"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170u)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170u)

Bret was ‘wound up’ about the news on Eddie and wanted to tell me of some of his escapades in the past and what his father had done to bail him out. I wasn’t really interested. The important thing was that he was in custody and hopefully for a long period of time. Even though I had things to do I ended up calling Lynda to pass on the good news. In a way I was disappointed that she already knew but Bill, Ruthe’s boss, had been in direct contact with the Chief of Police on the whole matter ever since his return. However, Lynda did add she’d spoken to Ruthe and she sounded much better knowing he'd been caught. I asked her to call if she got any more news on Eddie’s status and she assured me that she would.

My focus then went to the upcoming ‘busy period’ which was to begin on Thursday. That was also the day it was projected that the examination would be over. Another somewhat lesser matter was the full Board meeting on Wednesday afternoon. I had to get the examiners who’d been using the Board room as a work center to vacate it by 2:30pm. Finding places for them to continue their work was going to be somewhat daunting. But CeeCee had some good news late Tuesday afternoon in that she was releasing over half the examiners that day. Her goal was to wrap up all but a few ‘loose ends’ by the time the bank doors closed on Wednesday. She explained that there would only be three or four of them left for the exit interview with the audit committee come Thursday and hoped they wouldn’t cause too much of a disruption what with it being the first day of the ‘busy period’. To me, that was very good news. I’d only have to find a ‘home’ for a couple of those who’d been operating out of the Board room. It meant the end was, thankfully, in sight.

I’d decided not to call Elle with the news about the circus tickets. I wanted to wait to tell her at home. I knew if I was right there with her when I broke the news I’d have a much better chance of countering her concerns. The kids had eaten when I arrived so it was just the two of us to eat. I was glad she didn’t bring the subject up because that would’ve told me she’d already come up with a bunch of reasons why it wasn’t a good idea. When I finally mentioned it it was like the subject had never come up before. That was both good and bad. The bad was that she’d probably outright rejected it the night before. The good was I was able to present it as a great opportunity. I’d worked up a little presentation that took her back to my first exposure to a circus and how the memory of it was still fresh in my mind. She’d never been to one so she had little to base an opinion on other than from what she’d seen and read in children’s books. I hadn’t gotten to the part about tickets when it came to her why she’d had a negative reaction the night before… being alone in the city. So, for the next half hour I went over how easy it would be for her and even easier if she invited someone like Ginger to go with her. I don’t know how long we talked before I finally got her to go call Ginger.

Elle hated it when I listened to her talk on the phone so I went into the den where the kids were playing. She’d been on the phone for less than a minute when she appeared in the doorway to ask how many tickets I had. Within ten minutes a plan with Ginger was firmed up. Ginger would take two of her kids and there would be five going in all. The older girls wanted to know what was going on but Elle ignored them. Kaye was too involved in the game to pay much attention. When the older girls pressed for information Elle broke down and told them what was happening. They were visably upset wanting to know why they couldn't go as well. It truth, it was a legitimate question. I tried to explain that we needed to give Kaye a really special present in lieu of a birthday party but they weren’t buying it. As they went off to bed I knew I hadn’t heard the last of it.

By mid morning Wednesday, the work area behind the teller looked like a ghost town with most of the auditors gone. CeeCee had brought the remaining few Fed auditors down from the Board room and had them working with the few left from her crew. I noticed that she’d taken to propelling herself from one work place to another by riding her secretarial chair and pushing off with her feet. I was a bit concerned but didn’t feel she was a danger to herself or to the others so didn’t say anything. The tellers had been working to avoid that area and the auditors for well over a week so there was little interaction. However, the people who’d been working upstairs at the Board room table were used to spreading their work papers over a much larger space than they were now working with. So they'd started putting their folders on the floor. It was well into the afternoon when I heard a shriek and looked up to see one of the auditors jump up, bend over and then look down at the floor. I rushed to where he was standing and saw CeeCee lying on her side and holding her head with her chair, on its side, now under the table. I also saw something else… a pair of light blue panties. The man who’d been standing over her was crouched down by her head asking where she was hurting. I was at her feet and there was no way not to see the panties. Her skirt was up around her backside and I couldn’t reach it to pull it down. Within a minute there were at least seven or eight people (all men) looking down at her. The man who’d been at her head helped her to sit up and when she did she was able to pull her legs up a bit and to pull her skirt down. By then Trish had been alerted to the situation and when I saw her asked for her to bring her chair over. It was a cushioned one with arms and I thought CeeCee needed to be made as comfortable as possible.

One of her co-workers came up with a theory as to what had happened. He thought CeeCee, while propelling her chair, had probably come upon one of the folders lying on the floor and it caused the chair to either stop suddenly or to start to tip over. No one at the bank had any training as to what to do in situations like this and I felt foolish because all I did was ask her how she felt. Then a policeman showed up and asked if we wanted an ambulance. As soon as CeeCee heard that she stood right up and said she was OK and needed no help at all. With the group of people gathered it drew Hobie’s attention. When apprised of what had taken place he asked to have a report on it for insurance purposes. CeeCee insisted that she was fine and for all the auditors to get back to work.

When the last of the auditors had gone, except for CeeCee, I made a point of checking on how she was feeling. Now, with some privacy, she told me that the accident had really been her fault. She showed me a scrape on her arm which had hit the table as she fell and said when she rubbed the upper part of the right side of her head it was pretty sensitive. I told her I thought she should go to the emergency room just to be sure everything was OK. She just shook her head from side to side. Then she threw a curve at me and asked if I wanted to go over her report on the deficiencies of the Operations area of the bank right then and there so we wouldn't be interrupted. I really wanted to go home but I couldn’t turn down this opportunity. For the next half hour or so she went over all the areas I was responsible for. I already knew about the passbook loan problem but there was one other area... what else but… the branch.

To be continued…

"SPRING'ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170t)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170t)

Lying in bed I couldn’t help but hope that Eddie would be put away for what he did to Ruthe. The fact that her parents had taken her kids out of state for fear of what he might do told a ’story’ in itself. I knew nothing of the law and how a beating like he’d doled out would be treated but common sense told me he should be severely punished. Before falling asleep I couldn’t help but wonder how Ruthe would take the news and what she’d do. I’d have to wait until Monday to find out.

Mondays, for most people, are the least favorite day of the week, me included. I had an idea what mine would be like but was not expecting to be told by Mike to report to the Board room. I ran into CeeCee in the coat room and asked if she knew what was up. She shook her head in a negative way but she seemed to be acting a little strange. As we were walking out she told me that when the meeting was over she wanted to see me about the passbook loan files that she’d been reviewing back on Friday afternoon. I pretty much knew that would be coming so didn’t ‘react’ when she mentioned it. I let her lead the way up the back stairs to the Board room with my mind trying to figure out just what might be coming. If my mind had been clear I would’ve paid more attention to CeeCee. She was already at the landing which was half way up when the bouncing hem of her skirt caught my attention. I remember stopping before getting to the landing and just watching her continue on to the top. I’d like to be able to write that I got a nice upskirt but, at best, all I got was a peek of white and that was probably of her slip. However, it was enough to take my mind off the pending meeting.

The lead examiner for the Federal group was at the head of the table where the Chairman of the Board would sit. Bert and Hobie were at the table to his right and J J, Bette and Liz, (the auditor who’d been out for medical reasons) were on his left. Hobie indicated for me to sit by him. The Fed examiner stood up and motioned for CeeCee to come over to the far corner of the room. The two chatted for a few minutes before returning to the table with CeeCee sitting beside him. I’d had minimal contact with him but just from observation had formed a definite opinion… a no nonsense, hard nosed authoritarian. As soon as he opened his mouth I changed my mind. He had a very soft voice and opened by saying he appreciated the hospitality granted to him during his stay. That comment seemed strange as the projected end of the audit wasn’t until Thursday. He went on to comment on the help CeeCee and her people had provided. That statement only added to the building confusion in my mind. Then he made the announcement… he’d been called back to the main office and that CeeCee was assuming control of the remaining aspects of the examination and would handle the exit interview with the Trustee’s audit committee. He then got up and headed for the door. The whole thing took less than two minutes. It was bizarre. CeeCee looked like she’d been blindsided and it took a minute or two for her to make an attempt to speak… and when she did there wasn’t much substance to it. The only thing of value was in asking for our continued co-operation. She got up and left the room leaving the rest of us to try and make any sense of it… that is except for J J who loudly commented that now he’d get his office back. Typical J J!

Aside from normal bank business I had two things on my ’to do’ list. The first was to call my banking friend in the city, Dan, to ask if there was any chance of him being able to get tickets to the circus the following week. I’d told Elle to wait to ask Ginger about it until I found out about ticket availability. Bret was waiting for me as I approached my desk. It was obvious that he was excited. The ‘latest’ on Ruthe’s ex husband was that he was still being held. I knew very little about how the court/legal system worked (The only thing I know now is that it is unbelievably convoluted). I did know that each of the ten townships in the County had what was called a Justice Court and an elected Justice of the Peace (JP) that presided over it. The job was only part time and each of them held full time jobs or were business owners. In fact, the JP in the township where Elle and I lived owned and ran the dairy right across the road from our house and, for all intents and purposes, when necessary, the ‘court’ was in his living room. What Bret had to say was enlightening because the JP for the township where the bank (and where Ruthe lived) was away on vacation when Eddie (the ex) was brought in on Saturday. That meant he had to stay in custody until a visiting JP could be called in and then he’d decide what the actual offense was and if he would be released on bail or not. Listening to Bret I could only imagine what was going through Ruthe’s mind as she had to wait for a decision to be made.

