"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…