and put a smile on Elle’s face.

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167t)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds &ends (Part 167t)

In my mind it was a ’stretch’ to call where the store was located a “mall”… at least in the accepted sense of what constitutes a mall, even back in the 60’s. Malls have traditionally had at least two if not three “anchor” stores (large department stores) but this one only had a Penney’s. It was also different in that the stores were not an ‘island’ surrounded by a ‘sea’ of asphalt (for parking). It was actually a series of small stores surrounding a courtyard with a canopy over the walkways in front of the stores. Penny’s was more like a three story office building at one end of the courtyard. In any case, it was different!

Once inside the store it was certainly a different experience. The door we entered opened into a section designated for what I would call ‘house linnens’ with curtain and drapery offerings that led into bedding accessories. Once past that it was a whole area of men’s and women’s clothes. Naturally, being a female, Elle wanted to take a look… and look she did. I won’t take the time or space to go through that process but what I will tell you is that she got so caught up in trying on clothes she didn’t think to use the rest room. From the time she left our home until then it was almost three hours. When she realized it she had no idea where the ladies bathroom was located and by the time she found it, she was glad that I’d suggested wearing a full “package”. However, the result was that I was sent on a ‘mission’ to fetch her spares.

The ladies room, as strange as it may seem, was located on the second floor where kids clothing, housewares (dishes, pot, pans, small kitchen appliances) and lingerie were located. While Elle was cleaning herself up and changing into dry panties I perused the lingerie offerings, primarily the panties. There were the usual brands, Vanity Fair, Mojud, Gold stripe but I found the store brand, Gaymode, to be very interesting. The first thing I saw was that the crotch was almost as big as was on the VanRaalte panties that I liked. In the short time I had I noticed one major difference… the waist elastic. On the VanRaalte the elastic was encased with the nylon of the panties. You didn’t see the elastic at all. On the Gaymode panties the elastic was on the inside and the outside was nylon. It was a nice touch that set them apart. I’d just bought six pair of the VanRaalte panties from my friend, Judith, for Elle for Christmas so just looked… but stored what I’d seen, away for future reference.

One thing neither of of thought about was what to do with Elle’s wet panties if she had to change. So, I made a quick trip around the housewares section and found a plastic bowl with a snap on cover. Elle had resisted buying Tupperware at parties shown by her lady friends because of the high cost. The bowl I found was about half the price of a Tupperware one and was big enough to hold both of Elle’s washed out panties along with the plastic ones. I have to tell you though, it was a funny feeling walking around carrying that package.

One thing I didn’t expect to find was a whole section of tools, everything from tools for fixing cars to woodworking tools. One tool I really wanted was a large adjustable pliers. I let Elle know that was my Christmas present to myself. Toys were also on the third floor and that was really our ’target’. Elle had seen some games in the Penney’s catalog that she thought might be interesting. Even when things were really tight we always managed to come up with a couple of games that the kids could play. Now that the the older two were over eight years old there were a bunch of new games that we felt they could handle. Elle found them and I thought we were on our way. We were… at least I was… on the way to the station wagon with the games… while Elle stopped in the women’s clothing section. When she had stopped there after we arrived and hadn’t picked out anything I thought I was home free. In the time it took to put the packages in the station wagon and return she had three things over her arm. I started to say something but she put her finger up to her lips to shut me up and then reminded me that it was the money she’d earned that was going to pay for them. There wasn’t much I could say.

I’d mentioned that it was a unique mall and even though we had to go outside to see the other stores Elle wanted to take a look. Elle had never been big on shoes sticking mostly to fairly common, comfortable types. One of the stores was a shoe store with a unique display in the window. She spied a pair that she wanted to try on and, again, there was not much I could say. You have to realize that this was back in the 60’s and before discount shoes became the norm for buying shoes. It was back when there were shoe salespeople who would actually help you with finding your correct shoe size and then actually see that the shoes fit on your feet. When we went into the shoe area a nice looking young man came over to help Elle. She described the shoes she’d seen in the window and he seemed to know which shoes she wanted to try. But before he went to fetch them he had her stand on a metal plate, toggled a few knobs, told her what size she wore and then went to get the shoes. I was sitting next to her and saw a woman sitting across from us being helped by a woman. What I also saw was what made the trip to the shoe store worth while… a fantastic upskirt as the salesperson tried to slip one of the shoes on her foot. I’m sure the woman was unaware of my presence because after the shoe was on, she still sitting, proceeded to lift her leg up and straight out to admire it. I  certainly admired (and appreciated) the beautiful crotch shot. I don’t know how long she held it up there but by the time she put it down I was wondering why Elle hadn’t picked up on the situation… but she hadn’t. (BTW: the woman was about our age and definitely pleasing to look at.) Elle ended up taking the shoes and with the pleasant memory of the upstart view, I didn’t mind at all.

We ended up spending more time there than I’d figured on so we decided to skip one of the other two malls. The closest was the one near our branch. It had only been open a few years but with increasing population projected they were in the process of expanding it. Two city based department stores had just opened and being so close to Christmas they were very crowded. Upon arrival I reminded Elle that she better visit a restroom because she didn’t have any spare panties. It was easier for me to say it than it was to find one. With the new construction the primary restrooms had been moved.

To be continued...

FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167s)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part167s)

Arriving at the restaurant I was introduced to my first surprise. It was only a little one but it proved to be a positive one. The owner of the place had ordered up little Christmas corsages for all the women. In seeing them and the response I wished that I’d thought of it. There hadn’t been much in the way of planning for the party and the only ’bone of contention’ was about the bar. Hobie made the decision to have an open bar for the first hour. It had once been a house and then converted to a restaurant just before WWII. Houses built in the 1800’s often had multiple “parlors” and we’d been given access to two of them. If everyone showed up, including the branch people, there would have been around 30 people there. It was going to be cozy, for sure and I, for one, hoped some wouldn’t show. However, there was one person who showed up that I definitely didn’t expect to see and that was Lynn, J J’s secretary, who was out on a medical leave of absence. By 4:30pm most everyone was there… with one major exception… Bert, the president who was supposed to announce the bonus. Even though the food was nothing special and there was the traditional punch bowl, those that were there seemed to be having a good time socializing. The open bar certainly helped in that regard.  When it was getting close to 5pm and Bert wasn’t there I started getting worried about him. I was about to call his house when I saw something that really shocked me. It was Bert, dressed as Santa Clause. It was a ’stretch’ because he was so thin he could’ve been called ‘gaunt’. However, in he marched with  a hearty “HO, HO, HO…” Everyone was just as shocked as I was, even Lena, his secretary for twenty years. He gathered us around as best as the space would allow and proceeded to thank everyone for their efforts during the year. Then, in a manner just as calm as could be announced that everyone would be getting a Christmas bonus and it would be in their paychecks the next day. As you would expect, there was a loud spate of cheering that followed. To be truthful, I quickly lost track of him and didn’t see him leave. If I were to make a guess I’d say he was there for less than 15 minutes. I made a special effort to avoid Jerry but did ask Beth if she knew why he drove himself. That brought a smile to her face but no verbal answer. I was sure that if I went out to the street I’d find his wife sitting in his car.

By 6pm most of the people had gone. I stayed to make sure no one had over imbibed and to collect the things the employees had left behind. I’d walked up the street from the bank to the party and, being last to leave, had to walk back. It was probably around 6:20pm or so when I got to the bank parking lot. I didn’t expect to see any cars there except for mine. There was one, a red Ford Mustang, and I didn’t recognize it. I don’t know why I was so curious but I made my way over to it and just as I was at the taillight I noticed the car sort of rocking and stopped. I stood there for a few seconds and decided it would be best to head for my car. However, it was kind of interesting to see that kind of ‘action’ at 6:30pm on a weekday night during the Christmas shopping season with the stores open.