The call to Dan was rewarding in a number of ways. He thought I was calling about the ‘Training the Trainer’ concept I’d put forth at the Personnel Management Committee meeting and was working on with me. He’d reviewed my material and said he’d mail his most recent comments sometime during the week. When I finally got to making my request about tickets he handled it like he had the tickets in his desk drawer. When he told me “No problem…” it was great news. He asked for a date and I told him any day the week before Easter to which he again repeated “No problem…”. With that good news it was time to get back to work. I headed for where CeeCee was working to ‘face the music’ on the problems with the passbook loans. Approaching her I thought back to the back stairs when we were heading for the meeting and wished I’d paid more attention.  With a lot on my mind I’d really not paid all that much attention to how she was dressed. I tried to imagine getting a really good look at her panties but knew the chances were slim. CeeCee apologized when she told me she’d have to write up the whole loan program but tried to make me feel better saying everything else that her group had reviewed was “clean” but she still had to go over the report on the branch. That pretty much negated my good feelings. We finished up with her telling me that even though she'd be doing the exit interview with the Trustees she'd make a point of reviewing the operations department with me beforehand. I was able to breath easier after hearing that.

By noon I’d gotten confirmation from Dan on the circus tickets. He surprised me when he said he’d asked for two extra children’s tickets. I was really looking forward to getting home to tell Elle. It was just before Bret left that I saw him standing at his desk and on the phone. He, still on the line, turned to face me and then gave me a thumbs up. I was sure it had to do with Ruthe's 'ex' and couldn't wait to hear the latest. It was very good news... there would be no bail and his case was going on up to the county court system. Bret couldn't get over the fact that his father hadn't been able to get him out like he'd been able to do many times before.

To be continued...

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170s)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170s)

There was no doubt that Elle knew what I’d been looking at. She didn’t say anything but the look on her face said it all. The girls were thrilled to see Paula again and started in trying to persuade her to play a game with them. She tried to wiggle her way out of it but as I was standing there I saw Elle’s mother drive up the driveway. When she got out of her car she retrieved a pot from the passenger side and as she was walking up to the door Elle announced that lunch was here. It was as if her saying it triggered the noon siren at the fire house. As Elle headed to greet her mother she called over her shoulder to Paula, almost ordering her to stay for lunch. As Paula protested Elle countered by saying that her mother’s chicken soup was “to die for”. The kids mobbed her pleading for her to stay… and she finally gave in.

After the basic introductions were over we sat down to eat, that’s when the ‘interrogation’ began. Elle’s mother was never shy about asking for information about people and by the time we’d finished I knew Paula’s family history. As I’d previously written, Paula was Italian. Her father had been born in the city and had volunteered for WWII when still a teen. He ended up stationed in Italy for a while where he met Paula’s mother. When he was shipped back to the US when the war was over he promised that he’d come back to get her. He did and they got married. Paula was the product of the union. During the war he was a tank mechanic but back here there were no tanks so he became a heavy equipment mechanic and went to work for the city. Paula told us his proudest moment was when she graduated from college. She’d been inspired to be a teacher by one she’d had right after she’d started school. Not satisfied with all of that, Elle’s mother wanted to know where she was going to live almost frightening her when she told her rentals were hard to come by because of the area being a Summertime destination. That’s when Paula’s disposition changed. Clearly concerned, she explained about having rented a room and then having the lady change her mind on her at the last minute. She went on that she’d been given a list of possible places to stay and that one was the last on the list. She told us her father had told her to rent a motel room if necessary. The talk of looking for a room triggered her to get up to leave. I can honestly say that both Elle and I were ‘floored’ when Elle’s mother offered to let her stay with her.

When Elle and her brother were living at home her mother rented rooms to help pay the bills. Once Elle was married and her brother was in the Army the expenses went way down. She swore she’d never do that again and here she was, offering a room to a girl she’d just met. Elle and I glanced at each other not sure what to expect next. Neither of us had asked, nor had been told, what the cost of the room that Paula thought she'd get would be so when Elle’s mother threw out the figure of $25 a week I didn’t have a reaction to it. But the next surprise was that figure included doing Paula’s wash and for $1 a day more she’d provide her breakfast. I should’ve been looking at Paula for her reaction but the words coming from Elle’s mother were so unexpected that I was totally focused on her.

It wasn’t long before Elle, her mother and Paula were off to take a look at the room Elle's mother offered. I was relegated to watching the kids. I was still almost stunned by the offer because I thought I knew her mother pretty well. Letting a stranger move in was unbelievable and I was having a hard time trying to fathom it. It wasn’t that the woman was unfriendly because she was anything but. However, she was a very private person and I’d heard her tell stories of not being able to sleep when she had “roomers” staying there. I’d been impressed with Paula but I’d spent a lot more time with her than Elle’s mother had. I knew it wasn’t a matter of needing the money although ‘extra’ is always nice. I just couldn’t come up with the reason(s) for her decision. They were gone for a couple of hours and upon their return Paula headed out telling us she’d be back the following weekend to get settled in. I couldn’t wait to hear what Elle had learned and if she had any idea why her mother had turned so benevolent towards a stranger. Elle’s thoughts seemed to mirror mine. She certainly knew her mother better than I did and yet she could offer no insight whatsoever. We could only wait to see how it would work out.

On a much different subject, Elle and Paula had somehow managed to get on the subject of Kaye’s impending birthday and Elle’s dilemma about having a party. Paula, having grown up in the city with both parents working often had to go without a party. But, to ease the ‘hurt’ of it her parents would take her to the circus. As soon as I heard that I knew just where the conversation was going. The Ringling Brothers circus always came to the city around Easter and so did my birthday. The year my mother’s mother was so sick and I went to live with my father’s parents there was no way to have a party for me. I’d become friends with the girl who lived next door and between my parents and her mother they managed to get tickets for the circus and in lieu of a party we went there. (I do remember the one negative thing was not having cake and ice cream.) My mind went into ‘overdrive’ right after that and immediately thought of my new banking friend, Dan, who had all kind of ‘contacts’ in the city. I told Elle of my idea and she immediately asked just who it would be to take Kaye. I didn’t hesitate for a second and told her she would. Before she could start to complain I told her to pick one little girl that Kaye knew and got along with and then to ask her mother to go with her. The suggestion was not immediately accepted but I got her to, grudgingly, think about it. I’d suggested Ginger even though she had two kids who were not yet in school.  She’d been working part time and had found someone to watch the kids so it wasn’t all that far fetched. Plus the fact that she’d lived in the city when she was first married and knew her way around.

I mentioned that Easter and my birthday were usually close together and this year, just to make things a bit complicated, they were but a day apart. And, if they were going to be able to do it it would have to be before Easter. Since I was the one to come up with the idea I was left to work it out… on top of everything else. Thinking of Easter was a reminder that I’d volunteered at the last Vestry meeting to attach the candle holders to each of the pews for the big Easter service. It was getting to the point that my life was not my own… with meetings here, there, everywhere. I was about to fall asleep in my reclining chair when the phone rang. I let it ring hoping Elle would pick it up. When she finally did she yelled that it was Bret. Bret and I had a pact not to call each other at home unless it was a real emergency and the way things had been going I immediately conjured up some disaster at the bank. With ‘baited breath’ I took the receiver from Elle and said “Hello…”. “They got him!” was what I heard. I knew what he was referring to… Ruthe’s husband. We didn’t talk for long but it was long enough for me to know the SOB was in jail. I don’t know why but I felt relieved.

To be continued...

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170r)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170r)

CeeCee’s friend showed up just before 6pm. He was a fellow auditor but was assigned to a different area and had never been “out East”. I was looking forward to having an easy weekend with nothing special on the calendar. When I walked into the kitchen I was greeted by Elle and the kids all with their coats on and ready to head out to the school and the basketball game. It was senior night where all the soon to be graduating senior players and cheerleaders were being honored. I’d not been to but a few games all season and as I write this can’t remember why. The reason they were leaving without me was the recognition part of the evening was to precede the games. Even though we had no real contact with Barbara (the principal’s daughter who’d stayed with us for a few weeks back in the Spring) the older girls were constantly running in to her at school and she’d asked them to come. Elle told me my dinner was in the oven and she’d see me later. While eating I got to thinking about the game and decided I’d go even though I’d miss the recognition part of the night. The season had started out poorly for the varsity but, according to the paper, they’d been playing well. The game that night was with a school that had a really good player and who was supposedly going to a fairly big college in the Fall and I thought it would be fun to see how good he really was.

The junior varsity game was still in progress when I got there. The seats were full and it was standing room only. I saw where Elle and the girls were seated but decided not to go down to where they were. I quickly realized it had been a mistake to show up. As I’d written in some earlier posts I’d been asked to run for the school board in June. I had no desire to be a candidate what with all the things I had going both at work and on a personal level. However, the arguments for me running did make sense so I’d deferred making a decision. It seemed like just about everybody that saw me was asking if I’d made my decision. I chatted with a couple of the ‘good’ board members while the first game was in progress but when the varsity teams came onto the floor I shut it down. There was no question as to who the other team’s star was. After watching him for a few minutes I could see his skills were way far above any of his teammates or, for that matter, any of our kids. But, there was something really different about him. It took me a few minutes to see it… his head was too small for the rest of his body. When the introductions were made and he was standing next to his teammates it was obvious.

What was also obvious right after the tip off was he was a really gifted athlete. The population of the school was supposedly 40+% colored (remember, this was the 60’s) and of the starting five on his team there was only one white. He was not only the tallest player on the the court but he could jump really, really high. On the tip off his hand, reaching for the ball, was easily a foot higher than our kid’s hand. Then, he broke for the basket and the kid who’d garnered the ball passed it to him just outside the ‘key’. I stood there and saw something I’d never seen before… he took the ball in stride, put one foot down, leaped towards the basket and had the ball roll off his fingers into the basket. The game was but about 10 seconds old and they were ahead without the ball ever touching the floor. That turned out to be the ‘opening act’ as by the end of the game he’d scored over 40 points. Why this stands out in my mind is that back in those days many of the winning scores were less than that. For our area he was truly a ‘freak’. (Note: he went on to East Carolina and played for four years; then returned to teach in the high school and become the varsity basketball coach.)

