MAKING PROGRESS… of sorts (Part 172aa)
It was a mish-mash of a
meal but everyone got fed. The big ‘winner’ was Elle's strawberry pie
with not a bit of it left over. The kids, all of them, ate sitting on
the lawn which they thought was funny but they enjoyed the
freedom of it. The adults kind of ‘tip toed’ around anything of
importance which was OK with one exception as I wondered where Mattie and
Junior’s father was since he was the one who had bought the house. I wanted to ask but
had a feeling that it wouldn’t go over well with everybody there. I
decided to put the question off until Junior and I were better
acquainted and it was just the two of us. We all decided that it was
cooling off and should start picking things up. Mattie headed over to
where the kids were and proceeded to start picking up the paper plates and cups
they’d been using. Short skirts have always drawn my attention and my
eyes had kept a close watch on her all evening but with little to show
for it… until then. The first time she bent over I remember wishing I
could get lower in my folding chair. My guess is that I was within an
inch of seeing what I longed to see… but didn’t. I remained seated
drawing a rebuke from Elle for not helping. Reluctantly, I started to
get up and when I did the pocket on my shorts hooked the arm rest of the
folding chair I was in causing me to lose my balance. I still had a
glass in my hand when I fell and as I did it flew out of my hand. It
headed in the direction of where the kids had been eating and I watched
it flying through the air hoping that it wouldn’t hit any of them. Then I
saw Mattie try to duck away from it… and trip over one of the kids. By
then I was up on my knees, almost in a crawling position… and looking
right at Mattie's pantie crotch. It was for probably no more than a few
seconds. But why it stands out in my mind so vividly is that it was the
widest crotch I’d ever seen. The panties were white and I thought they
were full briefs. As the two of us struggled to get up I think we were
both embarrassed. If Elle had seen it happen I know I would’ve heard
about it but nothing was said. The end result was a fervent desire to
find out about those panties. With the Summer just beginning I had a
good feeling about my chances.
Back at home Elle asked me to
follow up on getting the kids washed up and to bed as she was exhausted.
She headed straight for bed and it wasn’t even fully dark out. I was
concerned because her tiredness seemed to be getting worse day by day
but she insisted she would be fine in the morning. It was way too early
for me to go to sleep so I retreated to the den and my recliner to watch
TV. I’d just got settled when the phone rang. Not wanting it to disturb
Elle I rushed to pick it up and found “Big B” on the line. My first
question was to ask where he was thinking he had a problem. Once we got
past that he wanted to know what was going on with the cylinder
heads. I didn’t know just what he meant and innocently asked what he was
referring to. I listened to him describe what, at best, had been a bizarre
scene. The destination he was directed to go to was a loading dock for a
furniture company. The guy he met didn’t have the heads but gave him
directions to another place and was told to stay in his car until a guy
in a green Chevy Camaro drove into the parking lot. Then he was to get
out and open the trunk of his car and get back in. “B” said he waited
about 20 minutes before he saw the green car and then did what he had
been told to do. He went on that in just a few minutes he felt the back
of his car go down and heard something go ‘thud’ in the trunk followed
by another. Then the trunk lid was slammed shut. He said he tried to see
what the guy looked like but he was already getting in his car. “B”
said he took a look in his trunk and saw two cylinder heads wrapped in
plastic. There was nothing at that point for him to do except head for
home. While he was telling me this I was thinking back to the
conversation I’d overheard Robob having with his friend up in Buffalo
and how I’d questioned (to myself) why money hadn’t been discussed. Now,
this added to the mystery. “B” did say he’d delivered the heads to
Cliffy at his house and he’d looked them over and found nothing wrong
with them. He also said Cliffy knew nothing about the money arrangements
either. I told ”B” that I hoped if it turned out to be as “fishy” as it
sounded that he wouldn’t be implicated. All I heard before he hung up
was a “Me too!”. I returned to my recliner and never paid any
attention to the TV. Now I had another thing to be concerned about. It
was still bothering me when I finally went upstairs to bed.
At the bank on Monday I was
looking forward to a couple of easy days as far as lobby traffic was
concerned. The “busy period” started on Thursday and Bret, Trish and Lorie assured me they were prepared for the ‘crush’ of customers that
would come in just to get the interest on their accounts posted to their
passbooks. I’d not had a chance to do anything before Joanie told me that
one of the Trustees was on the phone for me. As soon as I heard the
sound of his voice I knew who it was… the Trustee who wanted the sign
painted. When he’d had the wood dropped off there was a note attached
that basically spelled out what he wanted on it. But, and the ‘but’ was
rearing it’s ugly head in the form of the phone call, there was no date for
completion on it. When I heard him say he needed it by Wednesday it was
like blow to the head with a 2x4. If I were a professional sign painter
it would take me about 3 hours to complete it. But, I only dabbled in it
and it took me a LONG time to crank out a finished product. I was so
upset I don’t know what I said to him (if anything) and sat there
wondering what I was going to do. Hobie, my immediate boss, walked by
and saw me just staring into space so stopped and asked what was on my
mind. I started to slough him off but after working with me for almost
four years he knew me well enough to almost order me to “spill it”.
Reluctantly, I gave him the details. Almost immediately he had the
solution… take the next day off as a sick day. I’d never taken a sick
day since I was hired and had over three weeks time accumulated. To that
suggestion he told me to take off early that afternoon. I have to admit
that as he walked away I was finally able to breath normally again.
I
let Trish and Bret know I was leaving early and wouldn’t be in the next
day just telling them it was a personal matter. I stayed until 3pm when
the doors closed to the public. I’d called Cliffy around noon time and
he said he was working on preparing the heads. The valve seats had to be
reground for the valves we were using and he also had to put the rocker
arm studs in as well. I told him I had a project due for work (which
was partially true) and told him if I wasn’t needed that night I’d be
there the following one. When he told me they had to get special head
gaskets and they wouldn’t be there until Wednesday I knew I was home
free. He added that he hoped we’d be able to start the motor on Thursday
and we’d go racing Saturday. It was good new… at last.
To be continued…
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