On my way home I tried to figure out just when Elle and I could do the Christmas shopping for the kids. I’d hoped to get a half day off for all the staff but never even got to propose the idea. I still had three days of vacation time left and had planned on taking it the two days before Christmas and the day after. By the time I got home I’d made up my mind that I’d take a half day off the next day. Lobby traffic was still slow in anticipation of the ‘busy period’ and Bret owed me a couple of favors. I proposed the idea to Elle and I remember her not being overly thrilled. Her mother wanted at least 24 hours notice for something like this. But, she didn’t say “No…”. I knew ‘pushing’ her to make a decision was not a good idea so we talked about the bank party while eating. Because I was going to be late Elle had fed the kids so we weren’t interrupted. Then, without saying anything, she suddenly got up and went into the hall. She returned in a few minutes with a bit of a smile on her face. “Ginger” was what I heard. She’d called Ginger to see if she’d not only take Kaye for the afternoon but watch the older girls after school and feed them as well. Then it was time to get out the lists of gifts we’d contemplated getting the kids and narrow it down to something reasonable.

The plan was for Elle to drive to the bank around noon time and we’d take off from there. We discussed it while I was getting dressed and I noticed Elle laying out her clothes for the day. She put a pair of knit slacks on the bed and I asked if that was really a smart choice. Her answer was that it was cold outside and we’d have a fair amount of walking to do in the mall parking lots. I couldn’t disagree but reminded her that we were heading for two shopping malls that we had no idea where the restroom facilities were located. I also reminded her that it might be wise to wear a ‘full package’ (two pair of heavy cotton panties and three sanitary pads with plastic panties). Hearing that she made a face but did go into the closet and brought out a skirt and blouse. As I headed for the stairs I reminded her to “bring spares”.

At the bank the reaction to the party was favorable but more from the bonus announcement than the party itself. To me, just being able to have the party, and outside the bank itself, was a “little victory”. Considering that for my first Christmas at the bank they almost didn’t recognize the Christmas season. I was the one to get permission to put decorations up on both the outside and inside the building. Then, the previous year, we did have a mystery Santa gift exchange in the lobby with cookies and punch. So, I was happy. There were also plenty of comments on Bert (the president) showing up in a Santa suit. So, with everybody in a good mood I approached Bret about covering for me for the rest of the day and taking the ’night shift (working until 6pm). I had to remind him about the favors he owed me but he did step up and agree to do it.

AS far as shopping, there were three malls in the county and all were to the West. The newest and biggest was the one near our branch office. But Elle had been getting catalogs from Sears, Montgomery Ward and Penney’s and had seen things in the Penney’s one that she liked. There was only one Penney’s department store in the county and it was located the farthest away. I decided to head there first. Even though I’d spent most of my life living in the county, I’d never been in the town where the store was located. It took a while to locate it but when we did it turned out to be a bonanza for us, in more than one way.

To be continued…

FINSISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167r)

FINISHING OUT THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167r)

I’m reminded of the one time in my life when I’d gone ‘exploring’ just before Christmas looking for what my presents might be. I’d found some and I was truly excited about them. But… at 10 or 11 years old I hadn’t practiced my acting skills all that well and the excitement on Christmas morning was anything but real. When the Board meeting was over Hobie called me to his area and told me they'd approved a new branch and where it was to be located. I hoped my ‘acting’ was good enough to hide the fact that I already knew. I shouldn’t have worried because as soon as he told me he was on his way out the door. It had been a long meeting and he’d not been feeling well. I wanted to ask if I could tell anyone but I never got the chance. The next Trustee I saw was “Gee” and he confirmed that the bonus had been granted. I told him about the party to be held the next night and he thought it was a good time to make the announcement. It put me in a good mood heading home.

When I walked into the kitchen I knew Elle had some ‘juicy’ news for me from the impish look on her face. Elle had gotten a phone call from Ginger that morning asking if they could get together. Elle considered Wednesdays a “free” day  (other than when called in to teach) as she had no commitments. She’d often take Kaye to her mother’s house for lunch and then leave her for the afternoon. It was perfect as Ginger’s house was on her way both coming and going. Her husband, Jon (the milkman), was on the school board and had been one of the ones who’d ‘ambushed’ me about running for the Board at the party on Saturday night. He’d asked Ginger to get in touch with Elle and to try and have Elle “work on” me about running. Elle, playing coy, asked why it was so important for me to run. Elle said Ginger kind of “danced around” for a bit but broke down and told her that the Board was contemplating building a new school to house just the K though 6th grades. The problem was that with the current make up of the members it would never get passed… they needed one more younger person with kids in the system. I just wrote about how the Board had consolidated and absorbed one of the feeder elementary schools to try and handle overcrowding. Elle went on that Ginger told her they (the ‘group’) felt I was the most electable of the prospective candidates they’d considered. I was flattered but still very reluctant.

Even thought it supper time, Elle had chosen to sit when telling me about her visit. It wasn’t until the kids started complaining that she turned to cooking our meal. As she worked at the counter I asked if anything else came of their visit. After the party Elle and I’d talked about Johnny and Sandy and missed seeing them not only at the party but also around town. I got the impression that Elle was reluctant to say much when I asked if they’d been discussed. However, I prevailed. Sandy had a part time job at the hardware store in town and when the wife of one of the co-owners got pregnant she’d gone to full time. It was right after doing that when her Spina Bifida caused incontinence kicked up. Back in the 60’s, there were no incontinence products on the market like there are today. If you remember, Elle and I’d made ‘dribble panties’ for both Ginger and Sandy to help out a bit. But, in Sandy’s case, her problem had gotten worse and it was going to take more than “dribble panties” to prevent her from being embarrassed. So, she resigned and stayed home for a while. But, with their new house she and Johnny needed her income. Someone mentioned that with the opening of the new library in town there might be some openings. As it turned out there was one that was as close to perfect for Sandy as could be hoped for… a back office, non public position sorting through the books that had been in storage while the new library was completed. (The old library building had been condemned as a fire trap) But, aside from that Sandy was reluctant to be out in public for more than a quick visit to the store or for running an errand for Johnny.

Now, after listening to Elle and while eating I was mulling in my mind the fact that all three of these women were, technically, incontinent… and all three knew about each others problem with it… and yet Sandy had decided to somewhat distance herself from Elle and Ginger. I knew that Ginger had had a second procedure that had helped her because she’d shared the information with Elle. Elle had followed up on it but opted not to proceed. I got to thinking that possibly Sandy was depressed as from what we’d been told there was no cure for Spina Bifida. Thinking about the situation left me a bit sad as Sandy was a really nice person.

It wasn’t until after dinner that Elle picked up the conversation again and when she did it was a bit of a shock. She’d been concerned about the lack of calls to substitute teach since school had started and didn’t know why. Ginger had the answer. Nanci, one of the ‘group’, had been secretary for the new principal during the previous school year but was let go during the Summer. No one knew anything about the woman who replaced her except that she had extensive work experience in the education field… and that she had no desire to be all that friendly. Her husband had some sort of U S government job and been assigned, reluctantly, to run a project at one of their local facilities. Supposedly, she’d met the principal where she’d previously lived and ran into him one day. The next thing anyone knew Nanci was out of a job and she was ‘in’. Ginger told Elle that Jon had told her she ran the office like it was she  that was the principal and changed most of the old policies. That explained the lack of calls for Elle.