Kaye, our youngest, had a birthday coming up in just a week. Turning five and not yet in school she really didn’t have many friends to invite for a party. With the two older girls in school they had the opportunity to make many friends. Elle had hoped that the house next door would end up being sold to a family with kids and that hadn’t happened. So, with time running out before Kaye's ‘big day’ Elle had to decide what to do. It wasn’t that Kaye didn’t know any kids her age because she’d met some at the Sunday school class she was in but they didn’t live near so she was only with them just once a week for about 30 or so minutes. Our old ‘group’ (from back when trying to change the school board) had a lot of children but were almost all older and around Jean and Anne’s age. Elle was working on a list when I saw a car pull up in the driveway. I didn’t recognize it and when I saw the person get out and start towards the house I still didn’t know who it was. I went to the door and it took a few seconds for me to recognize Paula, the new teacher. She was wearing a cap and even when she pulled it off while waiting for the door to open I still wasn’t sure because her hair was pulled back exposing her ears. When she’d stayed with us it had covered her ears and rested on her shoulders. I called to Elle after greeting her. She was as surprised as I was.

She’d come to pay Elle back for the part for her car. She explained that when she’d told her father he insisted that she pay for it now and gave her check. Then Paula explained that when she’d come out that day she’d made a deposit on the room she’d be renting but the people had changed their minds for some reason. So, with time running out her father insisted she come back and find a new place and also pay for the part. I broke in and asked about the car in the driveway upon which she laughed. It belonged to her father and he made her take his car because he didn’t trust her car. Elle insisted she take off her coat and come in to say hello to the girls. When she did I saw a whole different Paula. When she’d stayed with us she was wearing what she ended up calling “school attire”… white blouse and grey wool skirt. On this day she had on a pair of khaki slacks that weren’t tight but were definitely ‘form fitting’ along with a  light blue cardigan sweater that showed she had something on the top. To put it another way… a nice package. As she walked into the living room where the girls were playing I walked behind her searching for a VPL. The girls were playing a board game on the floor and Paula walked over to where they were and as she asked the name of the game she bent over.

When Paula had stayed overnight I had the opportunity when she was showering to see and handle the panties she’d been wearing. So, when the opportunity presented itself right in front of me I had a good idea that she was in bikini panties. One of the things I’d learned about bikinis was that their crotch was usually much smaller than the crotch of a pair of full brief panties. When I looked at the outline of the crotch showing through her pants I was a bit confused. It was large enough to possibly be from a pair of full panties. As I was standing there focused on her backside I’d not seen or heard Elle walk in behind me. But I knew when my bicep took a good smack.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170q)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170q)

When the clock reached 5pm and with most of the examiners still there I became concerned. Even though I’d only been in banking four years I’d witnessed and been part of at least ten audits. Other than for the lead examiner, the rest of the audit crew was usually out the door before 5 o’clock arrived. I was at my desk still waiting to hear from Lynda when I made that observation. I took it upon myself to find the lady who was leading the State contingent and asked if there was a problem. She made a ‘face’ and then gestured with one of her hands pointing upwards. I knew immediately what she was telling me. But, she then took it upon herself to formally introduce herself to me. I’d missed all of that when they all arrived the day before because I’d been at Ruthe’s house and had arrived late to work. She handed me her business card but before I could read it she told me to call her CeeCee. Looking down at the card I recognized the surname as being Italian… but I couldn’t even begin to pronounce it. I made an attempt with her first name and she helped me out with it (Chiara) but insisted that CeeCee would suffice. I continued to look at the card and read her title as Deputy Senior Auditor. We chatted a bit and she ended up telling me that she’d been told to send almost half her work crew back to the city. I wanted to learn more about her and the job she was now relegated to do but I heard my desk phone ringing. Being after 5pm Joanie had gone so I rushed back to take the call.

It was, as expected, Lynda. Bill, the office manager, had returned from the home office of the brokerage in Baltimore and she’d been going over items she’d been holding for him. As far a Ruthe was concerned, she’d just talked with her and had been told she was getting along well. Her main concern was her kids. Her parents had taken them up to Connecticut to hide them from her ex husband and she was missing them. She told me that Bill had indicated she’d relaxed some and had become more comfortable with staying at his home. The last thing she mentioned was that there was no news as to where Eddie, Ruthe’s ex was. Until he was located and arrested she wouldn’t be going home and wouldn’t see her kids. Since it was Lynda who’d offered that information up I didn’t feel comfortable in asking if she knew anything about the reason for the attack on Ruthe but I did anyway. She hesitated but ended up saying that it had to do with child support. Ruthe hadn’t gotten any money from her ex and went to the Sheriff’s office to get them to force him to pay up. Ruthe had told her she was convinced that when they did he got mad, got drunk and took it out on her. Hearing that made me mad. I didn’t understand how a man (?) could get mad enough to beat up a helpless female.

Since Mike (the messenger/custodian) was allowed to leave at 5:30pm someone had to be at the back door to let the auditors out… and that someone was me. I called Elle and let her know and then tried to stay busy until the Fed guy decided to release the two crews. Thankfully it was around 6pm so it wasn’t too bad. I worried that it might be the same every night while he was there. Back at home I was really curious as to how Paula made out with Cliffy and the repair of her car. In spite of my love of cars since I was a boy, Elle had no interest in them… at all. Put the key in the ignition and turn it. Period. End of sentence. All she could tell me was the needed part (a starter motor) was very expensive and that Paula didn’t have the money. I’d wondered why Elle hadn’t been upset with my getting home late (again) and I soon found out why… she'd told Cliffy to put it on my bill at the garage. She expanded it a bit admitting that Beth being Cliffy’s wife had also gotten involved. Elle assured me that I’d get paid back as soon as Paula got her first pay.

The turmoil created by the audit examination quickly calmed down. That is, except for J J. He was still P O’d about being moved from his office and continued to let everyone know it. By Friday, other than the issue of being tight on space, the audit staff had ‘blended into the woodwork’ as far as being a disruptive element. The Fed guy stayed mostly in J J’s office and we hardly knew he was there. Even the people doing the ‘grunt work’ had calmed down and that included CeeCee. It was mid afternoon when I saw him headed for the door with two brief cases in hand. It wasn’t long after that before his crew started to leave. In seeing that all I was thinking was the old saying “When the cat’s away the mice will play.” However, CeeCee stayed at the table where she’d been working. Around 4pm she released them and I went over to ask why she hadn’t gone with the others. She looked up and smiled and told me she wasn’t going back to her office in the city and that she was going to stay in the area to do some sightseeing over the weekend. I commented that she could’ve gotten a head start on it but that brought forth a laugh. Then, with a more serious bent she explained that a friend of hers was going to be stopping by and she’d leave when he arrived. That brought forth an ‘inner smile’ that I had to really work on to keep from expressing it outwardly.

I don’t know how long it was before she showed up in front of me with a sheet of paper which she thrust on my desk. Right on top the letterhead read “Peat, Marwick, Mitchell; CPA’s”. I knew it had come from the last audit the bank had had done. Looking at it I recognized that it was to explain a shortcoming in the operations area. I know I blushed when I read it and that was because I’d not taken care of it. It was a “Gotcha!”, in spades. The area of concern was passbook loans. Day of deposit to day of withdrawal type accounts had not yet been introduced. The standard for payment of earned interest was at the end of each 90 days. However, if a depositor needed money before the period ended and withdrew it, all the interest that had been earned up to that date was lost. So, to help depositors in need banks would issue passbook loans and the depositor would ‘pledge’ his or her passbook as collateral and be charged an interest fee for the amount of days until the period was up. Tellers hated it! To accommodate the depositor a whole raft of paperwork had to be processed which took a lot of time… and most didn’t put the necessary time into to making sure all the “T’s” were crossed and all the “I's” were dotted. So, CeeCee wanted to review all of them. Kept under lock and key I had to open the drawer where they were kept so she could do whatever it was that she needed to do. It was the bottom drawer of the end cabinet near the table where she was working. For me to get to it I had to squat down to open it. When doing it I looked over at where she was sitting and could see under the table. Totally engrossed in what was in front of her she didn’t see what I was looking at. With her knees spread about a foot apart I had an unobstructed view of her pantied crotch. The light wasn’t the greatest but, beggars can’t be choosy. BTW: the ‘peek’ lasted for at least ten seconds.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170p)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170p)

Elle liked to be in bed by 10pm whenever she was teaching. She took Paula upstairs to get her squared away with part of that being bathroom protocol in the morning leaving me to watch TV. With four people needing to get ready time was always a bit ’tight’ but, now with five, it was going to be tighter. I left it up to Elle to orchestrate how it would work. I don’t know how long it was before I saw Paula approaching through the darkened living room. As she got to the entryway to the den she stopped. I could see a towel and pajamas over one arm. With her incontinence Elle never wore them but kept them anyway as my mother had given them to her. Paula stopped to say that she was going take her shower to save time in the morning. I didn’t know if it was Elle’s idea or Paula’s but I knew it would certainly help. Before she left I warned her about the steam build up in the tiny room and suggested that she leave the towel and pajamas just outside the door to keep them dry. I skipped the part about ‘cracking’ the window because of the location of it right behind the toilet and her height. I knew she’d never be able to get it open. She thanked me and said she’d see me in the morning.

