Chapter 2: Wanda Talley Welcomes me Phillips Research and Development

I started work on the second floor of the Petroleum Lab of Phillips R&D. I was just down the hall from the Stockroom (hello! it's Christmas time!). My office was just around the corner from the breezeway that led to the Forum, just a hop to the vending machines. We were just down the hall from the analytical labs. I shared an office with the Mormon guy who specialized in water rock interaction (geothermal stuff) and a couple of vacuum pumps for a Mass spectrometer. We had a bunch of military surplus desks and partitions to separate us from the equipment. This is when I met Wanda. She was a freckled, corvette driving red head that was hotter than a $2 pistol. She was older than me by a year...ahem...or two, but was a delight. She zeroed in on me in a fun sort of way. I remember her following me out to the parking lot as she talked to a friend and commenting on my ass. I stopped turned and thanked her. Her pretty freckled face turned a shade to match her hair. She didn't realize I could here her comments. Despite all the brazen talk, Wanda turned out to be a very devoted wife and mom. She had at least one kid maybe more while I worked there and took in several of her sister's kids as well if I recall correctly. I remember them reassigning her to the stock room from the lab due to the risk of exposure to chemicals on the unborn fetus. Wanda used to wear the sexiest knit bikinis out at Birch Lake. I joked to her that she should have a zipper tab tattooed on clearly displayed caesarean scar since they opened her up that way more than once and she kept having kids. Wanda was a hoot, with an infectious smile and a personality to match. She was a great broad in the best sense of the word. There were other players around too. I can't remember most of their names, but there was one mail girl with the most beautiful eyes I have ever scene. She liked mine as much as I liked hers. At the time my hair was dark brown and I had a full beard, with striking green eyes. I guess at times they looked blue to some people. She liked them, but somehow we got our wires crossed. It might have something to do with her brother running into me rabbit hunting out at Copan Lake and thinking the gold beaded tip of the cable ear piece of my shooting glasses was an ear ring. Remember folks this was 1980. That might have colored her families perception of me. Go figure. There was a nice black couple that lived in a trailer up near Miami. Last name was Phelps. Bozzie, was his name, can't remember his wife's. They used to host the annual meteor shower party on a prairie hilltop. I remember attending several times before the first round of layoffs at which time they took a severance package packed up and went back to school. There was our department secretary. A strawberry blonde, married or with a significant other. This didn't stop her from taking a proprietary interest in me. I guess she sensed something about me (availability may be?). In the event she fixed me up with the predatory blonde lab tech, the one that subsequently owned or operated the Red Apple. We hooked up for a quickie on her couch prior to or after one of the meteor showers. She was just a little too beefy for my taste, but was a nice gal. I don't know at what point in time she left PPCo. The department secretary may have left when our branch manager a Mr. Smith moved down town and he was replaced by a hoot of a manager I'll call Marcus. During this period they were busily constructing what would become the Geosciences Building. But I am getting ahead of myself. During this time I lunched with a gal I'll refer to as the China Doll. She worked in the Production Research lab. She never had a hair out of place, and walked like someone had run a gun cleaning rod up her ass. She was cute, so we went to lunch down at the Ramada Inn on 75. I ordered a beer with my lunch and she looked like I had just pissed in her ice tea. It was then I discovered she was a strict southern Baptist. Needless to say that was the last time we spoke. Well not really. She eventually married a guy who up to that point had been a staunch hunting and drinking buddy. Needless to say that ended. Her last name now would be Maddox, but her first name escapes me. I can only thank god that he guided me to order that beer.