Thursday was the day of the party. I’d had Bret contact the branch to tell them that as soon as they were “in proof” to head for the party. With only four people coming I expected they would be coming in one car. But, when Bret reported back to me I’m not sure I was surprised when he told me Jerry would be driving himself. In fact, based on my past experience with Jerry, my first thought was that his wife would be with him. I had Laurie accelerate the proof process so everybody could get to the restaurant by 4pm. Bert, the president, surprised me when he said he’d be there for the whole time. With his wife an invalid, he usually left the bank around 4pm on every day but Wednesday when there were committee meetings. I was glad to hear that so that he could make the announcement of the bonus. Trish took care of the last minute details and as we hustled the employees out of the bank I was confident that everything was ready. But… I was in for a big surprise.

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167q)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167q)

As I mentioned, the number of kids spawned by the families that comprised the ‘group’ totaled twenty two. We were, for sure, a prolific bunch and what was somewhat surprising as only one couple was Catholic and they only had three. We settled for the second Saturday of December which gave everybody ample time to get babysitters. Once everybody had arrived at our house the ‘group’ split with the men in the kitchen and the women in the living room talking about… what else… kids. For the men… football… because the Super Bowl was coming up. The only thing I really remember about that was that four of the five (one husband, a doctor, was away) of us were rooting against the Cowboys and, of course, the other guy was a big America’s Team fan. The discussion got lively, especially after a few drinks. “Goodies” were served around nine and then we all convened in the living room. Even though we had a big house, the living room barely held all of us with some having to be seated on the floor. Back when the ‘group’ was in its active stages I knew where to be to have the best chance for an upskirt peek because everybody seemed to gravitate back to the same places. On this evening it was whole new ‘ballgame’. It wasn’t just because the women had chosen different places to sit. It was also because wearing a dress or skirt had become somewhat passe. Pants were in vogue and, being Winter, dark colors were the most prevalent choice. I was bit disappointed when I first walked into the room as I didn’t see much of an opportunity. Over time, Ginger was the only one who hadn’t gained weight and had lost a fair amount. Even though she’d had five kids she was the most trim of them all (not including Elle). We were all munching down when Pat (the PTA lady) got up and walked over to where I was sitting on the floor and very boldly announced that she thought it would be a “great” idea for me to run for the school Board of Education. Talk about being blindsided! I’d been asked, casually, about running in past years and turned it down. Before I could even think about saying a word Jon (the milkman) and Rob, both of whom were on the school board, started in ’selling’ me on why I was needed and especially needed at this particular time. I tried to protest but the two of them were relentless. To shut them up I promised to talk with them after Christmas. One memory I have after I did that was the look on Pat’s face… like the cat who’d just caught the canary.

One other take-away of the party was the promise of a renewal of the once close friendship between Elle and Ginger. As I said, the number of kids we all had and their growing demands on our time through extra curricular activities had taken a toll on the various friendships. Of all of the women in the group I liked Ginger the best. Phyl, Rob’s wife was a bit of a ‘flake’ and Nanci, Fritz’s wife, was, for lack of a better word, dull. By describing her as dull it was because I seldom heard her voice an opinion on any topic. Aurilia, the doctor’s wife, was by far the most intelligent as she’d been a university instructor but came across as being superior. Pat, by far, was the ‘voice’ and driving force behind the 'group' and I was reminded of that by her ‘attack’ on me about running for the board. As Elle and I picked up after everyone had left she brought up Sandy and Johnny who'd been a part of the original group. Sandy had been diagnosed with spina bifida as the cause of her incontinence and had pretty much drifted away from the group after that. I’d remained in touch with her husband through basketball but with the hiring of the new principal he’d not been re-hired as a coach and pretty much dropped from sight. They were nice people and it seemed a shame.

On Monday morning I got what I felt was an early Christmas present in the form of a call from Morris letting me know the branch committee had made it’s decision on a location for another branch. He also told me it was to be presented to the full Board at their next meeting which was Wednesday. Reluctant to ‘push’ for the exact location, I thanked him and as a gesture of thanks told him I was looking forward to working with him as the project progressed. I wasn’t expecting an answer and was a bit shocked when he proceeded to give me the location of the site. I wrote the address down and immediately began to come up with a way to visit the site before the meeting. I hadn’t visited the existing branch in over two months relegating Bret to that duty to avoid Jerry, the manager. But it had been a number of weeks since his last visit. I, more or less, knew the general area where the new branch would be located. I planned on leaving my house at around 7am and do a drive by before visiting the existing branch. At home I dug out my county road map and planned my trip. I was truly excited about it.

Other than the weather, it was a good trip. The parcel of land was on a corner and on a major North/South road. I knew a little about land costs and knew this piece would come at a high price based on the types of businesses in the area. My only concern was I wondered if there was enough land to house a decent sized building and the parking to go with it. On my way to the existing branch I couldn’t keep from hoping I’d have a say in the planning for it. Sometimes you get lucky and on this day I did. Jerry wasn’t there. Betsy, the head teller who I talked with at least once a week, was who I wanted to see anyway.Things were still very quiet with little to no lobby traffic. I just had to ask what Jerry did all day with few customers to wait on. She actually laughed out loud. Her answer was almost funny as she explained his day… Upon arrival he’d go in his office and get on the phone (she thought it was to his wife) until he’d go and unlock the front door. Then he’d walk down the lobby side of the teller counter to say “good morning” to everybody and disappear back into his office until lunch time. He’d leave and she thought it was to go home. When he came back he’d stay in his office until it was time to close up. On my way back to the bank it was all I could do to keep from screaming.

I told how I’d gotten lucky not to find Jerry there. Well… when I walked back into the bank I had more good luck. I ran into Bert, the president, and he told me to go ahead with the Christmas party. As soon as I got to my desk I was on the phone. The restaurant, being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, was willing to give the bank a break on price and the fact I’d made a tentative reservation made the work that had to be done relatively easy. Even though it was on short notice and just three days away it was set for Thursday. Basically, it was for employees only and was to be from 4pm to 6pm. The hard part was in getting the ‘word’ out, especially to the people at the branch. It had already been decided to do away with the gift exchange. “Gee” the Trustee/attorney who was chairman of the salary committee had let me know there was a 95% chance there was going to be a bonus declared at the Board meeting. I’d worked up a formula and done all the calculations by hand and presented it to him. If the Board approved what I’d worked up it came out to be approximately two weeks pay for the employees and a flat $300 for the officers. With that I knew I’d have to give upon my idea of getting a half day off for Christmas shopping but I was happy. The Christmas party would be the perfect time to make the announcement of the bonus.

To be continued...

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167p)

ENDING THE YEAR… (Odds & ends (Part 167p)

Thanksgiving had been late that year and the first of December was the first day of the following week. The store marketing gurus had not yet sprung “Black Friday” on the public and the Christmas season didn’t kick off until after December arrived. The Chamber of Commerce was all set to go with the decorations for the village and the stores were pretty much ready for the shoppers. At the bank, I’d been able to get money into the budget for decorating the exterior and lobby this Christmas and had the garden shop promise they would have it all in place that week. That was about all the excitement for early December. I’d also been given the hint that we’d have a more formal Christmas party this year rather that the last minute affair in the lobby as we’d had in the past. In anticipation of just such a happening I made a tentative reservation at one of the small restaurants in town. Michael the restaurant across from the stock broker’s office, had made a ‘pitch’ but it was too much, both in money and for the kind of affair that had been discussed. As far as I was concerned all I needed was the “OK” from Bert, the president.

Elle had taught eight days right before Thanksgiving and was to be paid the Friday of the first week in December. We’d decided that it was like ‘found money’ and would spend it on Christmas gifts. Money had been tight at Christmas time for a few years and the kids had pretty much to suffer with clothes in place of toys. An idea I’d toyed with for a few years was to give all the employees a half day off for Christmas shopping. I knew I had to wait for the right opportunity to ‘spring’ it on Hobie and Bert. But, when Elle and I were discussing our Christmas gift shopping for the kids it came to the fore in my mind. I vowed to pursue it the first opportunity I had.

