DEALING WITH THE HEAT... & more (Part 174i)

DEALING WITH THE HEAT… & more (Part 174i)

Under normal circumstances I would’ve checked out the panties at my first opportunity… which was at the bottom of the driveway. But, out of habit I looked to my right to see if any cars were headed in my direction. I didn’t see any but I did see a tree had fallen in the cow pasture right across the road and it was laying on the wire fence which was used to keep the cows contained. Dick, (from the race car) and his brother owned the property but leased the cow pasture to the dairy which also occupied space on their property. To me it looked as if any cows wanted ‘out’ they would have a clear passage. So, instead of turning left I turned right and headed for Dick’s house. With him being a farmer I knew he’d be out in the fields somewhere. I figured I’d go up to the kitchen door and let Ra, his wife know. I know in past posts I’ve described the house and the unique living arrangements they shared with the previous owner. It was a victorian style house built around 1900 with a covered porch that ran three quarters of the way around it. The porch was very convenient in any number of ways and one of them was to use it to hang wash out to dry without much worry about the elements getting to them. The steps up to the kitchen door were showing their age which made me concentrate on where and how I stepped so I was looking down as I made my way up. Almost to the top I heard a bit of a squeal and I looked in that direction. It was Ra and she was hiding behind some of the wash. Ra was a tall woman, very thin with a huge mouth. Not pretty at all but truly a nice person she, as politely as she could, asked what I wanted. I didn’t know her all that well but I could tell she was really nervous. I told her a tree had taken down the fence in their South pasture and it needed to be looked at immediately. Still partially hidden, she started for the kitchen door. It was with her first movements that I realized she was in either a shortie nightgown or a large T-shirt. She kept heading for the door and as she did I heard her say “Thanks” and then waited to see her enter the house. Even somewhat unattractive women in panties could get my attention… and she did. I was able to see that she was wearing a pair of light yellow bikinis. There was no reason for me to stay so I turned to head down the steps. As I did I realized I had a slight bulge in my pants.

With that sight fresh on my mind I decided to inspect the panties from Martha and Maddie’s clothes line when I got to the end of the driveway. They were obviously well worn with the elastics pretty much ‘gone’. The disappointment came with the label… it was totally washed out. The waist elastic, which was sometimes a good indicator as to the maker, was a common type so I had no idea at all. At least I knew by the relative size they belonged to Martha. Looking at the stains in the crotch area also confirmed their age. 

The first village I came to while headed to work gave me hope that power would be on at the bank when I got there. The stop light in the middle of town was working although only in the blinking mode. Driving down Main Street towards the bank I could see the time and temperature sign was lit but with the wrong time and the temperature showing 00. It would have to be completely reset and that was a royal pain to do. I pretty much knew the outside temperature was still in the 70’s but as soon as I walked inside it was like opening the door to a furnace. Mike, the messenger/custodian , confirmed that the air conditioner was running but past experiences told me it would take almost the whole day for anyone to really feel it. I made a ‘command decision’ and told Mike to open both the front and back doors at 9am with the idea that 70 something degree temperature would certainly beat the 80 something that was inside. Plus, it would get fresh air circulating a lot quicker. It was a very popular decision with the employees on the first floor.

The first ‘fall-out’ came from J J who worked on the second floor. All the windows in the bank had been sealed shut when the building was remodeled about six years before. Neither J J or I had been with the bank when that took place so I couldn’t give him a reason why. He wanted to get some fresh air to “his people” and “right away” and if he couldn’t he was going to “make some noise”. To me, it was typical J J… all bluster to impress the employees under him. I just walked away and watched him head up the stairs. It wasn’t but fifteen minutes later when I got a call from Moira who worked in Accounting. I could hear her ’snickering’ as she told me J J was trying to get his people to go to Bert, the president, and demand that the doors on the first floor be closed because if the second floor was going to “suffer” then the first should as well. I just sat there and shook my head. The doors were closed in a matter of minutes of Moira’s call not because of his demand but because the temperature outside was rising. All I could think of was how big a jerk J J could be. When I told Bret about it he, like me, stood and shook his head not believing what I’d told him. I told him that I blamed it on the heat… it had gotten to his mind.

It was the third Wednesday, Board meeting day. I had nothing going in for discussion as there was nothing new on the proposed branch. The only negative was that it meant “Polack Joe” would be there. He usually came with some ‘off the wall’ proposal or another. I just hoped it wouldn’t have anything to do with my part of the bank operation. “Gee”, the Trustee/attorney, would usually stop by my desk on his way to the meeting if he could. I was thankful that he liked me as he was a ‘buffer’ between me and “Polack Joe”. On this day, when he stopped, I decided to take advantage of his friendship and asked him what kind of proof I’d need to prove that the savings accounts Liz had uncovered were indeed meant for me and my brother. My father was taking care of getting the death certificates but there was the question about the name on them and the fact that my grandmother hadn’t changed her name on the accounts to her married name. When I told “Gee” about it, he laughed. My puzzled look prompted him to tell me that one of the retired Trustees was related to her and that he (“Gee”) would draft some sort of document to have him attest she was one and the same person. As he walked away I let out a sigh of relief as he said he’d do it as soon as he got back to his office. Two thousand dollars was a tremendous amount in 1969. I was on the phone to Stan, my stock broker, within minutes and told him to re-activate the order to buy on the National Car Rental stock offering when it was released. I’d been unsure when I’d originally given him the order but felt really confident now. He told me it would probably be on the first of the following week and should price at $12 a share. A quick calculation told me I’d still have $1,000 left… and I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do with it. It was a nice feeling to have!

To be continued…