LIFE GOES ON... and on... (Part 171i)

LIFE GOES ON… and on… (Part 171i)

There is probably nothing more worrisome than knowing there’s going to be a meeting in which you’ll be called out on something under your responsibility. With the audit report in the hands of the president and chairman of the Board it was only a matter of time before I’d be contacted to meet with them. However, it didn’t happen before the weekend was upon us. In anticipation of it I met with Bret to go over both our lists of actions taken and/or not taken by Jerry, the branch manager. Because of my continued difficulty in overseeing Jerry I’d been instructed by Hobie to have Bret handle face to face meetings with him. I was, as the Operations officer, technically Jerry’s boss so whatever was in the report would come back on me. What made this so difficult for me to accept was that I’d not been allowed to reprimand Jerry for some of the things that he’d done or not done. In my mind he was incompetent and should never have been hired. I’d not been a part of the interviewing/hiring process and ended up being saddled with him. Bret and I’d talked many times about it and it was my contention that there were some external circumstances that we were not aware of that had led to his being hired and, in spite of his inability to follow rules and regulations, allowed to stay in the job. So, as you can probably imagine, my weekend was dominated by thoughts of what would happen when I was called in to discuss the audit.

Working on preparing the race car was definitely on my agenda and I looked forward to it if for no other reason than to get my mind off Jerry and the audit report. Cliffy had assigned the motor as my area of responsibility and I was a bit anxious about it. Joey was no longer with us so Cliffy had to assume the things he’d been responsible for. Secretly, I was hoping that with the motor being ‘fresh’ there wouldn’t many problems and all I’d have to do was just change the oil and oil filter, make sure there were no leaks and that all the nuts and bolts on it were tight. By the time we all left the shop everything had been checked over and we were ready for the track. However, money was still a problem. The next two Saturdays were designated for practice. The tires on the car were from the championship race back in October and were not compatible for the size track we regularly raced on. We still had the tires we’d finished up the season with but they were worn out. I still hadn’t gotten the money from Cliff, the guy who drove my first race car, who wanted us to hand out coupons for his restaurant. Cliffy wasn’t too happy about it but, regardless, he didn’t want to go to both sessions. That was OK by me as well. With Spring now truly upon us there was a lot of work to be done around the house.

It was on Monday the following week when Joanie told me Elle was on the phone. Truthfully, I wasn’t all that stressed about the potential pregnancy but Elle was. So, in spite of my having fairly strict orders not to call me at work she was on the line. I was initially annoyed until she spoke and said she definitely was pregnant. She’d gotten a call from the doctor’s office to tell her but the doctor was concerned that the blood tests showed she was anemic. That explained why she was always tired. She’d always been marginally anemic but that was because she had long and heavy periods. The loss of blood was the cause but now, with her being pregnant, it was potentially a real problem so she was going to have to have more tests and go on an iron rich diet. I didn’t know what that meant but I knew I’d soon find out. What she was most upset about was there was a possibility she’d need a blood transfusion and I knew she was petrified of having someone else blood in her. I tried to calm her as best I could and told her I definitely wouldn’t be late for supper. One positive thing from the news was that it took my mind off the pending meeting about the Federal and State examination. I’m not sure when it came to mind but I was bound and determined to leave the bank around 4pm. I made myself visibly scarce from right after the doors closed until that time. I told Bret I had a “situation” at home and needed to leave early.

I’d hoped to work with Mae in the cellar that afternoon as we were within ’striking distance’ of having one area completely vacant and ready to install shelves. As I’d mentioned, Moira (up in the accounting department) was completely out of space. The daily paperwork from the data center was voluminous and had reached the point of being unusable because each day’s print outs were just being stacked on the previous day’s work. But, as I explained to Mae I really needed to be home. The extra money she was making when we did work in the cellar was not really enough to make a difference but it did provide her with some extra cash for herself. When I told her she seemed to understand.

Elle and I’d decided not to say anything about the potential pregnancy until there was confirmation on it so, aside from the health situation, our conversation after the kids were in bed was on who to tell first and when to tell them. Based upon the older girls reaction to having Cliffy’s son for a little more than a week back in February I thought they’d be excited. I was more concerned about Kaye because she was the one who demanded, and got, most of Elle’s attention. The projected birthdate was mid October and she’d be in school a half day so I thought that might help that situation. Telling our parents was going to be another thing altogether. We felt Elle’s mother would be excited because she loved kids. I wasn’t sure how my mother would take it but I knew my father would love it having another chance at keeping the family name alive if we had a boy. However, in the back of my mind was Ginger and Jon with five girls. With Elle now approaching three months it wouldn’t be long before she’d start to show. We ended up deciding to invite both sets of parents for dinner on Saturday evening to tell them. As for the kids we decided to have a ‘family meeting’ just before the parents were to arrive… and crossed our fingers.

The much dreaded meeting on the audit report took place the next morning. It was bittersweet in that I was glad to get it over with but yet I was apprehensive as to what the result of it might be. I didn’t know who would be there other than Bert (the president) and Hobie. We met in the Board room and when I walked in I fully expected to see the whole audit committee there. It was only Bert and Hobie. I remember taking a few deep breaths before entering the room. Bert did the talking and he seemed to be as calm as usual as he started. I’m sure he had a plan because the first words out of his mouth was to tell me that the operations area for the main office had gotten “high marks”. He spent a few minutes reading some specifics from the actual report. Then, the look on his face changed and so did the tone of his voice.

To be continued…