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

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

If it had been just Junior who was there I would’ve been happy… happy in that he could give me a hand in moving the stuff from the shed into the garage especially a couple of large pieces. But, with the two of them there I knew they must be looking for something from me. It turned out that Junior, after I suggested getting swimming lessons, spoke to his sister and they decided to follow up on it. The only person I knew who was a certified swimming instructor had been the boys athletic director and coach of the three competitive sports offered at the high school. I used the past tense because, if you’ve been reading this for a LONG time you might remember that after Elle and I’d moved to our house we’d gotten involved with the movement started by Pat (the PTA lady) to get younger people on the school board who would take some progressive action on the curriculum. After a couple of years the movement was successful and a new Principal had been brought in. (He and his family had rented the house that Junior’s father had bought until their new home was completed.) One of the first things that happened under the new regime was to make changes in the athletic department. The old athletic director was allowed to stay on as the soccer coach and physical fitness instructor. The loss of income from coaching both basketball and baseball had caused him to look for additional income from another source and that source was swimming. Elle, having attended the school from kindergarten to graduation knew Coach Bob fairly well so I took both Mattie and Junior to speak to Elle. The result was Elle was to arrange a meeting with the man the next day, if possible.

Mattie stayed in the house with Elle while Junior and I went back outside. I took advantage of the opportunity to ask if he could give me a hand moving some of the large, bulky things stored in the shed attached to my garage. I knew I put him on the spot and would’ve understood if he said “No”. He stuck his head in and took a look at what I was talking about, shrugged his shoulders and told me “Let’s get to work”. I’ve written about how on my landfill visits I would scrounge around and would sometimes come up with a useful item or two. One of them was an old enamel coated metal kitchen table. I wanted it because the garage itself didn’t have enough room for a workbench and I thought I could use the table. The problem was it was a tight fit in the place I wanted to put it. When trying to fit it in place I found the only way I could get it where I wanted it was to cut the legs off one end (It’s too hard to explain!) and use bricks to replace the legs. Now, to get it back out definitely called for two people and even with that, it still wasn’t easy. The temperature had fallen to the low 80’s and even at that the two of us worked up a sweat. Removing the table exposed another ‘treasure’ that I’d scarfed up from the landfill… an old wooden file cabinet that I’d forgotten about (out of sight… out of mind). I was certainly glad to have Junior’s help in moving it out as they used real, solid wood when it was built and was very heavy. With his help it took less than a half hour to completely empty the shed space. Junior then suggested it was time go check on the progress of the astronauts.

The next part of the project would be to remove the wood that had rotted that I’d laid down as stringers to hold up the floor. There was no way I was going to start that at that time. Pressure treated wood wasn’t readily available in those days and I’d used regular 2x4’s, laying them right on the ground… and some had rotted. To be truthful, I wasn’t looking forward to tackling it… at all.

Returning to the den where Elle and Mattie were watching the TV I heard the TV commentator projecting a possible moon walk for around 9pm. Mattie was sitting on a little low footstool and, as had become her custom, was wearing a short dress. When we walked in she had been facing the TV and, hearing our voices, spun around to face us. It was sort of reminiscent of what Linda would do on her secretarial chair as she propelled herself from place to place spreading her knees. The difference being that I was almost positive that Linda was doing it on purpose and for my benefit. With Junior standing beside me I took it as an unthinking action… but took advantage of it. It was only for a very few seconds and, because it was turning to dusk outside, the shadows of her thighs made it impossible to know the color of her panties. Once she was fully facing us she closed her knees back up and the ‘peek’ disappeared. We chatted but for a minute or so and after Elle confirmed that she’d contact Coach Bob and let Mattie know about the possibility of swimming lessons Junior turned to leave. Mattie made an attempt to get up but the footstool was only six or seven inches above the floor and she struggled to make it to a standing position. Seeing her struggle I reached a hand down to her to pull her up. I know I had her hand when she started to rise but the next thing I knew she was seated on the floor with both knees wide apart. This time I was able to confirm she was wearing a pair of pale pink panties. However, she immediately rolled onto her side and as she did the hem of her dress conveniently blocked my view. She went to her hands and knees and proceeded to stand without help. I’m not sure who was more embarrassed. At the door Junior said he’d be returning to the city first thing in the morning and told me he’d be taking his vacation the first week in August. As he stepped off the stoop he said he really wanted to take me up on the offer to take he and his son to the races. I’d forgotten completely about it and immediately made a note to attach to our calendar. As I did I tried to figure out how I was going to do it.

I rounded up the kids and joined Elle in front of the TV to await the moon walk. None o'clock came and went and then it became ten. The kids had fallen asleep and I was all for getting them upstairs to bed but Elle wouldn't have it saying this was a once in a lifetime happening and wanted them to see it I argued that they could see replays the next day but Elle held fast. I have in my notes that it was almost 11pm when the astronauts actually descended and touched the moon surface. We'd woken the kids up a little before hand but, to this day, I'm sure they were more asleep than awake when it happened. It was approaching midnight when we turned the TV off and I carried Kaye up the stairs. Elle was still excited, way more than me, as I turned out the light by the bed.  Even though I'd just witnessed history I couldn't get that excited about it.

NOTE: The period of time I've been writing about for the past ten days or so was exactly fifty years ago. It doesn't seem possible!

To be continued...