The election was not even close. About 75% of the votes were against the Hoffman family candidates. Notice I didn't say they were for the other side. Mickey Mouse did get 7% of the vote as a write in. The opposing slate of candidates knocked out every Hoffman candidate. Because of the local law, the transfer of the new officers were due to happen only one week after the election.
I think Skids may have been smarter than I thought. The day after the election, he resigned and immediately moved out of state.
Two days after the Hoffman loss, word leaked out that several large paper shredders were due to be delivered to the county offices. The county financial officer made a call to the supplier. It appears that that supplier was not aware that there was no authorization from the board for such a large expense and that the supplier would not be paid if the machines were delivered. The trucks had just arrived and were at the loading dock, just starting in the process of being unloaded when the driver received a phone call. He took off 5 minutes later along with the undelivered paper shredders.
The Hoffmans must have had a pretty bad leak in their staff. The state fire marshal arrived the next day and made sure that there would not be any burnings due to the local drought and town safety. The fire department was to personally monitor the situation for the next two weeks. The Canadian wildfire smoke had made breathing difficult some days in the past month.
It must have been getting a bit tense for the Hoffmans. The forth day after the loss, the Hoffmans used their own cash to rent a large truck mounted paper shredding machine. The main bridge was still in the process of being rebuilt so the secondary bridge had to be used. The county road manager had positioned himself at the bridge and forced that truck to turn around. It appears that the bridge was not rated for that weight. Overhearing the all the yelling, people said that two smaller electric shredders were to be dispatched and arrive the next day.
On their way into town the on this 5th day after the loss, the police pulled the delivery trucks over for being overweight. The drivers were issued citations and they returned to their depot. Three hours later, the state police performed safety inspections on the lighter delivery trucks on the highway outside of town. The trucks showed some deficiencies and they too returned to their depot until the safety issues were taken care of.
It was the 6th day after the loss two smaller machines were finally delivered and installed but could not be hooked up. It took an additional 24 hours for the shredders to pass the building code electrical code inspection. The machines needed three phase 220V hook up and the electrical service had to be upgraded. As this work was also not approved by the board, the payment had to immediately come out of the Hoffman family's own pockets. It kind of served them right as they had been postponing regular maintenance and needed upgrades to all county building for years unless it was one of their friends.
The Building code inspector was actually quite sick but finally showed up on the Hoffman's last day. He was the only one certified to inspect and pass the electrical installation and service upgrade. He had been hacking and sneezing the entire time he was there. We found out several days later that several Hoffmans had been to the emergency room. The viral infection they picked up knocked them into bed for a several days and they were lethargic for another 2 to 3 weeks. Thank god it wasn't COVID.
We were all afraid that the Hoffmans would be able to destroy the evidence and evade the law, again. The local judge had been more then just slightly associated with the Hoffmans. His daughter married one of the sons. There would be no way to get any kind of injunction to halt what they were attempting to do, destroy evidence. The piles of paper boxes, some going back 15 or more years, were all ready and set to go into the shredder, when there was an accident. A plumbing contractor working in the area for the past two weeks was using an excavator several doors north of the county building complex. While the Code enforcement officer was approving the electrical improvements, there was an explosion. A single pull of the bucket on the excavator operated by an under-brained operator first opened the main waste line, and then the clean water line. As the trench filled first with waste, then started to bubble over with the pressurized clean water, the operator panicked and swung the bucket wildly to the left. He nailed the power pole and knocked out the area's main power and communications lines.
Rumor had it that somebody saw the operator leave the local cannabis shop about an hour before he started work. I personally feel that the people in the cannabis shop made it a point a giving the worker, one of their long time customers, a very strong and fast acting dose as a 'sample'. They also had been visited many times by Skids and Skids rarely paid for anything.
It also appears that the utility markings for the underground utilities may have been moved. Dozens of homes and the county offices were now off limits. It immediately became a declared bio-hazard site. There was no power, no clean water, no place for waste water to drain and no communications. Barricades were immediately set up everywhere, closing off that entire section of the town.
This 'situation' was quickly picked up across the state by the newspapers and local radio stations in the surrounding towns. I guess we lucked out that it was a slow news week. Once alerted, the state health board came in and began their inspections. These inspections included having real press conferences with the real press. Pictures of boxes of documents that were awaiting shredding were suddenly on the second page of several papers and got on the front page of main newspaper at our state's capital.