As I’d previously mentioned, there had been a rumor circulating that J J’s secretary, Lynne, had been seen in town. The rumor proved to be true as she appeared at the bank one morning early in December. The real surprise was that she made it through the lobby and half way up the stairs before anyone noticed. Thinner, and with her hair colored, she didn’t look like the Lynne everyone was familiar with.Unfortunately, Trish wasn’t at her desk when Lynne walked in because I would’ve liked to have seen how she handled it. She went right to J J’s office and as Mary Carol, the switchboard operator told me later, closed the door behind her. In any case, I got a call from J J before noon telling me that Lynne was ready to come back to work. That wasn’t as much of a problem as was what to do with her replacement, “Upstairs Sandy”.

I was trying to be patient with getting any concrete information about the prospective new branch. I was hoping to get a call from Morris letting me know that a decision had been made and where the location was. He’d been forthcoming so far and I’d appreciated his candor. I’ll admit I was tempted to call him again but didn’t for fear that I’d anger him. He was being paid by the bank as a consultant and knew that if I angered him he could create a problem for me. And, I also knew that when it came time for the branch to open I’d probably be dealing with him when it came time to promoting it especially when it came to having a gift campaign. He’d guided me into making good choices when it came to the choice of gifts to offer for opening new accounts. However, waiting patiently for information that you know is coming is extremely difficult.

At the luncheon with Lynda she’d chided me with a challenge that “she wanted to see more of me” when it was over. In my mind there were two parts to that. There had been enough ‘signs’ that she liked me more than as a good customer of the brokerage. I was flattered but really didn’t have any desire to do anything to jeopardize my relationship with Elle. On the other hand I knew that when it came to my investing in stocks she was someone I felt I could trust, especially in the absence of my official broker, Stan. I was at the stage of ‘when in doubt… do nothing’.

Writing about Lynda brings up Woody… again. I was reluctant to take a somewhat aggressive position I trying to get some dialog going between the two of us. Knowing her to be young and a bit naive I was afraid that she might do something rash like resigning if she felt threatened. She had yet to get close to any of the other young girls and I didn’t feel comfortable in going to any of them to get an idea of what was on her mind. On a somewhat casual basis I’d queried Trish about how she felt about her. Her answer was that she was well liked and after speaking to Lauri got a good report of the quality of work. Like with Lynda, I was at the point of ‘when in doubt… do noting’ and that was what I did.

One interesting thing that did happen was when “Big B” showed up with his new girlfriend, Lydia. I have to be truthful and tell you that she was not much to look at… and added to that was she really didn’t have much of a personality. And… she also came with ‘baggage’ in the form of a hyper active 5 year old daughter. When Elle and I’d chatted right after “B” had visited us and given us the surprising news about having a girlfriend we’d come to the conclusion that anyone who would accept a 330+ pound man wouldn’t be a stunning beauty. But, we had hope that she’d at least come across as a nice person. After she and “B” left we both shook our heads and knew the life that he’d led was about to come to a crashing halt. In the hour of so they were at the house I saw something I’d never seen before while with “B”… an almost silent man. She dominated him to the point of completing his sentences. What made that so strange was that she’d only known him for a few months. After they left it was Elle who commented that it would never work. I had to agree.

We’d not been very social like we were back when we first moved into the house. Almost all our friends (the “group”) were experiencing the same thing with multiple kids who seemed to just keep coming. So, when an invite came  to resurrect the group it seemed like a good idea. The caveat was that we had to find enough babysitters to make it work so a number of dates were listed as possibilities. With Christmas soon upon us it was decided to make it a seasonal themed party. We had the largest house so, unfortunately, we were to be the hosts. Elle managed to get the others to agree that if we were hosting then we wouldn’t have to provide anything, including to alcohol. I accepted the idea without reservations but was soon to find out that it wasn’t that way at all.

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167o)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167o)

Things at the bank were typically slow around Thanksgiving. There was one incident where I thought Woody might open up but there was a minor depositor emergency that ‘killed’ that chance for me. As it approached about the only thing of interest was that someone had seen Lynn, J J’s secretary, in a car around town. She was on a leave of absence and no one knew, or admitted, that they knew the cause. Lynne was a distant relative of Trish’s and had been a bit ‘touchy’ when asked about her absence back when she first left the bank. There had been some ‘discussion’ about the suddenness of it and I had my own theory but kept it to myself. As the bank personnel officer her return mattered to me as it would affect her replacement, ‘Upstairs’ Sandy. The woman had done an adequate job and I really didn’t want to have to tell her that her time was up. But, Lynn hadn’t yet appeared at the bank and was still on her leave of absence. I wasn’t about to open that ‘can of worms’ so let the comment pass.

The bank didn’t usually allow staff to take the day off before or after a holiday. However, Bret’s oldest daughter had been having medical problems and he’d been advised to take her to a specialist in near the city. Permission had been granted for he and his wife to take her the day after Thanksgiving. Now, with Trish added to the platform staffing, I felt that his absence wouldn’t cause a problem. The old Murphy’s Law adage of ‘If it can go wrong, it will…’ certainly came into play that Friday. We seldom saw Winter weather until December but Mother Nature decided to let us all know she was the one in charge. I expected that it would be raining when I got up but didn’t realize it was freezing rain until I went out to my car. Elle had finished up her teaching stint at the school and had no plans to go anywhere which was a good thing. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I started down the driveway and hit the brakes as I approached the bottom. The car made no effort to stop and I very casually slid right across both lanes of the road and right through a barbed wire fence used to keep the cows from the dairy farm in place. There was no damage to the car but the field next to the road was about five to six feet below it. The difficulty would be in getting the car up the slope. With ice built up on the grass there was no traction to even attempt it so I headed back across the street hoping to call Cliffy to get him to pull me out.

There were no cell phones in those days so when I called the garage number there was no answer. I really had no choice but to just keep dialing every five minutes or so. As 9am approached I called the bank to get a ‘read’ on staffing. It was Bette in accounting that finally picked up the phone. The answer to my question of how many were there and who they were was pretty much met with silence. It was very important for me to know as there were only three people with the main vault combination… Bret, Hobie and me… and none of us were there. I’d been reluctant to try taking the station wagon because I could only foresee the same thing happening on the driveway. But, faced with no other choice I headed back out. On my way to the garage my eye caught the sand box I’d built for the kids. There was the answer… sort of. It took a few minutes to did enough sand out to spread it at the bottom of the driveway but I was on my way before 9:30am.

In the lobby, there were about eight or nine customers waiting to get their money when I walked in. Hobie was there and we got the vault open in a matter of minutes. There were three tellers who’d made it in so we were covered in that respect. Trish had arrived minutes before I did and then Joanie and Laura right behind her. A quick check of all departments showed we had enough people to be operational. It was on my way down from upstairs that it came to me that the sidewalks needed sand. Mike, the messenger/custodian, hadn’t made it in and, realistically, I was the only able bodied male in the building. Because of occasional flooding from the river located right behind the bank, we kept a number of sandbags to protect the cellar door from the water. The next hour was taken up by me carrying some of them up and onto the street and then spreading the sand. In spite of my efforts I witnessed a couple of men falling. I tried to get them to give me their names for insurance purposes but they declined. I was just about finished when I saw the lady who ran the beauty parlor across the street slip and fall (on the other side of the street) and onto the street. I stood there for a few seconds waiting to see if she got up. When she didn’t move I ran over to where she was laying. She was conscious and was able to answer when I asked where she hurt. I was afraid to move her for fear that her problem was her back. Having had back problems myself I was well versed in what not to do when dealing with someone like her. There was almost no traffic so she was in no immediate danger so told her I was going to the police station for help. Thankfully, it was only three doors down.