With Paula in the shower I heard Elle call me from the top of the stairs to say she would leave a night light on in the upstairs bathroom. I wondered why she did that as I would’ve seen it on my own. Returning to the den I saw two piles of clothes in the hall just outside the bathroom. Normally, I would’ve returned to the den through the living room but couldn’t help myself and walked down the hall. I could hear the water running in the shower as I stopped to look at what was on the floor. One of the two piles was the clothes she’d been wearing… and right on top was something small and dark that had my attention as soon as I saw it. Emboldened by the sound of the water I bent down and picked it up. Soft and pliable, I was sure it was nylon… and probably panties but the dark color was puzzling There was no direct light in the hall and the kitchen lights were off so to get a better look I took it into the den. As soon as I made the turn I stretched them out. It was a pair of chocolate brown bikini panties. I’d never seen panties of any kind in that color so took a look at the label. J C Penney, size 4. I quickly put them back and retreated to my recliner, feigning sleep. I heard the bathroom door open and close a couple of times so felt comfortable in getting up after hearing the second one. I did go in and ‘crack’ the bathroom window to get rid of the steam before heading up to bed. As I did I was still thinking of Paula’s brown panties.

The morning, as expected, was a bit chaotic. Looking at Paula I kept envisioning her in those brown bikinis. When she, Elle and Kaye went out the door headed for school I wondered if I’d ever see her again. But, I had more important things to focus on while driving to work. The most important was the on going audit examination at the bank and just what the new guy from the Federal authorities would be like. In the background of my mind was Paula and how Lynda had made out in picking her up at the hospital. I knew the first thing I had to do was to meet with the new guy and to find out what his plan going forward was to be. I also knew that it would be a while before I’d get a chance to catch up with Lynda. Mike, the messenger/custodian was at the door, as usual, to let the employees in and when I passed by I asked if he knew if the new examiner had arrived. When he smiled back at me I knew the answer. I’d only made it halfway across the lobby when I saw Hobie headed for the elevator. I called to him and he waved me to follow him into it. I still had my overcoat and briefcase but he insisted that I accompany him anyway. Inside, he gave me a warning and that was for me to keep my mouth shut and not to do anything to raise the guy’s ire. I was able to ask Hobie if he knew anything about the guy. All I got was an affirmative shake of his head and a frown… not a good sign.

The meeting was held in the board room. I saw all our key people there as well as the woman in charge of the State examination. The man introduced himself and I detected a slight accent. He didn’t speak for long and when he was finished we all knew who was in charge. He wanted a private office to operate out of and the only space was J J’s office. When Hobie told him to get all of his necessary things together and to move to the office that Bob, the appraiser, occupied, I thought he would choke. Another whose ‘look’ was worth noting was the woman in charge of the State examiners. I actually remember feeling somewhat sorry for her as she was being relegated to second or maybe even third in command. As we were excused I wondered what the rest of the examination period would be like. Another concern was that no sooner would all the auditors be gone and we’d be into the ‘busy period’. Thankfully, we had no special promotions planned. It was going to be a daunting few weeks.

Before calling Lynda I had a meeting with Bret, Trish and Lorie to get them ‘up to speed’ as to what to expect from the auditors for the next few days. Then… I called Lynda. My blood pressure was still a bit high as I waited for her to answer. I got the feeling that she was really busy when she did but when she realized it was me I could hear her breath a sigh of relief. I told her all I needed to know was if Ruthe was settled in. I remember her giving off a half-hearted laugh when she answers “sort of” and then said she’d call later. The total time I was on the phone was probably less than two minutes. But, I was so engrossed that I hadn’t noticed J J walk up to my desk. When I saw him he looked like he was about to explode. His face was flushed red and when he started to speak I could hear his voice shaking a bit. I really did like J J but, at least at work, he annoyed me. I had actually enjoyed watching him get kicked down a notch and it was ironic that he’d come to me looking for sympathy. The one thing that stands out was him standing there pleading. “Can you believe that?”.

Later, Hobie called me into his area and gave me some insight as to the new Federal examiners. Being told to come to our bank was like a “slap in the face” to him as he was used to dealing with banks much, much larger. Hearing it made sense of an observation by Bret that all the examiners he’d had to deal with seemed “up tight”. It was then that I told him about J J’s situation. That brought out a smile. Once the doors were closed to the public I took a walk around the work area to see how the people from the State were making out after having been moved. The lady in charge had re-grouped from the morning meeting and was very cordial. Not wanting to upset her about the change I took a different approach and asked if there was anything I could get for her or her crew. With both of us more at ease I took the time to take a good look at her. Of course I was remembering the peek of white I’d gleaned the previous day but recognized it would take a stroke of luck to reprise it in the coming days. But, as they say, ‘Hope springs eternal…’

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170o)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170o)

I couldn’t wait for my day to end… but the situation with the two lead examiners continued on. The clock was approaching 5pm when Joanie told me Bert (the president) wanted to see me. Lena, his secretary, told me to go right in and as I did I saw Hobie, J J, and Bette from accounting there with everyone standing. Bert was a very easy going man and the expression on his face almost always exuded the beginnings of a smile. Not on this afternoon! I really don’t remember what he said to start as I was too nervous to grasp it. What he ended up doing/saying was telling the three of us we were to attempt to accommodate the requests of the examiners during their time there… no matter how inconvenient it was for us to do so. He then stated that there would be a new person there in the morning to lead the Federal examination and that he was a senior examiner. That gave me the hint that the short, dumpy woman who’d given me a hard time earlier was being replaced. But, it also told me that my fear of having to face a stiffer audit had come true. With that, I waited for ‘the other shoe to drop’, and it did. I was told to aid and assist moving the State auditors out of the Board room and into the open work areas on the first floor. I was to see that the Federal auditors had all they needed to continue their work. While trying to assimilate these facts I couldn’t help but feel I’d been made the ‘scapegoat’. It had been Hobie who’d told each group where to locate their things… but that was because I’d been helping Lynda gather clothes for Ruthe and hadn’t been there to do it. It meant I’d be getting home late… again.

First things first and that was to call Elle… only it wasn’t Elle who answered the phone. It wasn’t any of the kids and I immediately thought I’d dialed the wrong number. However, with our new semi-electronic telephone system I’d entered about eight or so numbers into the desk set and all I had to do was push one button and the number would be dialed… and I was positive I’d pushed number one, our home phone. I don’t remember what I said but I heard the person on the other end of the line say “I’m Polly.” My retort was “Polly who?” Then the voice identified herself as the new teacher who would be replacing Elle and that Elle would be with me in a minute or two. The way the day had gone my patience was worn thin by then. While waiting for Elle I couldn’t help but think that she’d done it again... invited someone she/we didn’t really know for dinner. When she finally got on the line I was in no mood for a detailed explanation so I short circuited it by saying I wouldn’t be home until possibly 7pm… and hung up.

The move of the auditors was done with one less person than had originally arrived. The short, dumpy woman who was in charge of the Federal examiners was, thankfully, gone. Most of both groups were grumbling as it was past their quitting time. I headed for home around 6:15pm. Pulling up the driveway I expected to see another car but there was none in sight. I actually remember smiling as I thought the visitor had eaten and gone. Wrong! I walked in and saw a cute young woman all of about 5 feet tall. Before I could say a word I heard her call out “Hi! I’m Polly!” Elle was putting dishes in the cabinet and Polly was standing next to her with a dish towel in her hand. I know I must’ve had a puzzled look on my face and Elle, in seeing it, told me to take off my coat and have a seat at the table. In less than a minute she had my dinner on the table. Both she and Polly sat down with me but, Elle, as she did, admonished me not to say anything until she’d finished. My only thought was that this better be good.

I’ll spare you the details (although some of it was truly interesting) and ‘cut to the quick’. Polly was, indeed, the new teacher and would be taking over Elle’s class the following Monday. However, she still had some paperwork to complete for the school district and rather than rely on the mail, drove out from her college campus. She, on her own, had wanted to ‘get a leg up’ by observing the kids she’d be responsible for. However, when it was time to leave her car wouldn’t start. Cliffy’s father’s garage was less than 5 minutes, walking, from the school. Beth, Cliffy’s wife, worked at the school and called the garage for help. Cliffy determined that the gears on the starter drive had sheared off and the whole starter motor had to be replaced. Unfortunately, Polly’s car was a Peugeot (French) and there wasn’t a Peugeot dealership in the entire county. The earliest he’d be able to obtain one would be around noon the following day. Polly, of course, was quite upset and Elle, who liked taking in stray cats, offered to bring her home.

I’d calmed down by the time I finished eating and decided to just let it all be. I decided to not ask questions and to just observe Polly. After a while Elle had filled some of my questions on her own. In the little talking that Polly did when filling in some missing ‘parts’ of Elle’s description of her background I got the feeling that she might be a bit overwhelmed by the new job she was taking on. It was her first full time teaching job and even though it was only first graders that she’d be working with I couldn’t help but remember some of Elle’s stories from when she started. My ’take away’ was she was a nice person and Elle was right in offering to help her out. That got us down to the ’nitty gritty’ of logistics. Anne’s room, where Barbara had slept while she was with us, made the most sense even though Jean would be ‘miffed’ by her not sleeping in her room. Then there was the subject of clothes. Polly hadn’t expected to be staying anywhere so hadn’t brought anything. The problem was her size. It seemed like it was a day for short people with problems starting with the Federal examiner at the bank. She was not only short but ‘dumpy’. Polly was also short, maybe 5’1” but thin. With me not present, Elle ended up offering her pajamas and underwear. As Elle told me later Polly was embarrassed about the underwear when she did so that was not going to be an option. That, of course, was a disappointment to me.

