MAKING PROGRESS… of sorts (Part 172n)
There was obvious
improvement in Elle’s energy level since I last saw her. She was eager
to tell about the two women who’d just left and about the rest of the
weekend. In describing her interaction with the women she had a complete
change of heart about Mattie going back to when she’d last seen her. At
that time a tree had fallen on the house and her father had dispatched
her to go look at it. She was mad at him for doing it and she had a
‘chip on her shoulder’ when she'd been there at the time. Martha,
Mattie’s sister-in-law was, in Elle’s words, “a delight” and upon
hearing Elle played tennis was excited about that, even though Elle was
pregnant. She told Elle that she’d played right up to the sixth month of
her pregnancy. That led me to ask about her children. That made Elle
light up even more because she had one daughter who was 6 years old and
it would, finally, give Kaye someone her age to play with, even if it
were only for the Summer. I had to ask about the husband and Elle
couldn’t tell me much except to say he’d only be there on weekends. I
deliberately avoided asking about Mattie’s parents. I’d met her father
at the bank when he showed up for the closing on the house and my ‘take’
on him had been that he was an unfriendly sort. I figured I’d let that
evolve over time.
I’d called Elle a couple of times while I was
away and she had told me she was doing OK. That was proven to be true by
just watching her describe the new neighbors. I ended up asking if
there had been any calls for me and she popped up from her seat and ran
into the kitchen. She returned with a note and handed it to me saying
she didn’t understand any of it. That was obvious because I couldn’t
understand much of what she’d written. It was from Cliffy with an update
on the collection of parts to put the new motor together. I was able to
decipher some to see that they did have the engine block, piston rods
and pistons. I wasn’t sure what the last part of the note was about but
figured I’d call Cliffy after we ate. (In preparing to write this I saw
that I’d made a note in my Day Timer that this was the first time I’d
thought about the race car since leaving for the reunion and wondered
why…
With these two things out of the way I proceeded to tell
Elle about my weekend. I honestly think she took pleasure in hearing me
describe the adverse sleeping conditions. Because we’d dated and been
married while I attended college she remembered most of the guys and
knew “Panda” and “Wick” fairly well so she got a kick out of hearing
what went on. When she asked if it had been worth the effort I was
tempted to tell her about “Wick’s” ‘pitch’ to have me buy one of his
franchises but decided against it. Even though I was creating the
‘pluses and minuses’ in my head as I completed my drive home I’d come to
the conclusion that I really liked where I was in my life and wasn’t
ready to disrupt what was working well for the two of us.
The
kids appeared out of the basement and we had a kiss and hug session for a
few minutes before I asked what was for dinner. That’s when things
turned around. Elle, very casually, said we were going to her parents to
eat. I had nothing against either of them and got along quite well with
both. It was when she added that her “aunt and uncle” were there and
wanted to see the kids that I got upset. I know I’ve written how my
mother would do this to us… call us up to bring the kids so she could
show them off. I hated that! Now, it was Elle’s mother who was doing the
same thing. I’d not had much restful sleep for two nights and about the
last thing I wanted to do was to go entertain a couple of people that I
really didn’t know. What made it worse was that they really weren’t
related to Elle at all. When Elle’s mother came over from Germany she
came by boat. She was 18 years old and scared to death. On the ship she
made friends with another German girl and they stayed together for a
period of time before each got married. They lost track of each other
during WWII but somehow had reconnected right after it. Elle and her
brother were introduced to them as their aunt and uncle. Since the
couple had no children they assumed the aunt and uncle roles for Elle
and her brother… and Elle kind of liked it since she didn’t have real
ones. I remember taking a few deep breaths and biting my tongue before
we left. Also, before leaving I called Cliffy. Since they had located a
crankshaft they could start assembling the motor and were going to meet
the next night. However, he told me I needed to come up with the money
I’d promised. The question was… how much?
It was a long four
hours or so. I had nothing in common with the people and sat there just
thinking about the new motor and trying to stay awake. On the way home
Elle was ‘on my case’ about not being friendly but I was too tired to
reason with her. In bed I thought back to my chance meeting with “Nels”
(the lingerie buyer for J C Penney) and how disappointed I was to not
have been able to talk, one on one, with him. I had serious doubts about
ever catching up with him on one of his trips to the East but decided
to take an aggressive approach. I planned to make a note in my Day Timer
to call him in about a week when I got up in the morning.
Even though I’d only missed a couple of hours of work on Friday it
seemed like I’d been gone a whole week. There wasn’t much going on
because it was only three weeks until the next ‘busy period started.
About 10am I looked up and saw Lynda approaching my desk. I’d called to
ask her to cut me a check for $500 and told her I’d pick it up around
noon. I’d made the decision to use some of the profits from the sale of
the stock I had the big profit in to put towards the race car. She was
about the last person I expected to see. I saw a small manila envelope
in her hand and without saying a word she slipped in onto my desk and,
with a smile on her face, turned and walked away. I knew immediately
what was in it… the check for $500. It wasn’t an easy decision but I
really wanted to continue racing… and the idea of changing engine
manufacturers was truly exciting. I’d seen what a difference changing
from Ford power to Chevrolet had made for C J at the track and had
convinced myself it would help us as well.
On the way
home that afternoon I stopped at the restaurant run by Cliff who had
driven my first race car. He’d indicated he’d provide us with $500 in
sponsorship money and he’d only given us $300. Our deal was that we’d
give out coupons for the restaurant after the races but we’d only been
in one before blowing the motor up. I figured if I didn’t ask I wouldn’t
get it but expected to get some resistance. It wasn’t that way at all..
He seemed truly glad to see me and said that he’d had a good result
following our win. In fact he took me out to the vestibule just inside
the front door and pointed to a picture of the Cliffy with the car and
checkered flag. I hadn’t even gotten one for myself. I stayed for a few
minutes but left with two $100 bills in hand. I was really upbeat when I
drove out of the parking lot and couldn’t wait to get to the garage
that night.(110)
To be continued…
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