I went back to where she was laying and waited for the assistance that had been promised. She was wearing a light jacket over her shoulders and a white dress/uniform that was the norm for people in that profession at the time. Paramedics had yet to be thought of in those days so when two policemen arrived they insisted on getting her up and out of the street. I tried to protest but they wouldn’t listen. I just knew I wasn’t going to get physically involved in any way. I stepped back when they went to pick her up and I have no idea exactly what happened. When they went to lift her I could see them start to move her off the ground and then it seemed like one of them dropped her. She cried out and then rolled over onto her side grasping her lower back. As I watched I could see almost her whole backside exposed. I was, naturally, concerned about the condition of the woman but the was no way for me to avoid looking at something I’d never seen before… panties with no crotch. The panties, purple, did cover her butt cheeks but the dark pubic hair was unmistakable. As I continued to observe the situation one of the cops realized that she was exposed and attempted to pull the dress down to cover her. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he saw what I saw. They did get her up onto the sidewalk just about the time an ambulance pulled up. There was nothing more that I could do so headed back to the bank. I was still processing what I’d witnessed for the rest of the morning.

I finally got Cliffy on the phone that afternoon and he and his father dragged my car out of the field so that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. Then, Thanksgiving day was spent, as was the family custom, with my parents. Boring, boring, boring! I did get to watch some football when we got home but I should’ve spent the time with the kids. Elle was silently mad at me but didn’t let me know about it until it was time for bed. I’d hoped for at least a little ‘play time’ but she wouldn’t even give me a chance. By the time I fell asleep I was looking forward to going back to work.

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167n)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & Ends (Part 167n)

This was the week that Elle had been asked to substitute teach at a school she’d never been to. The fact that she’d had well over a week to prepare and had her mother and friends lined up to take care of Kaye made it much less stressful than usual. She'd described the experience as “refreshing” in that the principal was “laid back” and there was nowhere near the pressure to perform that she usually experienced. That proved too be a direct benefit to me in a number of ways. Even though it was brand new school to her she found a ‘welcoming committee’ waiting for her. Beth, Cliffy’s pregnant wife, was the school secretary and had organized the other teachers to be there when Elle arrived. It was a small school, seven classrooms, but there was severe overcrowding which presented problems for the staff. However, they didn’t want Elle to have to worry about that and she was given a tour of all the ‘necessary’ things, one being where the bathrooms were located. However, as they say, “accidents happen” and with Elle’s condition, even with planning, they did. In spite of our having been together, dating and married for about 14 years, she was always reluctant to tell me about them. Right after “B” had gone she told me that she’d had “an accident” at school. I, naturally, was interested but in those cases didn’t want Elle to be embarrassed so was a bit concerned. She went on to say the principal had stopped in to see her at the end of the day just as she was headed for the bathroom. She told me she she’d already ‘leaked”, which was her ‘warning’, but she was too embarrassed to tell him she really needed to use the ‘facilities’… and, while standing behind her desk, proceeded to “go a lot”… enough for it to run down her legs. (she was wearing a skirt) She said she was more concerned that the principal could see her blushing more than anything else. What pleased me the most about her telling me was that she was completely at ease as she did. I had more than a bulge by then and she knew it. But, what was the most shocking was when she said she had a “funny feeling” after she did it. I asked what she meant by “funny feeling” and I remember her sort of shrugging her shoulders and having an impish smile… but not saying anything. Interesting, for sure.

It was about 4:30pm on Friday when Joanie told me that Elle was on the phone. At that time of day I knew she was at home and could only think there was something wrong. I’d told her any number of times not to call me at work unless it was really necessary. “There’s a basket of fruit on the picnic table!” Is what I heard. The only thing I could say was that I hadn’t ordered it. My mother would sometimes send gift to the kids but a basket of fruit was beyond that. Intrigued, I had her go get it and bring it inside. I asked if there was a card or anything but the only thing she could find was bow with the words “Harry & David” on it. I remembered my grandfather getting fruit from that company at Christmas but that was all. It was something to ponder on my way home other than the strange way females think or panties.

I’d received a call from Judith, my friend who owned the boutique store back in the town where I started my banking career. She’d donated some clothes to the church Thrift Shoppe right after the focus had been changed as to just what clothes would be offered. She’d left a message for me to stop by the boutique as she had some more things to donate. It was timely as Christmas was only a month away and I knew I had to start thinking about some gifts for Elle. I decided I’d do it while on my ‘landfill run’ as I’d be halfway there. The place was typical Judith…. clothes packed in so tightly that it was hard to see what was on the racks… and this was after she’d expanded the space. There was no way I was going to peruse all that she had but I did remember that I’d gotten Elle a robe there the first year I’d been in banking and I also knew she no longer had it. So, to save time I asked Judith what she had in the way of robes. She led me to the back of the store and explained that she had an addition put on out back for storage and had opened what had been her storage area up to hold lingerie and sleepwear. I hadn’t even gotten all the way into it when I saw what I was going to get Elle… a really fancy, plush, full length robe. It was way more than I wanted to pay but knew it’d buy me a lot of pictures and ‘extras’. While she was boxing it up I, as usual, took a look around at the panties. Her primary lingerie label was Van Raalte and I just loved the large crotch area of the panties. They made for fantastic VPL’s. It was almost like an addiction. As soon as I saw the robin’s eggs blue of a Van Raalte box I knew I had to have some… more.

The clothes Judith donated were pretty much as I’d expected them to be… not the type people shopping in a thrift shop would be looking for. When I delivered them, most were rejected for the offering tables but, surprisingly, a couple of the ladies who’d volunteered that day found some things they liked and made a nice donation to the shoppe. The minister was there when I stopped and so asked him how much they’d made since the reopening. He didn’t know exactly but I heard words that pleased me in that we’d prepaid our anticipated heating oil bill for the Winter.

Back at home I could see there was activity at the house next door. I peeked through the hedge and saw an older couple with Andy, the realtor. My first reaction was positive in that someone was looking at it. It quickly turned a bit negative because Elle and I’d both been hoping for a young family with children. Andy saw me peeking through the opening and called out asking if I’d found a surprise. That caught me by surprise and I think all I did was stare at him. He jumped in and quickly solved the mystery of the fruit basket. It had been from him as a thank you for investigating the attic and in noticing the missing soffit vents. Elle and I’d decided not to do anything with the fruit until we knew it was meant for us. That cleared the way to ‘attack’ it. Andy proceed to introduce me to the couple he was with and gave me a good indication that these were the people who’d be buying the house. They lived in the city and had been looking for a house in the area so they’d be able to spend most of the Summer with their children and grandchildren. A lot of people did that in our area but most were on or near the water. I was curious at to why they would pick a landlocked dwelling but chose to keep my mouth shut. My guess was they were in their early 60’s so, using both Elle’s and my families as a reference, figured their kids would be about our age. Trying to put a positive ’spin’ on the situation, I figured that we’d get a few months of ‘activity’ with people our age and who had kids of their own that might match up with ours. Walking back through the hedge it came to me that the house would still be empty most of the year but rationalized that it was still better than it had been for quite some time. I told Elle about the people and she immediately went up to the second floor to see if she could see the people from Kay’s bedroom window. She couldn’t but did return with some hope that there might be more to the story than we had.