Polly proved to be adept at getting along with kids as she interacted with ours to the point of playing school with them. I would’ve thought that the older two girls wouldn’t want any more of school than they had already experienced but Polly had them ‘hooked’. With them tucked away and in bed the three of us sat and talked. I was surprised to find that Paula’s birth name was Pola which loosely translated from Polish means small or tiny. She explained that she was pre-mature and weighed under 4 pounds at birth. Her grandmother, from Poland, insisted she be named Pola which, after her grandmother died, was changed to Paula. She ended up telling us that as a pre-teen and in her early teen years had attended the Catholic girls camp just to the West of where Elle and I grew up. I’ve written about it in some of the earlier posts. She fell in love with the rural nature of the area and had set her heart on getting a job here… and now she had it.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170n)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170n)

I’ve never been one to take teasing well. I certainly wasn’t expecting it at that moment and I remember feeling my face flush after she said it. She was pointing towards the table and the lamp that had been knocked overlamp on the opposite side of the bed when she told me I’d probably find some panties if I went back there. As I made my way over the remaining clothes that were still on the floor I recognized the wad of colorful cloth I seen earlier. When I reached it I could see that it was a batch of folded panties. As I picked them up I could see/feel that they were cotton. I handed them to Lynda and as she reached for them she suggested I look on the chair and floor over where I was to see if I could find a slip or two and maybe some bras. There was a ladder back chair right in the corner of the room and there was a sweater half draped over the seat. When I picked it up found a slip and a couple of bras under it. I grabbed them and headed back to where Lynda was standing telling her that she better think about heading off to work.  Then I carried the now filled carton to her car and then watched her leave.

I still had the key to the house and as I was about to lock it back up I suddenly realized that there had to be more panties under the remaining clothes. I had a short debate with myself weather to go looking them for about ten seconds before re-entering the house. I went to the far side of the bed and right to the night stand. I moved a few items that were hanging on it and found a couple more cotton panties and bras. Holding a bra, I was curious as to what size Ruthe was. The label was pretty washed out but I was able to make out the important information… 34B. I found it interesting as Ruthe’s clothing choices were very modest and she certainly never flaunted her body. I wouldn't have guessed that was her size. When I checked out the panties to see who made them I was disappointed. The only label was located in the middle of the back and it had been cut. The only writing was the hip size, the number 36.  The ones I’d just picked up seemed to be like the ones I’d given to Lynda. Disappointing, for sure, but I stuffed both pair in my pocket anyway. On my way down the hall I slowed to take a look into what had to have been her kids bedroom what with a single and youth bed filling most of the floor space. A little further down the hall was the bathroom which, when I looked in, reminded me of one of the bathrooms in my parents house. Everything was old and seemed to be crammed in. When I took a step or two in I could see some things hanging over the shower curtain rod. With a closer look I saw some panty hose and another bra but no panties. With that it was time to leave.
      

From my "stash"...

Banks are required to have three audits of their ‘books’ and records each year, give or take a few months. One by State banking authorities; one by a Federal government agency and one by a private accounting firm. Back in the Fall the State auditors showed up but had screwed up when they failed to realize our deposits were being processed by a service bureau until after they had started the process. They aborted the audit and we were told they would be back some time in the future. On rare occasions the Fed people hook up with the State people and they do a combined audit. When I walked in I found that one of those combined audits was under way. A combined audit had both pluses and minuses. The plus is that we end up with one less interruption (audit) during the year. The minus is that we have to find space for both groups to work in and still be able to operate the bank. A usual compliment of people for the start of a singular audit is fifteen which gets whittled down to eight or nine after a few days on site. With the ‘double’ it was around two dozen. Walking across the lobby and looking in towards the work area it was wall to wall people. Hobie and Bret were in the process of herding the different groups to designated spaces as I walked up to them. I could see Hobie was stressed and knew I’d hear about my coming in late. I’d told Lynda to give me a call with anything new on Ruthe’s release from the hospital but when she called I was in up to my eyeballs with the auditors. In fact, Lynda and Ruthe were about as far from my thoughts as could possibly be imagined.

The lead auditors were both female. After talking with each I came away with mixed thoughts. The one from the State was tall and attractive and the Fed one was short and dumpy… almost exact opposites. It didn’t take long to find out that their personalities were also quite opposite. The two of them got into what I’ll call a ‘discussion’ over the space they’d been allotted by Hobie. They were in the middle of the work area when they started in. It all had to do with which entity had more importance… the Feds or the State with the Fed lady claiming that position. She was most adamant that her group be given the ‘prime’ work area. Their ‘discussion’ was interrupting the whole work area so I got involved choosing to speak to each individually. The Fed lady (?) insisted on being first so, with Bret getting a bite to eat, I sat the other woman in the side chair at his desk. I could see from the outset that this examination period was going to be a ‘test’ of a different nature. I listened to the woman for a few minutes before noting the other woman was leaning over the side of her chair trying to get something from her briefcase. As she struggled her knees spread apart a fair distance and I glimpsed a white triangle. I honestly don’t know how long she was at it but I was still watching when the Fed lady asked if I was listening to her. When I turned back to her I decided to end the whole charade by telling her that the best thing for her to do was to contact her supervisor and for now things would stay as they were. If looks could kill I would’ve been wounded, for sure. I knew I was taking a chance that she’d take her vengeance out in the form of a stiff audit of the bank but there was no way I was going to come up with an amicable solution without her dictating the end result.

It was after the doors to the lobby were closed that I thought of Lynda and Ruthe. The plan, as I last knew it, was the wife of their office manager would call the hospital to find out Ruthe’s release time… then come to the brokerage office to pick up the clothes from Lynda and then pick Ruthe up and take her to her home. As I dialed the number I hoped that it had all gone well. I had to wait a few minutes for Lynda to get off other calls and when she told me Ruthe was still at the hospital I didn’t want to believe it. The story, as I got it, was that one of the doctors who was treating her at the hospital had some ‘reservations’ about releasing her. I knew very little about Bill (the office manager) and his family but I knew they had young children and that the delay probably had the woman frazzled. As much as I wanted to jump in and say I’d do it… I just couldn’t as I knew Elle wouldn’t  even try to understand. There was silence on the phone line as I, very briefly, contemplated it. Then Lynda said she’d do it and that somehow, even with the Corvette, she’d get Ruthe and the clothes to Bill’s house. I really felt bad about not volunteering but, sometimes you just have to say “No…”.

To be continued...

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170m)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170m)

It was after 5pm when the phone rang. Joanie was gone so I answered it fully expecting it to be Lynda. Thankfully, it was… because if it had been Elle I would’ve been in trouble. Don’t ask me why I opened with “Meet me at the house at 8am.” before identifying who was on the line but I did. It surprised Lynda because I didn’t get an immediate response. When she did speak it was to ask how I knew it was her… and that brought forth a little laugh from me. It was probably the first time since the whole ordeal had started. She asked if I had something to cover the blood in the house and I told her I had some old chenille bedspreads that I’d used for drop cloths when painting the interior of our house. There was another pause before she agreed. Then she told me she was on her way to the hospital to see Ruthe and to find out just what clothes she’d like. I, wanting to get home, told her I’d see her in the morning.

I told Elle I had an early morning breakfast meeting for the Chamber of Commerce about the upcoming Easter promotion. I actually did have such a meeting that day but it wasn’t at 8am so it wasn’t a total lie. As I pulled to a stop at Ruthe's house I saw that someone had nailed a wood panel over all the glass in the door. Lynda’s Corvette pulled in a few minutes later. When she got out she told me the key was in the birdhouse hanging outside the kitchen window. It took a bit of effort to retrieve it and I’m not sure anyone had ever tried to get it out after placing in there. I told Lynda to stay in her car until I spread the cloths in the house. I really wasn’t looking forward to going inside. Standing in the doorway to the living room I looked around. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting to see but it didn’t look all that bad. The blood had dried and was now a dark red color and not the bright red that I’d seen that morning. I’d never gotten all that far into the room so in seeing it up close this morning it didn’t look that bad. Most of the blood was on a pillow and one seat cushion but I put the old bedspreads over the back and seat of the couch anyway. While doing it I was in a position to look down the hall to the bedroom. It looked like there was a pile of clothes in the doorway.

I immediately headed in that direction and when I got to the doorway I was shocked at what I saw. It looked like a tornado had gone through the room with clothes, all kinds, spread all over. Most of the drawers of the low dresser were either pulled out all the way and empty and the ones that weren’t were askew. Taking a few steps into the room I could see the chifferobe doors (the house had been built prior to 1900 and had no closets) were open and all the hanging clothes that had been inside were now in a heap in front of it. All in all it was a mess. I retraced my steps to go and get Lynda making sure there were no signs of blood anywhere as I did. Back at her car I warned her of what to expect as far as the clothes were concerned. She hesitated but I prompted her to come in saying that she should be able to find a few things to meet Ruthe’s needs. I'm thinking it was after 8:15am by the time we entered the house. I assured her there was no blood to be seen as she gingerly made her way to the hallway that led to Ruthe’s bedroom. The cry from Lynda’s mouth… “Oh my god!”… when she saw the clothes skewed all about startled me. I had to sort of shove her into the room so I could enter. I know she repeated her ‘cry’ at least one more time before asking what we should do. That was a good question!

It took a few seconds for me to get back to the basic reasons we’d come to the house… get some clothes for Ruthe to wear when leaving the hospital and some clothes to wear for her stay at her office manager’s house for, hopefully, but a few days. My first thought was to at least try to sort through some of the things and to make piles of like items. I suggested that Lynda tackle one side of the bed and I tackle the other. I’d walked past Lynda by then and was standing in front of the low dresser and on a pile of clothes. I was able to survey the room from there so suggested that we start by picking up the clothes from the chifferobe and putting those that still were on hangers back inside it to make room for Lynda to move about. The primary makeup of those clothes were mostly skirts and blouses with a few suit type jackets and dresses. With that done I suggested that I start on the other side of the bed and to pick the things up off the floor so Lynda could sort them. As I did I noticed the clothes on top were mostly sweaters. I asked Lynda if she’d had a list of the type of things Ruthe wanted and she reached in a pocket of her coat and pulled one out. When she read it off I asked about a nightgown or pajamas and she she made a face indicating that might be something to add to the list. I almost immediately pulled a flannel pajama top out of the group of clothes I’d just dumped on the bed. Lynda didn’t waste much time as she quickly sorted through the pile. I scooped up a couple more piles of mixed clothes that were clumped together and placed them on the bed. Then I started on the pile of things in front of the dresser. I’d pretty much determined that it must have been Ruthe’s ‘ex’ who had created this mess and it had been done from pure vindictiveness rather than as a robbery. Standing in front of the dresser and looking at where some of the clothing had ended up he had to have been blind with rage. I noticed some small colorful clothing items wedged in behind the night stand next to the bed and the lamp that had probably been on it now between the table and the bed. I pointed it out to Lynda who agreed with my assessment about the rage. For some reason she suggested I go stand the lamp back up and, with time running out (Lynda had to be at the office at 9am to answer the phones) and so much more important stuff to do, I ignored her. The things right on top of the pile were mostly sweaters. I grabbed a couple of them and asked if they were something she wanted for Ruthe. She had a sour look on her face and I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d not picked up the lamp or that the sweaters were not acceptable. So, I continued to ignore her and dug deeper into the pile… more sweaters and what appeared to be a bunch of warm weather clothes. Seeing them, Lynda told me to leave them on the floor as she was running out of room on the bed.

