Chapter 15

In the morning, we woke and went down for breakfast. Few were there. We were joined by Elaine and Bert. Bert was wearing a coat and tie while Elaine was dressed casually as were Belinda and I. Belinda looked at Bert. “Are the meetings formal attire?”

“Not officially. However, it helps to maintain an aura of business in them. I dress for work. I consider this work though not necessarily as enjoyable as calling upon customers. There will be some helpful information disseminated and plenty of handouts. I find the meetings are usually worth my time. The evening events are just excuses to eat and drink. There will be lots of booze then.”

Belinda smiled. “We noticed last night.” She smiled. “I’ll go up and change. I had planned to wear pants suits for the day meetings. I frequently wear dresses and skirts when making calls but the attitudes are different at home. I’m glad I took my boss’s suggestions regarding clothing. He tried to tell me that it was different here.”

“Steve, stay here with Bert and Elaine. I’m just going straight up and back. It’s too early for the lechers to be out.” She grinned. I nodded and she left.

Ten minutes later, she was back wearing a pants suit. She still looked good to me.

She and Bert headed off to the first meeting of the day. I smiled at Elaine and asked, “What would you like to do?”

“How about walking? I enjoy a good walk. Elanor and Bert, Junior, have a big wheeled carriage that I use at home. Let’s check with the desk. They might have some recommendations about where to go.”

“Sounds great to me.” We stood and left for the desk. The desk clerk suggested we walk to the left about four blocks to a park that had walking trails. We thanked her and left on our way. It was a nice park though looked dry to me. We had a good time and walked at a good pace. While we walked, we talked about our lives. I found that Belinda and I had much in common with Elaine and Bert. We headed back to the hotel aiming to arrive in time to meet our spouses for lunch.

We went to our rooms to clean up though I wasn’t sweaty. The dry air kept me from getting very sweaty. I went down and met my wife along with Bert and, moments later, Elaine. We told them what we had done. I said, “Belinda, you would like that park. If we have time, we might go down there.” She nodded.

We went in for lunch, another group meal. Fortunately, there was no alcohol served and everything was quiet. We shared a table with Elaine and Bert. We were joined by three other couples who all seemed to be around our ages. No one seemed especially strange. One couple was from Indiana, another from North Carolina, and the third was from Kansas. We enjoyed our meal and the company.

Toward the end of our meals, there were a few announcements about the afternoon and evening events. There were no seminars this afternoon. The company was sponsoring an afternoon at an aquarium which interested Belinda and Elaine. It sounded pretty good to me. Bert looked interested, too. The couple from Kansas would be going while the other two couples would stay at the hotel.

The six of us left as a group and went on a tour bus for the trip. Refreshments were served but no one seemed to be imbibing that much in the way of alcoholic beverages. It seemed that the prospect of touring an aquarium didn’t appeal to the heavy drinkers in the company; We enjoyed the tour and the aquarium. It was more salt water oriented than the Georgia Aquarium.

By the time we returned, it was time to dress for the before dinner cocktail party and dinner. Belinda and I went to our room and cleaned up. We joined Elaine and Bert downstairs and entered the party room. The booze had been flowing and there was quiet music playing. The Kansas couple, Ann and Jim Crossman joined us. They didn’t seem to be in for the heavy drinking. Bert showed them my trick and they appreciated it. Jim said, “That was better than nursing a beer until it was warm and bad tasting. His wife, Ann, wasn’t drinking. She just didn’t like any alcoholic beverage. She asked Elaine and Belinda what they did this morning. She had gone to the pool but some drinkers were there. She wasn’t disturbed but found them loud; Elaine said that she went for a walk with me while Belinda attended the employee part of the activities. She then explained that I was the spouse of an employee rather than an employee. Ann said, “Belinda, I would like to go with them tomorrow doing whatever seems good. I felt uncomfortable at the pool by myself. There were too many skipping the seminars for drinking and leering.”

Belinda grinned. “Steve makes a great and gallant protector; I seem to attract drunken idiots. He has been able to handle them effortlessly. There is a regional VP with a splint on his right hand from when he tried to swing on Steve who wouldn’t allow the guy to paw me.”

Ann looked me over. “I agree. He would make a good protector.” She smiled.

The cocktail party was quiet. Belinda drew the usual number of appreciative stares but the lust quotient was down. No one seemed to be in our area and drunk. I noticed one couple who seemed to be deep into their cups, as the old saying goes. They weren’t close to us which suited me fine.

The doors to the banquet area were opened and dinner announced. The six of us went inside and claimed a table out of the way of the crowd. Two other couples joined us to complete the complement of ten. I thought they were overly large tables with a size that didn’t lend itself to much table talk. However, I reminded myself it wasn’t my rodeo.

One of the new couples sat next to me. I quickly found that they looked and were Californian in most of the bad senses of that word; they weren’t friendly. The wife was sitting next to me showing much too much cleavage for a business-type dinner. Her dress was considerably shorter than Belinda’s and Belinda’s was short. She leaned toward me exposing her bra-less state and asked where I was from.

I answered, “Rural Georgia.” Belinda’s ears perked up as she heard my exaggerated accent.

“Oh. I guess you aren’t used to this type of party and a dress like mine?”

“I could say that but it wouldn’t be true. There are groups in every area, even backwoods Georgia ones, that go in for gratuitous shows of skin. I’m not impressed.”

She didn’t like that. She said, “You don’t like the way I’m dressed?”

“I don’t mind it but would prefer you lean on someone else.”

Her husband or whatever didn’t seem to like my rejection of her and said, “Are you rejecting Marci?” I had seen him as they came in. He had had a few but wasn’t big enough to be a valid threat.

“I don’t believe married men should be involved with other women, particularly when those women seem to have an attachment to someone else.”

He pushed his chair back abruptly. I said to myself that a belligerent drunk is not my preference for this evening’s entertainment. I didn’t rise from my chair. I decided that, if he would just be verbal, this situation might pass. He pulled his wife or whatever out of the way. When I didn’t react, he swung on me. I grabbed his wrist and squeezed. He went to his knees with pain as bones cracked. His threshold for pain must not be high because he howled with the pain. I simply held him there without moving from my chair or doing anything else to him.