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167m)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167m)

Lynda had a mischievous smile on her face after I asked her to describe what she meant by a “liberal upbringing”. However, she stood up and called to the men at the back of the office telling them to “pack it up”. Then she looked straight at me and said “How about lunch tomorrow?” With the auditors gone and the bank in slow period of time as far as lobby traffic I figured ‘Why not?’ As I got up she said it’d be at Michael’s and she’d call when she was leaving the office and would meet me there. I wondered about the last part but didn’t say anything.

I was a little apprehensive about Woody when I arrived the next morning but she was back to being her usual bubbly self, at least as far as the other tellers were concerned. It was almost 1pm when Lynda finally called. I was glad we now had three people to cover the 'platform' area. Trish and I set our lunch hours up so we could have some freedom as to just what time we went. Bret, because he had to be home at 11:30am so his wife could leave for work before his mother could arrive to look after his kids, had the only set lunch time. So, when Lynda called Bret was back and I was free to go. It only took a few minutes to walk to Michael’s. He was at the front door when I walked in and told me to go to the back of the restaurant. Normally, lunches were served up front and the rear was for dinners and for parties. Lighting in the back part was always dim and it felt a bit strange knowing that it was mid day and we still had natural light outside.

Lynda was at a small table located along one of the walls. There was no way to miss her with her blonde hair and her smile. I don’t remember what the ‘small talk’ was about or what we ordered for lunch. What I do remember was the way Linda began to explain her "liberal" comment from the day before. She started by saying that her family was “unconventional”. Her father, a successful businessman, was away a lot and she and her brothers took advantage of that (and her mother). Rules were in play only when her father was home and she admitted that as a ‘daddy’s girl’ was often allowed to get away “with murder”. Boys came into her life at an early age (I think I remember her saying it was even before she was a teenager) and she was exposed to a lot of things… primarily smoking and drinking. She stopped at that point and asked if she should stop. I distinctly remember shaking my head in a fashion to encourage her to continue. Shortening the story a bit… one time she and a few boys were hanging around and someone dared her to show her panties… and Lynda said she didn’t hesitate saying that she paraded around without her shorts for a while. At that point I had a fairly nice ‘bulge’ going and was tempted to ask a question or two. Before I could she went on to say that it wasn’t long after that that the boys convinced her to strip all the way. I finally got a word in and asked what was going through her mind at the time and if her mother had ever given her ‘warnings’ about doing something like that. A laugh was the answer. But, she did say that one of the boys slipped when talking about it and ‘word’ got back to one of her brothers. Still sort of laughing she said she got “grounded” after that. I had to ask for how long and I remember her shrugging her shoulders. Then she went on that the next time she was around the boys she gave them a panty peek and saw how just that little bit “stirred them up”. It got her to thinking that she had a “power” and could control it at her will. She sort of ended her little talk by saying it was a long time before she gave away “the whole package” again.

I was fascinated and when she asked me if I was “disappointed in her” I, again, shook my head from side to side. I think I tried to say something profound but have no idea what it was. I wanted, so badly, for her to go on and to tell me about her ‘first time’ but wasn’t going to take the chance. Then she sort of changed the subject and wearing that big smile of hers proceeded to ask what had been my actual question the night before. Now it was my turn to laugh. From the recesses of my mind I dredged up some form of the original. She sat there apparently giving the question some thought and when she finally spoke her words caught me off guard. She suggested that the question should be posed to someone who felt that way… that she, and she made reference to herself, thought it was amusing. Immediately she mentioned Ruthe, her co-worker at the office, saying that if she even thought a man might’ve seen any part of her lingerie she’d have a fit. I immediately wondered if Ruthe even wore a bathing suit as prim and proper as she appeared to be. What I did say to her was that she wasn’t helping me to answer the question… but I appreciated her efforts.

What was strange was that neither of us had eaten very much of what we’d ordered. We’d been so engrossed in conversation (believe me when I say I’ve only written a small part of it) we didn’t even notice. We were at a table for two and facing each other. When I got up to leave she reached out to stop me. It startled me because, even with the ‘panty teasing’ and the other talks we’d not touched. I’m not sure what went through my mind at that moment. I definitely remember her looking up at me and saying that she hoped that she’d not shocked me and that nothing had changed and we were still friends. Again, I was so surprised by her reaching out to me that I have no idea of my initial response. I remember her letting my hand go and I very much remember her turning in her chair to get up… and seeing that small patch of white between her legs even in the dim light, and then smiling as we walked towards the front of the place. I tried to pay but Michael said it had already been taken care of. I turned back towards Lynda and she had her usual smile and kind of shooed me towards the door. Outside, she told me she expected to see more of me in the coming weeks. Walking back to the bank I knew she would.

Walking in to the bank and looking at the clock on the back wall I thought it was wrong. It was after 2pm. I checked with Joanie to see if anybody had been looking for me. There was a call from Elle to remind me that “Big B” was coming for dinner and not to be late. I’d forgotten about it but was glad to have something different to concentrate on. I was just going through my mail when I saw a couple of the Board members who were on the branch committee walking across the lobby. It was then that I remembered Morris had said he was going to show the committee the sites he’d picked out. Seeing them was a reminder that Morris said if they had decided on one he'd call. Somehow I had to get involved in the process. However, it was too early to worry about it. As I left for the day I knew my life certainly wasn’t dull!

Dinner with “Big B” was very interesting. For someone who was unmarried he certainly had a way with little kids. I wasn’t late but he was early and I found him, all 330+ pounds, on the floor playing with them. After the kids had eaten he played like the Pied Piper and got them to play by themselves as he wanted to tell us something important. One of the last holdouts of the group of guys who called themselves “the unmarrieds”, he told us he now had a girlfriend. I literally bit my tongue to keep from smiling after having listened to him ’bad mouth’ the others in the unmarried’s group when they got serious about a female. It was another case of being careful when saying “never!”

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167l)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167l)

My intended purpose was to have Woody process some banking transactions and I made sure I let her know that was the reason for me being there. I apologized for interrupting her proof and explained that some Board members would do that from time to time. She took the materials but still wouldn’t really look at me. I remember being a bit peeved that she was acting this way. After she processed a couple of them and handed the receipts to me I finally spoke up and asked what her problem was. She looked up at me and I knew immediately she hadn't been expecting that. I took advantage of her surprise and, for lack of a better description, ‘attacked’ her when I asked if her attitude change towards me had anything to do with the panties. I knew it was but I wanted her to admit it. But, she didn’t say anything so I continued by saying that I just plain didn’t understand females and how they viewed certain articles of clothing. By then I was starting to get ‘wound up’. I don’t remember exactly how I worded it but it had to do with why having a man see a woman’s underwear was so wrong when the same woman sees nothing wrong when wearing a two piece bathing suit made up of basically a bra and panties and is out in public while wearing them. I didn’t stop there because I distinctly remember saying something about how underwear got saddled with the title of ‘unmentionables’ and that didn’t help the situation. There was more but that was basically it. Woody still hadn’t said anything when we both heard Lorie call to see what was taking so long. That was when she turned and finished up  the Board members transactions and I headed back to the Board room.

It was on my way back downstairs that I had some second thoughts about my mini diatribe. I’d used it on a couple of other occasions so it wasn’t a topic buried in the recesses of my mind. What concerned me was how she’d process what I’d said and what she’d do after hearing it. From a ‘right or wrong’ perspective I didn’t feel I’d done anything wrong ‘hanging my hat’ on the fact that she’d been the one who instituted the subject of panties. By the time I got to my desk I realized I’d been a little ‘rough’ on Woody and became concerned how she’d react. However, still ‘worked up’ I thought of Lynda, over at the stock brokerage office. I was positive that she’d been teasing me with with panty peeks and got the idea to go over after work and see if she was receptive to a conversation. I wasn’t sure just how I’d lead into it but called anyway. From the sound of her voice she seemed pleased that I’d called and that I had actually called to speak to her. Normal quitting time at their office was 5pm but there were two trainees who were there studying for whatever the test is that certifies you to be a legitimate stock broker and she’d be there until 5:30pm. That gave me some time to come up with some sort of segue to the topic I wanted to discuss. Before leaving the bank I made an attempt to apologize to Woody and although she seemed a bit ‘cold’ to it wasn’t visibly upset… a definite plus.

