INTO SUMMER... a busy time (Part 173m)

INTO SUMMER… busy time (Part 173m)

As I mentioned, with our pit stall right by the entrance gate just about everybody entering saw we were running fuel injection. There were quite a few interested enough to come over to take a look. There were only a few (maybe three as I remember) who were or had tried to run the system so those who came over had a lot of questions… which we, as neophytes, had few answers. One who’d tried it was PeeWee who was pitted next to us. He was a  very quiet man who seldom had much to say. I was standing with Alan when he walked up and, in almost a whisper, told us we wouldn’t be running it for long. Alan asked why and all PeeWee did was smile, raise his eyebrows and walked back to his car. It was sort of strange.

There were over 30 cars who had signed in. Summertime would always bring out a lot of cars. With 15 or more in our qualifying heat and only six positions to qualify it was tough to be starting in the rear. But, with this as our third time back we had moved up some and started 10th. There were a couple of spin-outs which put some of the cars starting in front of us behind us and we ended up qualifying. Qualifying through a heat race meant we couldn’t start any further back than 18th so when Cliffy came back to our pit the question was what did he want to do in the feature race… drop to the rear and try to stay out of trouble or make a real attempt. It was obvious to all of us that Cliffy was impressed with the new found power from the fuel injectors as he said he wanted to “test” some of the other cars. I had mixed emotions about that. I knew if we held back that we’d be guaranteed to start in the front the next week.

As it turned out we got placed 15th for the start. On a 1/5th of a mile track that’s still quite a way to get to the front. I held my breath for the first few laps until the field started to spread out a bit. I don’t know how far he’d moved up before the first wreck. Starting in the middle of the pack usually meant being caught up in someone elses mistake and we were. We had to get towed into the infield with a blown tire, bent rim and broken steering arm. Once the car and Cliffy were back in the pits and we could look at the damage. What should’ve been disappointment for Cliffy wasn’t. I heard him tell Dick that he couldn’t wait until the following week… that he was impressed with the change the fuel injector system made. Before we left for the night C J and his father, ’Seeg’, made their way over. C J had started the race back where Cliffy had been and I remember him telling Cliffy that he was impressed and would be keeping “an eye on” him as he’d thought about changing over as well. My thought in hearing it was very simple… it must be nice to have money.

Back at home I wanted to see how Elle had done with the' experimental panties. As soon as I turned on the dining room light I gasped. My first thought was that Elle had been right and I’d made the crotch too big. I held them up and tried to imagine what they would look like with leg elastics. Walking up the stairs I knew one of the first places I’d be going during my lunch hour on Monday… next door to the W T Grant store and the notions department. Lying in bed I started thinking about Elle and possibly racing at the sailing club later on. Because of her health problems and my involvement trying to care for her neither of us had been sailing at all. She’d indicated she really wanted to give it a try. The girls had been to their sailing lessons for two weeks so it wasn’t that the boats were unused but racing was totally different and I knew I had to check the sails and equipment before we could attempt it. As I drifted off to sleep I had a ‘feeling’ that I wasn’t going to like what I’d find.

The ‘other Elle’ was at the 8am service and we chatted for a bit. Making conversation, she asked what I had planned for the rest of the day. When I told her about sailing she showed an immediate interest. With nothing much to add I told her she should make a trip to the sailing club and take a look. I knew she was here from North Carolina to look after her mother and didn’t expect her to ask how to get there. Once that was done I headed home wondering what I was going to say or do if she showed up. Elle was still in her robe when I walked in so thought it was a good time for her to at least pull the newly created panties on to see just how badly I’d misjudged the crotch. When she stepped into them (with a pair of her ‘dribble panties’ on) I was actually pleased. From front to back and through the crotch they were perfect. If anything, the width of the crotch at the narrowest point could’ve been a little narrower but, with leg elastics added, they might be OK. Now I really couldn’t wait until I got the elastic.

It was while eating breakfast that it came to me that I hadn’t seen anything of the neighbor children. On the weekends they would usually appear around 10am looking for our girls. Even though I hadn’t been home the previous afternoon I’d been in and out of the yard all morning and hadn’t seen them. I asked Elle and she just shrugged. Trying to elicit some kind of a response I asked if she and Martha had spoken about tennis. They had gone up to the high school to just hit some balls right before the miscarriage and I thought with Elle feeling stronger and with her love of tennis that she’d be making an attempt at it by now. But, again, all I got was a shrug as an answer. Frustrated, I asked if there was a problem. She made a face and said that Geemaw, Matties mother, had yelled at our Kaye.

Hearing that I wanted to know more. It was like pulling teeth to get her to explain. The details are not important other than to say that Kaye and Martha’s daughter were playing inside their house and somehow upset the old lady. Kaye was sent home and Martha’s daughter was told she wouldn’t be allowed to play with Kaye anymore. Women tackle problems like this differently than men. The end result was me telling Elle to get in touch with Mattie and Martha and to have a meeting with them as soon as possible. I told her leaving the situation as it was was unfair to everyone, especially the kids… and then headed to get the sailing things together. When she hesitated I told her to fix it or I would. That threat was a risk on my part but my philosophy was when you know what the problem is you go ahead and fix it. We still had six plus weeks of Summer left and I didn’t want it ruined over something stupid.

By the time I got all the beach and sailing gear loaded in the station wagon I saw the three women gathered at the hedge opening between the two properties. I kept myself busy to give them time to work out a solution. I took a couple of glances their way and noticed Martha seemed a bit nervous with her motions. It didn’t really matter who was at fault. I wanted the kids to be able to play freely. Then I saw Junior appear though the opening. He saw me and headed my way. I remember, vividly, him saying “This is just plain stupid!”. I agreed with him and asked what we could do to fix it. His answer was classic… “get rid of my mother!”.

To be continued…