Kayli Unknown

Chapter 10 - The Friendly Farmer

The Beecher Café was five or six miles north of Amberg, just off Highway 141 (like every other business in the county). It did breakfast and lunch, and closed at two. It was one thirty. It appeared they would be the last customers of the day. Lisa parked right outside the door. Like most businesses in a cold climate, it didn't just have a front door. It had an entryway – front door, three foot enclosed area, second door. Once through the second door, it was counter and three tables to the left, rest rooms and three more tables to the right. They took a table on the left.

The waitress appeared to be just out of high school. She wore a yellow uniform dress, with apron, and was at their table instantly. All smiles. Kat and Lisa ordered cheeseburgers – no fries – and diet cokes. Conversation was easy. No other customers, no distractions. The girl was happy to talk. Snow was coming. It might bring more snowmobilers up from Green Bay. That would be good for the café, and for the bar around the corner where the she also worked. All smiles. Yes, snow was good.

Midway through the snowmobile conversation – and their cheeseburgers – Kat mentioned that bright sun reflecting off the snow gave her headaches. It was worse now that she had glaucoma. Pressure in the eye. The girl nodded. Her grandmother had that. There were drugs of course, Kat mentioned, but nothing seemed to work as well as marijuana. The girl nodded again. Her grandmother got hers from Joey Steinke. Old dairy farm, just south of Pembine. Just look for the "Steinke and Sons" sign.

And that was that. They finished their burgers, left a good tip, and were out the door ten minutes before closing time.

The Steinke farm? Right along the highway. A century earlier much of the county had been farmed by recent immigrants. Newly logged land was sold under the slogan "If it grows trees, it will grow corn." Farmers fought stumps and the cold and the short growing season. The Depression of the 1930s bankrupted almost all of them. The thin soil went back into trees – pine plantations in neat rows, and poplar and birch growth in random clumps. The farms left along 141 could be counted on one hand.

The Steinke farm was a house, a barn, two sheds, and a large corn field. A hand painted sign said "Deer Corn" was for sale. Snow had been plowed off a graveled area between the house and the out buildings. Lisa parked and the two women stood beside the car and waited.

"Hello." A middle-aged woman came out of the house, still buttoning her coat as she approached.

"Hi." Lisa and Kat waited until she got closer. They had agreed Kat would make the usual pitch about glaucoma.

"I'm Evelyn." She reached out and shook both their hands. A strong handshake. Quick motions. It was clear she was studying both their faces as she took their hands.

"Kat Johnson and Lisa Wallace."

"Lisa..." The woman turned toward her. "Did you and my son..."

"Yes, briefly." Lisa glanced at Kat, then returned the woman's smile.

"He and his father are working in the barn, if you want to see him." Evelyn inclined her head towards the barn. Lisa hesitated, glanced at Kat again, then nodded.

"Sure. It would be good to see him again." She moved toward the barn, but Kat had never seen her walk so slowly. Kat understood uncertainty over old boyfriends.

"And you, Kat, what can I do for you?"

Not an easy question for Kat. She'd already had enough time to look over the small farm. Electricity went to every building. There was no depression in the snow banks where an old car had stood on jacks. No piece of equipment that might have been powered by a belt. This wasn't the place Kayli had come from. And Evelyn was certainly not a woman who would have let Kayli drive off into the night and not make some attempt to go after her. This wasn't the place.