Lynda seemed genuinely pleased to see me as she asked why I hadn’t been around much. I don’t remember the answer but changed the subject to her and how she was doing as the last time I’d seen her she was upset about her Army reserve husband and his deployment. She was at her desk and I was standing at the low rail that separated the aisle and the work area. When she pushed away she did the same motion I’d seen her do a few times before. Using her right leg to propel the chair to the left made the space between her knees grow to at  least a few feet. And… she had her eyes on mine as she did it. After getting to the rail I saw her display what would best be described as a ‘wicked’ smile, lips closed and a twinkle in her eye. I immediately knew I had my ‘opening’ but the question was did I have the nerve to pursue it.

I’m sure I took a deep breath or two before I spoke. It was a question… “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?" All I got back for and answer was a real smile. There was some casual banter between us before she challenged me… “You liked it… I can tell…”. I know I was blushing which was probably worth more than words as an answer. I think that was when I looked around to see how ‘involved’ the two men at the back table were and then asked if I could ask her opinion on something that was bothering me. I’m sure she wasn’t expecting that because I could see the formation of a frown on her forehead. I wanted to defuse the seriousness of the topic quickly so told her I needed to get a woman’s perspective on a pretty minor subject but one that had been on my mind a long time. (I’d discussed it with Elle on a couple of occasions but never got very far with it.). I remember her telling me to go into Stan’s area (her boss and my broker) and to take a seat. I actually liked it better when standing and not just because of the potential for a view of her panties, but did it anyway.

I’ve tried to remember exactly how I worded my question when I started and I can’t. I know I ‘beat around the bush’ a bit but I do remember finally asking why some women take such offense when a man sees her underwear. I also remember her quickly leaning forward in her chair and almost choking and trying to stifle a laugh. I’m not sure what her exact words were but they were along the lines of “You’re asking me?” and with a huge smile on her face. I know I wasn’t smiling because I’d asked the question with all seriousness in mind so I had to ‘back up’ a bit to give her some background with how the question originated. While I was attempting to do it she leaned forward in her chair again with a look that told me she’d finally realized I was serious. Then she apologized for laughing and not taking it seriously. I didn’t know where to go with the subject at that point and didn’t say anything. I’m glad I didn’t.

Still with a bit of a smile she stated that she wasn’t one of those women… and added that she hoped I hadn’t included her in that category. That made me smile and I might’ve even laughed. Then she added she hoped I wasn’t offended by any of her “slips” and I definitely laughed at that. For some reason she felt compelled to explain her reasons for doing it. In a way I was surprised and yet, in looking back she had exhibited signs of a ‘controlling’ personality. She told me it was a way for her to show that she could elicit a non verbal response from a male if she chose to and added that she’d done it a number of times with me. Again, I don’t know why but in hearing her I felt embarrassed. It was a few seconds before I recovered enough to try and get back to the basic premise of why so many woman have no problem parading about, in public, in a bathing suit and then make such a fuss when, by accident, some part of her underwear shows. Seeing I was serious she hesitated before answering that it probably had to do with history and it’s puritanical views. She hardly had those words out of her mouth before I asked why she hadn’t bought into that line of thinking. That brought forth a guttural laugh from her before she said her mother had been very liberal in her upbringing. Even though it was close to 5:30pm I wanted to hear more.

To be continued…

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167k)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167k)

The box I’d used didn’t have a top and could only be opened from the ends. When packaged at the factory the panties are banded with a white strip of paper in groups of three. I’d opened one end and reached in and pulled out one pack of three along with the tissue paper. When Woody saw that her faced immediately flushed and she looked around. She said something that I don’t remember understanding and made a motion for me to put what I had in my hand back in the box. I didn’t and put the panties down on the table in front of me. The tissue paper pretty much covered the panties but Woody was clearly uncomfortable. From where I was standing there was no one who could possibly see what was on the table and I tried to pass that on to Woody but she still wasn’t happy. I remember telling her about the pack of three and that there was another in the box but all she wanted was to have them put back in the box. I did and handed her the box. Without looking at me she thanked me and took the box. I was a bit puzzled as she hadn’t exhibited that kind of shyness when we’d first discussed the idea of her trying out the panties. It had been in my car when driving her home when she’d missed her bus. It had been dark so I really hadn’t seen her face to know how she’d reacted. I could only remember her saying “yes…” when asked if she’d like to do it. There wasn’t much I could say at that point so told her “good night” and headed for my desk. I was a bit disappointed in not having at least a comment about the panties but hoped I’d have an opportunity in the future.

At home Elle had three messages for me. One from Andy, the realtor; one from Johnny, the painter and one from my old friend “Big B”. It had been a while since I seen him. He worked for a marine supply company as an over the road salesman. But, with the renewed interest in the America’s Cup sailing races the owner of the company had decided to open a satellite office near where much of that activity was centered. “B” loved being on the road and the fact that he was on commission. A very social person, he prided himself in being able to get new customers. The owner tapped “B” to open the new facility and “B”, reluctantly, agreed to do it. With the sailing season over “B” was finally back to living at home and wanted to get together. I liked that idea and Elle agreed to inviting him over for dinner sometime the following week.

Andy wanted to thank me for finding where the squirrels were getting into the house next door. He also told me that there was a very good chance that the house would be sold. The people who’d been looking at it had made an offer and he was in the process of talking the owner into accepting the offer. In closing he told me to be looking for a package on my back patio the following week. I hung up wondering just what it might be. When I told Elle about the house it was like I’d given her a present. She’d been hung up about the house being empty ever since it was confirmed that migrant workers had been living in the house back during the Summer.

After I first met Johnny and told him of my being a part owner in a race car he’d been after me to take him to see it. I’d told him to just stop at the garage owned by Cliffy’s father and ask to see it… but he was reluctant to do it. After talking with him I agreed to meet him there the next morning. I’d go to the landfill and then to the garage and, hopefully, get back home in time for lunch. An interesting sidelight to the call was that he’d hired Nick, the young man living with the minister, to help him since he was limited in what he could and couldn’t do with his bum arm. I felt good about that because I’d taken a liking to him right from the time I’d met him.

I hadn’t seen Cliffy since the night the crew put the race car away for the Winter. His wife, Beth, was there when I arrived. It had been a month since I’d seen her when we were at the championships. She was a big woman to begin with and now with but a few weeks to go until the due date she was enormous. Elle had never gained more than 20 pounds with any of our three but by the looks of her it had to be a lot more than that. To make conversation I asked if there was an expected date and she her exact words were “Only Santa knows…” and then laughed. Johnny arrived and I introduced him to Cliffy and took him back to the car. There was no doubt that he was impressed as he asked a myriad of questions. After a while I looked at the clock and saw noon was almost upon us. I told Johnny I had to go and took off. As I walked out the door he was talking with Cliffy. I had a feeling Cliffy wasn’t too happy with me for bringing him.