I figured it would take between 10 to 15 minutes for Lynda to get to her office so, looking at my watch, suggested that she make her selections. I watched her start to pick some items off the different piles and realized we’d need something to put them in. The only thing I could think of off the top of my head was the carton I’d stored the old bedspreads in. I went to the car to get it and when I returned she had a batch of clothes in her hands. As she placed them into the box she had what I’d call a ‘wicked’ smile on her face. I noted it and asked what she  was thinking. Her answer made me smile as well. It was something along the lines of… “I still need to find underwear for her… something that should be right up your line…”

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170l)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170l)

It was hard not to think about Ruthe and her situation for the rest of the weekend. So as not to keep Elle’s concern down I made sure not to do/say anything about it to the point I made no further attempts to get any more information. It was hard. In bed at night I kept going back to the my initial sighting of her lying on the couch with all that blood. Even today, in writing this part, it still bothers me as I dredge it out of the recesses of my mind. I was really looking forward to getting to the bank on Monday to talk with Lynda and to see if Bret any any information on the ex husband.

Bret was walking up to the back door when I pulled in. He reversed course and headed to where my parking space was located. Walking up to the car he had both hands up and was shrugging his shoulders. I rolled the window down and he spoke the words that his actions had already indicated… nothing new on Eddie. With that out of the way it was on to calling Lynda. I apologized for not calling her over the weekend and she told me there wasn’t much information other than Ruthe was to be evaluated that morning. Lynda told me she’d established a bit of a relationship with Ruthe’s roommate and the only news she had was that she’d had a good night of sleep. One of my favorite (but trite) sayings is (…little victories…) and, to me, this was one.

My mind was somewhat occupied that morning by Bert (the president) calling me to his office to find out just how “close” I was to my college fraternity brother who was in business just down the street from the proposed branch. The reason was it now appeared there was going to be some problem (other than parking lot ingress and egress) in getting building permits. My friend’s father had ‘connections’ in the township’s governance and Bert wanted me to see if I could find out anything that might help Morris (the consultant hired by the bank to guide it to making a better branch selection than had been made for the first one) get through the process. In hearing what he wanted/expected from me I wanted to shake my head. On the one hand it was somewhat rewarding to be the one asked to take on projects like this but there was a limit on just how much I could handle. We talked for a few minutes and I assured Bert that I’d do what I could. It wasn’t like my friend was easy to contact and interact with so that was to be the first hurdle.

When Lynda finally called I was waiting on a customer so had to wait to talk with her. I decided to go up to the Board room to make the call to have some privacy. It’s hard to describe Lynda’s frame of mind… excited, concerned, puzzled or all three mixed together. Even though I had the presence of mind to make notes they turned out to be more like hen scratchings. Trying to decipher them I remember I struggled with them from a sequential basis. When I wrote them up I could only hope they made sense. We were on the phone for at least a half hour and at one point Bret came up to check on me.

The first thing Lynda told me was that it was hard to understand Ruthe because of her broken jaw. So, she ‘qualified’ what she was about to tell me as being what she understood and could be wrong. Her evaluation, on a pass or fail, basis was a “pass”. She was to be released the next day and that was the first of her new problems. She told Lynda that under no circumstances was she going back to her house unless her ex husband was in jail. Next… her mother and father had taken her kids and gone to Connecticut to make sure her ex husband couldn’t get to them (which had been her greatest fear after she regained full consciousness) so she couldn’t go to their home. Bill, her boss, had volunteered for he and his wife to take her in during the early recovery period but… he'd had to go to Baltimore where the company’s headquarters were located. The next problem was she had no clothes she could wear upon her release. There were other minor problems as well. I knew from the sound of Lynda’s voice that she was not the person to decide on a course of action. Bill, her boss, would’ve been the most logical one but from what Lynda indicated to me the meeting he was attending was “critical” as far as the future of the branch office was concerned so he couldn't get involved. I was into the ’situation’ far deeper than I wanted to be and as I sat there after hanging the phone up pretty much knew I was going to get in even deeper.

That was when I tried to make sense of the notes from Lynda’s phone call. Going back to my grandfather’s ‘mantra’ “first things first”, I wanted to identify just what that should be before I headed back to my desk. To me that was to have Lynda confirm that Bill’s wife would be the one to pick Ruthe up upon her discharge. Next would be clothes for her to wear. Both of these, thankfully, fell on Lynda. I decided that it would probably be best to go over to her office. There was no chance for her to go to lunch with both Ruthe and her boss out of the office. I called and asked if she wanted me to bring something to eat but she said Stan, her boss had ordered something from Michael’s Lounge, across the street. When I walked in things were a bit hectic as Stan was handling not only his clients but Bill’s as well… and Lynda having to process all the transactions herself. I wondered if I should leave but Lynda motioned for me to stay.

It was probably twenty minutes before things slacked up a bit. I knew what I had to say to her and gave it to her as fast as I could. She was able to confirm that Bill’s wife would come and pick Ruthe up at the hospital. But… when it came to getting clothes for her, Lynda just shook her head from side to side saying she wanted no part of going into the house and seeing Ruthe’s blood. I hadn’t thought of that and when she said it I couldn’t help but agree. I hated to say it but threw out the idea of buying some new things for her. I remember looking at Lynda’s face and seeing her reaction. She took a deep breath or two and kind of shrugged her shoulders as if to say ‘if we have to but…”. I stood there feeling a bit foolish with nothing to add. Stan had overheard our conversation and turned to us and suggested that maybe I could go to the house with Lynda. She started shaking her head again. The phones were ringing and she had to answer them. I told her I’d get back to her after the bank and stock market closed. I remember her smiling and giving me a wave as I walked out the door.

It was Lynda who called.  I could hear the hesitation in her voice when she asked was it possible to get to Ruthe’s clothes without her having to see blood. I didn’t really know but I told her I thought she could. She said she’d call before leaving which left me ‘hanging’ as to my role in the retrieval process. Thinking about the blood it came to me that I could drape a blanket or something over the couch. I wasn’t sure if there was any blood from when they took her out of the house to the ambulance. It seemed like the more time that passed the deeper I was getting into the whole thing and I wasn’t looking forward to Lynda’s call.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days (Part 170k)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170k)

I’d not mentioned Ruthe’s ex-husband but now there were two people, unconnected, who after hearing about her being attacked asserted that he was the person responsible. Bret seemed certain that he’d been the one. After hearing two people sort of accuse him I had to pretty much fall in line. Bret made some references to a few things he’d done back when they were in school together and shaking his head from side to side as he did. It made me curious about the guy but my phone rang and thinking it might be about Ruthe told Bret I’d catch up with him later. The call was from Bert (the president) wanting to know the name of the guy I’d gone to college with who had a business right down the street from the proposed new branch. After squaring him away I looked up and saw Bret huddled together with Trish and Cara. I, for sure, knew what that was about. I started flipping through my mail but kept an eye on Trish and, as I expected, she headed for Lorie. I knew next to nothing about Ruthe’s ex-husband other than he came from a somewhat prominent local Polish family. The father seemed to be in the newspaper a lot in his position as Executive Director of the agricultural co-op in town and for donating a lot of money for the hospital expansion. I also knew the father had shortened their name so as to lessen the Polish ethnicity factor. So, watching the three surviving members of the bank’s old “Polish Mafia” with their heads together gave me the impetus to pursue their interest in the now infamous ‘incident’ that I’d reported to Bret and to get the real ’scoop’ on him.

I waited until Bret returned from lunch. I’d decided to give up mine so that if Lynda called about Ruthe’s condition I’d be available. So, with Bret’s desk right in front of mine it was fairly easy to communicate with him without it being obvious. Reluctant, at first, to answer directly as to the guy’s moral character, I asked a couple of leading questions that broke though his resistance and then it was like I couldn’t shut him up. It was the question of what’s the first thing he thinks of when hearing his name that was the key. Bret, as I’ve alluded to, was a very laid back person and not very demonstrative. But that question ‘lit his fire’. It had to do with the championship football game when Bret was a senior. The game was important to both the school and the town because they hadn’t been in a championship game in a long, long time. The game was played at a neutral sight and the team had to be bused to it. When it was time to leave Eddie wasn’t there. Bret was the quarterback and Eddie was an offensive lineman who was to protect him but he wasn’t there. Long story short… in spite of the coach pleading with the team to get a good night’s sleep, Eddie went out and got drunk… and overslept. He got to the game on his own but the coach wasn’t going to let him play. Bret and the other players convinced him to change his mind and even though hung over he did a good enough job that the team won. Bret was still upset enough all these years later to offer up a bunch of expletives about him.

