MAKING PROGRESS… of sorts (Part 172f)
Elle was still not
herself in the morning but insisted that she was OK. However, she asked
that I make breakfast for the kids and make sure the two older ones made
it onto the school bus. I had a busy day ahead of me at the bank as Hobie
was taking the day off and I had to be the acting secretary for the mortgage
committee meeting that afternoon. Before leaving I asked again if there was
anything wrong and she told me to be on my way. At work, I was just opening my
Day Timer for the day when the phone rang. It was Lynda and I could tell she was
upset. She wanted to know why I didn’t come on into her house the
previous afternoon and meet her mother. It was not what I wanted or
needed to start my day. I’d wanted to thank her for connecting me up with
Neil and now I was defending myself. It took a little explaining but I
finally got my point across that I just didn’t feel it would have been
appropriate. I was able to get my “thanks” in and I ended up making her a
promise that once the parts for the new motor started arriving at the
dealership I’d stop in. By the time I was off the phone the doors were
open and I had customers waiting for me.
I called Elle around
noon time but got no answer. I was concerned but not worried. Between planning for
marching in the Memorial Day parade with her 4H group and Jean’s
birthday I knew she had her hands full. Because Hobie had been around
for the past few months to handle the secretary’s duties I was a little
nervous when I walked in to the meeting. I knew Polack Joe would be there so was
prepared for possible ‘jibes’ from him but I was not prepared for the
lawyer/Trustee from the area where the branch was located. I’d been
pleased with the branch performance since the move had been made to put
Betsy and Mae together and to reduce Jerry’s role. Between Bret and I
we’d made contact with one or the other of them on a daily basis. Jerry
had been pretty much adhering to the limitations that had been placed on
him so when I was ‘attacked’ by this Trustee I was totally unprepared.
Somehow Jerry had ‘caught his ear’ and had complained about being
nothing more than a glorified new accounts clerk. I had no idea how that
whole matter had been handled by senior management with the Trustees so I really had
nothing to say to him. I’d worked well with the man on the planned new branch
matters so I looked pretty dumb by not answering his questions. Of
course, other Trustees heard his questions and added some of their own.
Truthfully, I was trying to protect Hobie by not speaking to them. By
the time Bert and J J walked in I was wringing wet with perspiration.
After the meeting ended I headed for home not wanting to be accosted by
any more of the Trustees. Plus, I was concerned about Elle.
I’d
been right about where Elle had been when I called. Never one to wait
until the last minute for just about anything, she’d been shopping for
Jean’s party and lining up some mothers to walk in the parade with her.
There was one thing that was lingering in the back of my mind and that
was the magician that she told me she’d hired as entertainment. I’d not
questioned her when she first mentioned it but with the birthday just a
day and a half away I wanted to know what was entailed to make it work. I
wasn’t happy when she couldn’t give me much in the way of details other
than it was going to cost $100 and would be arriving from the city on
the noon train. Not a lot to go on but I couldn’t say much as we’d both
agreed that we wanted something special for the party.
I was a
little nervous on my way to the garage that night. Other than to tell
the others of my meeting with Neil and the handshake promise of $1,000
there wasn’t much I could tell them. When I’d told Cliffy about the
‘deal’ he’d been less than enthusiastic about it and, with the need for
more money from the others, I wasn’t sure what their reaction would be. I
got there early and, as I expected, Cliffy was waiting for me. It was
obvious he’d done some research on the 427 ci Chevy engine because his
greeting to me was something along the lines of “This isn’t going to be
easy.” He’d talked with “Seeg”, C J’s father to find out what they’d
done when they switched from Ford to Chevy and it was a clear example of
what you can get when you have money. There was a place in New Jersey
that did nothing but build racing motors… and they went there. I asked
Cliffy if’d asked how much it cost and Cliffy just rolled his eyes. We
waited for the others to get there and then I told them what I’d told
Cliffy about how much money (credit) we’d get and combined with the
money we already had we’d still need about $500 more. Dick just looked
down at the floor while Alan shook his head. Not liking what I was
seeing I spoke up to say if they couldn’t come up with the money I
thought it was time to put the car up for sale.
That got an
immediate reaction. I knew Cliffy wanted to race more than anything else
and I also knew that he and Dick were in ‘lock step’ with each other. I
saw them look at each other and heard Dick say, hesitatingly, that he
had a piece of farm equipment he thought he could sell. Cliffy followed
suit saying he could probably borrow some money from his father-in-law.
That left Alan and Buster. I knew Buster wouldn’t offer anything as he
still owed money from before the season started. I waited to see if Alan
would speak up before offering anything myself. It was Cliffy that
‘pushed the button’ when he asked him if he was going to do anything
with the intake manifold for his car. As I’ve mentioned, Alan and I
would sometimes race on the way home from the garage after we finished
working on the car. It galled him that I, with a little 327 ci Chevy
engine, could beat him and his Ford with a 389 ci engine. The reason was
because Alan’s car had but a two barrel carburetor and I had a four
barrel. Alan had traded something with a guy he worked with to get a
four barrel intake manifold that fit his motor but didn’t have the money
for a four barrel carburetor. Cliffy told him he could get between $50
and $60 for it. I was looking at Alan when Cliffy told him and I could
see his ‘pain’, but he nodded in agreement. Cliffy got a pencil and
started tallying up what each was able to put up. Cliffy was the first
to come up with an amount… $150. I followed with the same and we both
looked at Dick. He hesitated but when Cliffy started to say something to
him I remember him putting up his hand and agreeing to the same amount.
With Alan’s $50 we had the $500. But, when I’d been speaking with Neil I
was guessing about the amount of cash we still had left from our
opening night winnings. So, I asked Cliffy. He said he didn’t know but
it was somewhere around $450 which was less than I’d figured. With the
$200 that Cliff from the restaurant had promised but still hadn’t given
us we were still about $100 short. I didn’t say anything but made the
decision in my mind to cover it. I wanted to go racing!
To be continued...
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