On the way to work on Monday I  got to wondering what Woody thought of her new panties and fantasized her wearing her oatmeal colored slacks while wearing a pair of them. It turned out to be just that… a fantasy, as she was wearing a skirt. At least I took some pleasure in pretty much knowing what she had on for panties. I’d barely settled in at my desk when Joanie let me know I had phone call. It was Morris. I’d made a bet with myself thinking he wouldn’t call as he'd said he would and when he didn’t on Friday I thought I’d won. But, now I was happy I’d lost. The first words out of his mouth were to warn me not to betray him by letting anyone know that he’d called me. Then, in a sort of backward way, he thanked me for getting him involved with the bank. He said he thought that the committee was a f____d up group but had a feeling that he could work with them anyway. He said he had a “prime location” lined up closer to the County line where we’d be able to draw from a much larger population. He admitted he had a real job ahead of him in convincing the group to spend the money necessary to buy the property. Then I heard him sort of chuckle as he said that was how he earned his money. I was reluctant to ask questions but got up the nerve to ask if he’d let me know if and when they made a decision. He hesitated and I didn’t ‘push’, satisfied that I’d gotten the information that he’d shared. After hanging up I had sort of a smug feeling that in spite of being denied, physically, of being a part of the planning process I still knew what was going on.

I knew it was too much to expect that I’d have an opportunity to see Woody where there weren’t others in close proximity. It wasn’t until Wednesday, the day of the full Board meeting. One of the annoying habits that some members had was to arrive at just 3pm where they wouldn’t have time to transact banking business. I’d get a call to have someone come to the Board room to collect their ’business’ and take it down to a teller who’d already started counting her cash. They hated that. It had mostly been Trish to do it because they were all familiar with her. I’d not sent Joanie since her move to be the receptionist and Trish was still the ‘go to’ person… except she had asked for the afternoon off. So, I decided to be the one. I’ll be truthful and say I did it because I wanted to see the members who were on the branch committee and having information that they didn’t want me to have. Childish, I know… but I did it anyway.

Collecting their ’business’ I headed down the back stairs not really wanting to interrupt the proof process of any teller. I went to Lorie to ask who I should take it to and she pointed towards the drive-up area. Without even trying I’d gotten what I’d hoped for… a few minutes with Woody. When she saw me coming she looked down and away from me.

To be continued...

FINISHING THE YEAR... Odds & ends (Part 167j)

ENDING THE YEAR… Odds & ends (Part 167j)

My time in the attic did bring forth something of real value (other than Barbara’s panties) in that I was pretty sure I found where the squirrels were getting in. At some time someone had added some soffit vents and two of them were missing. I took the panties, squirrel nest and headed home. Andy had said he’d not be in the office for the rest of the day so I made a note with a sketch of just where the missing vents were located with the idea of dropping it off at his office on my way to church the next day. Elle was pleased with the nest and was excited to have it. As far as the panties were concerned I temporarily hid them in the shed part of the garage wanting to find something to wrap them up so that it would hide the smell. By then I’d ‘killed’ most of the day but remember raking leaves until dark.

One ‘task’ I still had to tackle was in getting the San Soucie panties out of our attic for Woody. As with Laura and Joanie, I didn’t want them to know I had them in my possession. I’d told both of them that I’d order them from the factory and then proceeded to create a package supposedly sent to my attention. At that time I still had San Soucie boxes that held six panties. The last batch Willie had shipped were boxes of twelve and she was only getting six so that wasn’t going to work. I was thinking about that while washing up for supper when Elle suggested that I box up the squirrel nest. We stored empty boxes in the attic so it was Elle who gave me the release to get up there for the panties. While eating I was thinking about just what types of boxes were there and hoped I could find something that I could pass of as a shipping box. Once up there I decided to check to see that squirrels hadn’t made a return to our house. That effort proved to be the solution as I moved some things about a flat, unmarked box appeared. When I returned with the box for the nest Elle wanted to know what had taken me so long. I gave her bit of a ‘song and dance’ about checking for squirrels which I wasn’t sure she ‘bought’. I hid the box with the panties under my side of the bed on my way back downstairs figuring I’d be able to get it to the car sometime before leaving for work on Monday. I had to wait before giving them to Woody anyway as I’d told her it would take about ten days for the order to be filled. The concern was in Elle finding them.

At church the next morning I was told the shop had made just under $100 but was told the new look of the undercroft now that it had been painted was well taken. In fact, the minister even suggested that the parishioners go take a look. That created a bit of a problem because since the shop opened there hadn’t been a “Meet and Greet” with coffee and cookies. The invitation was a reminder that some of them hadn’t approved the shop and there was some grumbling.

The audit examination by the accounting firm usually took about seven to eight working days. Starting on a Tuesday I was counting on them being gone by Thursday at the latest. I’d not had any feedback on my run ins with Melissa, the assistant lead examiner back right after the group had arrived. Being the second full week of the audit things had settled into a routine. One way to know their time was almost up was to have them schedule an exit interview wth senior management. I managed to overhear that it was going to be on Thursday. It was confirmed when some of their people thanked our staff for their help on Wednesday afternoon. I was feeling pretty good in that Melissa had never come back to harass me after she’d tripped and fallen while in the attic. No one came to follow up on the item that was so important to her that first day. In truth, it had been a fairly easy audit. But, I knew there were two more to go.

The only surprise that whole week was in seeing Morris, the consultant the Board had hired to assist them in finding another branch location walking across the lobby. It annoyed me that Hobie was so tight-lipped about what was going on in that area. Technically, I was in charge of bank operations although there was no title to go with it. I just hoped that some little ‘snippets’ of information might come my way after his meeting with the branch committee. I felt I might be able to get some information from Morris if only I could get him alone for a minute or two. With that in mind I found something to do in the back work area where I could observe the elevator door. My plan was to make a dash to get outside as soon as I saw him coming and then, as casually as I could, walk up to him and ask how he was doing. The problem was that I watched most of the Trustees who were on the branch committee leave but didn’t see Morris. It was after 5pm so, technically, my day was over and I went outside. I don’t know how long I waited… 15 to 20 minuets… before I saw him walking towards the door with Hobie. I was mad and walked down the street and stood in front of the store right next to the parking lot. I saw Hobie shake his hand and leave him. He walked over to a car and opened the trunk. I figured I’d missed my chance. But then I saw Hobie drive by. Then, I just kind of appeared by the back of his car and introduced myself again. The first thing I heard from his mouth was “Why weren’t you at the meeting?” I explained that the Board was very “cliquish” and regardless of what job one might have on a day to day basis, title was everything. I was considered a “junior officer” even though I had full responsibility for a myriad of things on a day to day basis. I remember him standing there in the dark shaking his head. He was silent for a few seconds and ten started in to tell me what had transpired. Then he stopped and told me he’d call the next day. The only concrete thing I got from him was that he’d located a “prime location” and the committee was going to look at it the next week. He then shook my hand and got in his car.
My only thought was that these were the same men who would decide on this location who had chosen the one where our present branch was clearly struggling. My hope was that they would listen to Morris. He’d been ‘right on’ with the premiums we’d used for the new account campaign. In thinking about the men on the branch committee I had my doubts. However, I was pleased that he’d spoken to me.

With the audit over on Friday I figured I’d give Woody the panties when she was about to leave. I’d ‘fudged’ the wrapping of the box and hoped I could pull it off when giving it to her. I’d managed it with both Joanie and Laura but timing would be critical. She was working the drive-up that night and just before 6pm when we closed down I got her attention and held up the wrapped box. She acknowledged both me and the box. As soon as she finished locking her cash box I went to the work table where she did the school savings program. I tore off the brown kraft wrapping paper as she approached. It was critical that she not see what was on it for an address. I was crumpling it up as she reached the table. I quickly checked to see if anyone was in sight and seeing no one opened the box. Thankfully, there had been Sans Soucie tissue paper with the panties so it looked official.When I looked at Woody I could see she was embarrassed.

To be continued…