With that all said, Bret went on to give a bunch of examples of how he'd disregarded rules and stayed pretty much in trouble due to his drinking. He didn’t have the grades to get into college but his father made a big donation to his own alma mater to get him accepted but he got kicked out before the first semester was over. According to Bret, after that his father ‘put his foot down’ and made him join the Army. Bret, who was in college at the time, said he’d heard that he got kicked out in less than a year. There were other stories but they were hearsay to Bret. After his own time at college and returning home he ran into him only to find out he was now married. Bret editorialized a bit at this point to say he pitied the poor girl. I asked if he knew her and he said “No…” but that she was a year or two behind him in school. By this time I was getting a pretty clear picture of Eddie.

When it got to be 2pm and I hadn’t heard anything about Ruthe I called Lynda. She hadn’t talked with Bill but he’d called in to the office to say she was being operated on and would call as soon as he got any news. I asked how she was doing and she claimed to be OK… but worried about Ruthe. Again, I told her to call as soon as she had anything at all. I was a bit upset that she hadn’t passed on that little bit of information but let it pass. The doors of the bank were still open when one of the non uniformed policemen that had showed up at Ruthe’s house in the morning walked in looking for me. That was not a good feeling even though I’d done nothing wrong. He proceeded to ask if he could ask me some questions. I’d thought I done all of that back at the house. But, one thing that was a positive was that they were looking for Ruthe’s ex-husband as we talked as she’d identified him as her attacker. That made me wonder why they were back asking me questions. I was told the reason was because they wanted to see if he had anybody else in on the attack. The cop focused on just what my relationship to him was… if any. When I told him I wouldn’t know him if I fell over him, he apologized and got up and left. I remember feeling somewhat abused as I watched him go through the gate and out into the lobby.

When Lynda finally called I could tell she was a bundle of nerves from the sound of her voice. A concussion, broken jaw and nose, possible damage to her hearing on her left side and some broken ribs. She was awake but groggy and worried about her kids. She had expressed to someone that she was fearful that her ex-husband might try to take her kids. With all that went on in the morning I hadn’t thought about her kids and, in fact, if her parents had been notified. I asked Lynda but she didn’t know. If left me in sort of limbo. I was glad to have some information even though it raised more questions. After hanging up I got Bret’s attention and told him about Ruthe’s condition. With his wife being a nurse I was thinking that she might have some ‘connections’ at the hospital to get more news than what I had. He agreed to pursue it and promised to call me at home, one way or the other. Leaving the bank that afternoon I stopped to reflect on my day and knew it was one I’d never forget.

When I told Elle about it she focused on how and why and how I’d gotten involved with Ruthe and not on her condition. I had nothing to hide and using my grandfather’s advice…”Tell the truth and you’ll have nothing to forget.”, I explained and hoped she’d understand that I was just trying to be a nice guy. When I was finished I wasn’t sure where her mind was. It was while she was putting the kids to bed that Bret called. There was nothing more on Ruthe’s condition but he told me he’d made a few calls to friends in the police department who knew her ex-husband. They still hadn’t located him but was told they thought the attack was in retaliation for Ruthe having had him arrested for not paying child support. He’d spent a night in jail and raised quite a ruckus before his father bailed him out. Hearing that on top of what Bret had told me about the guy earlier in the day I couldn’t help but think that some things never change.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170j)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170j)

The next thing I remember doing was rushing back to my car. I’m not sure I said anything to the lady. The next thing I remember is almost hitting an oncoming car as I pulled out onto the road. It was only a matter of a couple of minutes before I turned back into Ruthe’s driveway. The only thing on my mind at that point was to find out if she was alive. I rushed through the kitchen to the doorway to the living room and stopped. I really didn’t have a plan. I could see Ruthe had moved. No longer on the couch she was now on the floor. Not only that but I could hear some sounds coming from where she lay. I moved towards her, slowly, because I’d not expected to see her battered face the first time and hadn’t taken a close look but this time, even though expecting it, didn’t really want to believe it. I had taken but a few steps when I heard a car door slam. I stopped and in what seemed like no time had passed at all, felt someone bodily move me to the side. I watched as a cop bent down and tried to talk with her. All I heard as answers were a series of moans. Then the cop got up, looked at me and told me to get out into the kitchen and stay there as he went out to the patrol car. I watched him talk on whatever device they were using to communicate in those days and then saw another patrol car pull up. That cop got out and went to the other car for a few seconds and then came up to me and demanded to know who I was and why was I there. The one who’d been on the phone went back inside and as he passed announced that an ambulance was on the way.

I was asked all kinds of questions most of which I couldn’t answer other than to tell him who the woman inside was. He wanted to know if Ruthe was married and I told him I thought she was divorced. I’d not kept up with her situation other than to know it was “ugly”. Then, he wanted to know who her ex-husband was and if she had kids. I knew the guy’s name was Eddie. I also knew, but didn’t add, the fact that he was the son of a prominent local farmer and that he’d been in trouble, on and off. I figured the police would know the facts rather than hear me pass on what I’d heard, kept my mouth shut. After telling him that her two kids were with her mother it turned out that the most pressing question was what was her name. I had absolutely no idea. It was about then when the ambulance arrived.

Back in those days there were no EMT’s and ambulances were privately owned and staffed. The one that showed up was owned and operated by the largest undertaker in town. I remember hoping that it wasn't an 'omen'. The cop left me but told me not to leave. That would’ve been an impossibility as I was now blocked in by three vehicles. I’d been outside for well over a half hour and although it wasn’t bitterly cold, just standing there, not moving, it was beginning to get to me. Right after the ambulance pulled away another car pulled up and it was more policemen only without uniforms. I had to go through some of the same questions with them before I was told I could go… and that they’d be in touch with me again. Before I could move my car the two uniformed cops had to move their cars and when they did they just drove off. I looked at my watch as I finally started my car and it was around 10am.

Even though it would only take me about ten minutes to get to work there was one thing I knew I had to do and that was to tell Bill, her boss and the brokerage manager, about Ruthe. Just down the road, about a mile and half, was a small restaurant that had quite a reputation for home baked goods and I’ve written about it on occasion. I knew they had a pay phone so stopped and dialed up Bret at the bank.  All I told him was that I was involved in ”an incident” and hoped to be in by 11am. He, of course, wanted more information but I put him off. The next stop was to the stock broker’s office. As I’ve written in a number of posts about it, the building originally housed two small retail establishments. All they did was to remove the wall between the two stores to meet their needs. They chose to leave both doors operational, as they'd been, with the one on the right leading to where Ruthe and Bill worked and the other to Lynda and Stan’s area. I always entered through the left door as Stan was my broker. On this morning I walked in the right side door. Bill was on the phone with his back to me. I walked past him and made some sort of animated motions with my hands to get his attention. I heard him say “I’ll get right back to you” and then saw him hang up. By then both Stan and Lynda could see that my state of mind was anything but normal. As I started telling Bill that Ruthe was in the hospital I could see Stan slide his chair over towards the low partition that separated him from Bill. I was in the process of telling him how I’d found her when I heard Lynda scream out “THAT SONOVA BITCH!” and slam her hand down on her desk.

Bill immediately got up, grabbed his coat off the coat tree, and went out the door. It only took Lynda a few seconds to move from her work area into Stan’s cubicle and to be pressed against the partition separating Bill’s and Stan’s work space. She almost demanded to know what had happened and I couldn’t tell her much of anything other than finding Ruthe all bloody on the couch. Lynda was shaking her head as I tried to describe the scene as I’d found it and then interrupted saying that she’d warned Ruthe that her ex-husband would “do something”. After seeing Ruthe lying there I had no thoughts whatsoever as to who might’ve beaten her. I’d avoided talking about personal stuff with Ruthe on our rides in to work. I’d been told that she’d had problems with her ex-husband and that had left her somewhat fearful of men in general and that it was the reason for her stand-offishness when I first started going the the office. I also remembered reading about him in the newspaper as being a big football star in high school. But, standing there listening to Lynda, some of the mystery of her beating was being erased.

I didn’t stay at the brokerage all that long but it was after 11am when I got to my desk. When I left Lynda and Stan I asked for either one to call with any news about Ruthe’s condition. Bret was like and ‘old woman’ wanting to know about the "incident" I’d alluded to in my call to him. I knew Bret knew Ruthe’s husband because he’d been the quarterback when the high school team had won their last championship. I figured that Trish, Cara and Lorie had also been in school with him at the same time but I didn’t know that much about Ruthe’s background. So, I started off slow explaining that I’d been stopping to pick Ruthe up on Fridays for a while and when I got there earlier I found her all bloodied up and semi conscious. As soon as I told him he started shaking his head and blurted out something like “I always knew he was crazy!”. It was sort of like confirmation of what Lynda had said only a few minutes before.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days (Part 170i)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170i)

It was a fair warning. The young lady soon returned carrying a tray with a carafe of coffee and a couple of mugs. She put it on the little table that was between us and then went over to a side cabinet and opened a door. That’s when it got interesting. To get the creamer additive and sugar she had to bend over to get the items from inside… and that’s when Dan’s admonition came into play. Back at the bank I’d become somewhat immune to seeing Eileen’s panties when she’d bend over at the waist as it had become a fairly common occurrence. But, this was someone new and definitely more attractive (and shapely) than Eileen… and seeing her white panties with either black or dark blue polka dots was definitely refreshing. It lasted but for maybe five or six seconds and when she stood up with the items in hand I’m sure my face was somewhat red. As she closed the door when leaving Dan sort of mumbled “just another one of my perks…” That was when I remembered a comment of his at the last meeting when he told me to always keep my eyes open. I wanted to pick up on both of those comments of his but I’d only known the man a very short time and figured there’d be other occasions… or I hoped there would.

