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

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

The first thing I noticed upon my arrival was the piece of cardboard that I’d placed the rod bearings on the night before was now sitting on the hood of the car. That told me that Cliffy's father had talked with him. Dick and Alan were ’stringing’ the car to make sure all the measurements were right while Cliffy was in the car working on the wiring for the tachometer. Robob and Buster weren’t there. My job was to make sure all the visable nuts and bolts on the motor were tight. The most vulnerable were the nuts that held the valve covers on. The gasket between the cover and the cast iron head was cork and was always a problem. The worst thing about it was the oil would weep out and get all over everything. Alan had come up with a clamp to help spread the pressure over a broader surface and some of the other racers had seen it and were after him to make them a set. So, once I finished my job I switched places with Alan so he could start in on making them. There was hardly any ‘chatter’ between the four of us. I was curious to find out if Cliffy’s father had spoken to him about the bearings but didn’t say a word. Dick, when finished the ’stringing’ with me, asked if there was anything more that needed to be done. I heard Cliffy, still inside the car and still quiet, say to him “See you Saturday”. I was standing right next to Dick and when he headed out the door I followed him. There was still a bit of daylight and as we walked to our cars we saw Leigh, Davo’s girlfriend, staggering towards us. From previous posts you know that she was a ’two beer drunk’. But, there she was and no Davo in sight. Dick asked her where he was and she just put her hands up in the air indicating she didn’t know. Then he asked how she’d gotten to the garage and she told us she’d walked. I knew that both of them ate at the Traveller’s Rest on a regular basis so asked if that’s where she’d been and got an affirmative nod from her. Dick asked her some more questions and it was like pulling teeth to get her to answer. Finally, he asked if she needed a ride home. Because the garage was closed for business the lights for the gas pumps were out. But, all of a sudden they flashed on and we heard Cliffy call out to us wanting to know what was going on. My eyes had become accustomed to the dark but now I was almost blinded. It didn’t take long for them to adjust and when I looked at Leigh, who was now standing with her back to me, I could see the back of her shorts were wet and also showed dirt on them indicating that she’d fallen.

Cliffy came out to join us and was able to get Leigh to tell us Dave had gotten mad at her and left her at the restaurant. It would’ve taken me no more than ten minutes to walk there but in the shape Leigh was in there was no telling how long it had taken her. Cliffy, because of his friendship with Davo, was ‘closer’ to Leigh than either Dick or I, asked what she wanted to do. She and Davo were living together and their place was about eight miles to the West. She was standing but sort of wobbling and none of us made and effort to help her. She was clearly confused as to what she should do. Cliffy finally told her he’d drive her home but wanted to call Davo first. I don’t know why but we all walked back into the garage. I was last in line with Cliffy holding on to Leigh’s arm to steady her. The lights were on inside the garage and once there I could clearly see that the back of Leigh's shorts were wet all the way to her waist. That told me she wet while sitting. Cliffy dialed up Davo and while waiting asked Leigh why Davo had gone off and left her. She didn’t answer but I had a theory… that she’d peed herself at the restaurant and embarrassed him. Cliffy waited for a few minutes before hanging the phone up and then dialed another number. I picked up on it and confirmed that he was talking with Beth, his wife. When he hung up he told Leigh that he’d take her to his house when he finished up in the garage. He led her over to a stool at the work bench but before she sat down she said she needed to go to the bathroom. As I’ve written any number of times before, because someone had stolen money from the office where the bathroom was located, the office remained locked unless Cliffy’s father was there. Cliffy just shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards the door. Dick, by then had started towards his car and, as much as I would’ve liked to have hung around to see just what she did, didn’t.

Morris, the consultant who’d been hired by the bank to advise them on the proposed new branch, finally returned my call on Thursday. I knew I was ‘pushing it’ by calling him because, even though I was a member of the branch committee it was only as an ad-hoc member with no standing. However, Morris and I’d worked together before he was hired as an advisor and we got along well. He understood the frustration I had from being overlooked by the Trustees and was willing to keep me up to date on what was happening. He did have one ‘juicy’ bit of information for me concerning the status of the application. He had a contact working in the State banking department and had been told our application had been cleared to be submitted to the full banking Board. He told me it should have no problems but he didn’t know if it would be in the August or September meeting. To me, that was great news  because I could start planning for it. I had my personal files of what I had to do for the first branch so I’d have something to offer to the branch committee when the approval came through. It made my day.

To be truthful, I was more than a little apprehensive about going to the open house that Lynda had invited me to on Friday afternoon. I felt I’d be out of place since the only persons I’d know would be Lynda and Neil, the guy who helped us with the new motor for the race car. I worked out floor coverage at the bank between Trish and Bret so that part was easy. It would take a little over a half hour to get to the dealership so I left the bank around 3:30pm. The main portion of the affair was to start around 4:30pm. If I timed it right I’d get there just before that part started and I’d avoid having to mingle with people I didn’t know. I also didn’t know just how much time I’d be able to spend with Lynda since she was, technically, a part of the dealership and probably very involved.

There was no doubt it was a major step that Lynda’s father-in-law was taking by adding another brand of car. (Back in those days it wasn’t that common to find more than one brand of car being sold at a dealership.) There were just so many cars there when I arrived that I had to park on the side of the road about 1/4 mile away. When I got onto the car lot I didn’t have to go looking for Lynda. She, more or less, ‘attacked’ me when she walked up from behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and saw a very pretty woman with a huge smile on her face. She didn’t have to say “thank you” out loud to let me know she appreciated me showing up. As I’d anticipated, she had responsibilities and flitted off and I wondered if I’d catch up with her again.

To be continued…