Just like the sewer break, shit was flying everywhere.
It never gets distributed evenly when the shit hits the fan.
The town became a near orgy of law and order politicians 'uncovering fraud and corruption' on the 6 and 10 PM news for several weeks. It's interesting how 45 seconds of coverage on TV can change long standing ideas. We were all pretty happy, even the folks that had to move out of their homes for a couple of days didn't mind. They never in their wildest dream thought that they'd be interviewed for TV and newspapers and then get to see themselves on it. State auditors and a group from the State Attorneys Office camped out locally for a couple of weeks. We could guess who the un-licensed contractor worked for.
Bill
It took over a week to arrange some alone time for Becky and me. Our very first uninterrupted time under the sheets wasn't two fat people screwing. We were now two new lovers in a new union. It was excitement and contentment and a real future together all at once.
Later, it became two fat people screwing the hell out of each other. What can I say. We were well rounded in many different ways. ( cha ching, BOOM ) ( This is a 'rim shot' done by a drummer for those that never heard it before. Very common in the mid 20th century late night television....)
Through all of these weeks, Becky and I and sometimes Natalie, started to spend time together away from Monty's and the scouts. Yes, I worked days and she worked afternoons, but we made it work. Becky and I spent some afternoons at my place when Natalie was at either a girl scout or a BSA event. It was not always the horizontal tango. Sometimes it was the vertical one or a very wet one in the shower.
Actually, we also spent much more time emotionally bonding with each other, getting to know each other, figuring out how we fit, or did not fit with each other. A relationship is more than just sex. A friendship can be without sex. We did not want to be only friends, but more. We both wanted to be much more. We were both a bit gun shy about relationships. We both needed to see just how we would be with another. We had lived our lives without a significant other, and now it was time for a change. Becky had the added charge of Natalie and her needs. I did find out that I was really number 2 on Natalie's list of favorite people, right after her mother. I could handle being number two by both of them, for now.
It took a bit of experiences, but my performances with her improved considerably. This was a big part of my 'shyness'. It wasn't that she didn't care how well I performed. It was that she was helping me to grow and mature with her love and support. She was in for the long haul with me. I also got to learn her likes and dislikes too. We grew with one another, we trusted one another, and we supported one another. I've never had that happen to me before with a woman. I began to see that my previous bad experiences were just that - wrong time, wrong person, and wrong attitude. Loving someone is not a power trip, it is a glider flight with you and your love holding tight to one another while sailing through the sky. Kind of like riding a roller coaster. The ride's great and thrilling, but there is safety of never leaving the rails all the while holding on to one another.
During this time, Becky and I had our own weight loss group. I really didn't think that we actually did much. Without much trying, we actually started to drop our excess pounds. We stopped eating the 'bad stuff' all the time. Occasionally we would splurge. We had started to eat the good stuff most of the time. For me, eating all sorts of deep fried foods and crusty french bread with olive oil and grated sharp cheese now only happens no more than twice a week. I would rather have that then cake, ice cream or cookies. Becky had limited her carbs and her sugars and with some exercise, she's dropping inches too. Although, I do think that we both are eating less overall as well. I've been dropping 5 to 6 pounds a month; she's been dropping 3 to 4.
Last week, we all went clothes shopping. This was after Becky and I had a talk about money.
"Honestly Bill, you don't have to do this for us. We have enough..."
"Becky, are you thinking that this is something about power? That I may own you in some way? That you will be indebted to me?" I shut up and just waited. Sometimes shutting up is the best thing that can be done.
Exhaling softly, she clenched her hands. "We can go only if I can pay you back later. It is going to cost you more than you think."
"Let me tell you something first. I live below my means. Always have and probably always will. You and I need temporary clothes because we are going to be losing more weight, but we still have to live and wearing outsized clothing is not OK. I think that buying most of these clothes at the better second hand stores is good enough for now. I figure that you also need something good for work and going out. That might take going to a real store. This is the same for me.
"I also think that being together and looking presentable is kind of like buying food. We need food. We don't buy caviar, we don't buy $100 a bottle wine, we don't..."
"Ok, only if I get to pay you back?"