Time flew by quickly and before I knew it the girl was opening the door to say “Good night…”. I’d shared both my prepared materials along with my overall thoughts on the project and Dan, much to my surprise, had peppered me with questions. I, at first, was annoyed but when he read the expression(s) on my face proceeded to explain. I don’t remember the words but it was along the lines of “sometimes you have to be negative to make progress…”.  He went on that what he was doing was role playing and trying to identify some of the negatives the committee members might have. That way we’d address them during the presentation and not appear to be reacting. It sure made sense to me and as we finished up my admiration for him continued to grow. As we were putting on our coats he slapped me on the back and said “Let’s eat!”. I thanked him for the offer and told him I had to get to my hotel but he insisted. I gave him the name of the hotel and he called to say I’d be late. Then we headed for a restaurant that I’d been to with my parents when we lived in the city. I remembered that it was very much ‘upscale’ and attempted to protest. He laughed and told me one of the Trustees of his bank was a part owner. Not only was it a very good meal but we continued to address potential obstacles my idea might face with the bigger banks. When I got on the subway to go to the hotel I was more enthusiastic than I’d ever been.

My proposal wasn’t on the agenda and Dan suggested that I bring it up in the ‘new business' section to formally request it be added to the next regularly scheduled meeting. Most of the business that was discussed concerned the one week long School of Savings Banking that was proposed to kick off in October. I’d been added to the sub-committee but it hadn’t yet met and the chairman of the main committee was concerned as we had only 6 months to get everything together. After the meeting was over the sub-committee members got together to set a date to meet. I wasn’t happy when the decision was to meet again in a week. I knew Elle would have a fit. Being on all these committees was almost a full time job in itself.
At home, the news from Elle was that a new teacher had been hired but she wasn’t to start until the end of the month. The arrangement with Beth’s mother to watch Kaye (our youngest) was working and Kaye told me all about “Auntie Alice” as I ate my warmed up supper. I did a quick calculation and with the increase in the per-diem for substitute teachers we’d end up with a gross of $375. To me it was like found money. My last pay increase had made it so that we didn’t have to depend on Elle’s teaching to make ends meet. We still had out Wants/Needs list but it was now weighted more to the want side. It was a nice feeling, especially when it came to money for the race car.

A while back I wrote about Ruthe, the woman who worked with Lynda at the stock broker’s office, and how she, knowing where I lived and the route I took to work, had asked me to pick her up for a few days while her car was being worked on. I’d stop and pick her up on the way in to work and then her mother, who looked after her kids, would pick her up at the end of the work day. It had worked well enough that Ruthe ended up asking if I could continue to do it on Friday’s. It had something to do with her mother using her car to do grocery shopping but the details were always a bit ‘cloudy’. Ruthe’s father would drive her mother to Ruthe’s house and then she’d take the car. I’d stop and pick Ruthe up around 8:30am. I’d pull up in the driveway and Ruthe would pop out the side door almost immediately and we'd be on our way. But, not on this Friday morning. As usual, the car was gone and I expected to see a body appear immediately. I waited for a few minutes and then blew the horn. As I sat there waiting I kept my eyes on the door. Then I saw something that didn’t look right… the pane of glass right above the door handle was broken.

When I got to the door I could see that it wasn’t latched. I pulled it open and walked in. I called for Ruthe but didn’t get an answer. I’d only been in her kitchen but it was obvious the next room was the living room. I walked in and what I saw took my breath away. Ruthe was half lying on the couch with one leg up on the seat cushions and the other draped over the edge with her foot on the floor. But it wasn’t her position that had my attention… it was her face. There was blood all over it and on the couch pillow under her head. I’d never seen a scene like this in my life. I went into a panic. It’s always easy to ‘Monday morning quarterback’ but I still can’t face the fact that I didn’t go right to her to see if she was even breathing. What I did was to look for the phone. I found it on the floor in a corner. When I picked up the handset there was no sound. Then I saw where it had been ripped from the wall. Now I was even more panicked.

Running back outside there were no other houses within sight. I did know my Father’s cousin lived just a little further to the East so jumped in my car (which was still running) and headed there. Being a farmer he wasn’t there but his wife was. I’d been friendly with her sons but hadn’t had much to do with her so it was awkward. I’m sure she saw the look on my face and probably asked what was wrong but all I wanted was a phone. I got the police and gave them the approximate location (being rural there were no house numbers and Ruthe’s house was on the Main Rd). The person who answered the phone asked me one very basic question after I described Ruthe’s condition… "Is she breathing?" That’s when I had another panic attack because I couldn’t answer the question.

To be continued…

"SPRING"ING AHEAD... Better days? (Part 170h)

“SPRING”ING AHEAD… Better days? (Part 170h)

Maintaining composure in a situation that I’d never experienced before was a challenge. I know I was shaking and when I made my choices she took the album and slid the pictures from their sleeves. Then, very calmly, she stood up and went to a desk in the far part of the room. It gave me a chance to take a look at the growing wet spot on my pants. At least a quarter in size and maybe larger, I tried to reposition my self to be better able to hide it. As she returned the ‘knowing’ smile had returned and she made a reference to my having moved on the sofa. I’d also had the chance to check my watch and although not yet 9pm, it was close enough for me to verbalize my need to leave. I remember there being some ‘small talk’ but don’t remember what the words actually were. She had continued to stand on the other side of the coffee table looking down at me. I knew she was waiting for me to stand up. I also knew that when I did there was little chance to hide both my bulge and the wet spot. I remember wrinkling up my face as I pushed myself up to a standing position knowing she’d have a comment. I won’t swear to it but I think she said “It’s OK… I’m a married woman…” I know my face turned scarlet. But, she let the matter drop and went to get my overcoat. There was more ‘small talk’ at the door before I tried thanking her for the pictures. She waived it off saying that they didn’t even begin to repay for helping her out on New Years Eve. But, on the subject of pictures and in keeping with her ’teasing’ ways, she said there were many, many more pictures for me to see. All I had to do was to stop in.. I was holding the envelope with the two newest pictures and glanced down at it remembering the twenty or more pictures I’d just perused. I’m sure I took a deep breath.

Driving out of her yard I knew I wanted to get another, closer, look at the pictures. I drove to the infamous New Years Eve tavern parking lot to find a street light. Looking at them, side by side, I knew I had some like them of Elle in similar positions but these were different… in a naughty sort of way. The bulk of my thoughts on my trip home were on just how I would be able to get back to Lynda’s house to take advantage of her offer… and I couldn’t come up with a single idea. That put a bit of a damper on what had been an extraordinary night. There were two other things that I contemplated as I drove… one being that Lynda made no overt ‘move’ towards me. I didn’t really expect that she would but I had given the idea some thought. The second thing was I had to come up with a story to cover the meeting that I was supposed to have attended. As written in many previous posts. I rarely spoke about bank business with Elle. To begin with she didn’t understand it and would rather spend the time talking about things that were of interest to her… mostly the kids. So, I fabricated a real brief one focusing on what I had chosen to eat. I was lucky in that regard as one of the premier offerings of the restaurant was duck. I liked duck but Elle hated cooking it because of the excess amount of grease they put off. I had my story down pat by the time I turned in the driveway.

Elle was ready for bed when I walked in. I made a quick trip to the bathroom to check out the wet spot on my pants and found that it was pretty much undetectable. However, that wasn’t the case with my underwear. I knew I had to change them before getting in to bed because Elle liked for me to snuggle up to keep her back warm and the wet spot had wicked out to be the size of a silver dollar. When teaching, she liked to be in bed by 10pm and it was almost there. Even though I hadn’t gone through the mail or the evening newspaper (remember when we still had those?) I decided to head upstairs before Elle and to grab a clean pair before she got there. I barely made it throwing the damp pants under the edge of the bed. Now, all I had to do was remember they were there. I’m sure it was just as a token of her support but she finally did ask how the meeting went as she flipped off the bedside lamp. I told her the best part of the whole thing was the meal and that was it. Home free.

That wasn’t the story of my night as I couldn’t get the thought that what I’d done at Lynda’s was a form of cheating or adultery even though there had been no touching. I, like I’d done any number of times in my life, started debating myself but was unable to come to a clear decision. That left me free to go back to when I’d arrived at Lynda’s and to fantasize the ‘what might’ve beens’. I was just starting on that phase when the alarm went off for Elle’s first bathroom visit. I pretended to be asleep but as soon as she settled in I quickly resumed fantasizing how it could’ve possibly gone. Some of my thoughts included not just getting a panty peek but actually seeing her like she appeared in the pictures I’d viewed. She’d told me she preferred wearing bikinis and even though my preference was for full brief panties, I would have loved seeing her in bikini panties. Another thought had to do with the fact that she told me her husband bought all the full brief panties and that he’d only buy one at a time and photograph a “set” with her wearing them. Of the twenty or so pictures I’d seen there were but four “sets”, as Lynda called them, with each set of photos being taken in the same location. That meant there were four different panties represented in the album I'd seen. If Lynda had been right when she told me there were about six or seven more albums that meant if each contained four “sets” there were a whole lot of different panties to be seen. I lay there wondering if there might, somehow in the future, be a chance to see them… but quickly dismissed that thought. I finally drifted off to sleep going over different scenarios that could/would put me in Lynda’s town when she was home.

The next day was the full Board of Trustees meeting. Normally, I’d be there as Hobie’s back-up but the meeting of the statewide Committee on Personnel Management was on Thursday and was in the city. I’d talked with my friend, Dan, who served on the committee with me, about pushing forward my idea for a program to help member banks train and retain tellers, banking’s achilles heel. He’d suggested that I come in to the city the day before to work with him on the presentation but that meant I’d have to leave work at noon. Hobie was all for it and I took the last bus/train which got me there around 3pm. Dan’s office was in the building that was located right over the terminal so all I had to do was get up to ground level and take an elevator. He was a member of his bank’s senior management so had a nice, plush, office with a big window that looked out over the city. He also had a very cute secretary who was wearing a very short skirt. He greeted me with a big smile and had me sit on a love seat as he sat back in a chair much similar to the one Lynda had occupied the night before. He asked if I’d like coffee or a soda and then called his secretary in. She took the order and Dan, almost laughing, told me to “keep my eyes in my head”.

To be continued…