Kayli Unknown

Chapter 22 - Kat and Bonnie - Welcome Wagon

There would be eight visits. Bonnie called and made the arrangements. Could she and Kat Johnson come by to talk about a women's event at her lodge? The calls themselves told Bonnie a great deal. It was Bonnie calling. Lifelong resident. Known to all. Calling about a women's event. An event at the Johnson lodge. What Bonnie should hear on the other end of the line was warmth and enthusiasm. That's what she heard six times. Two times she heard a general welcome, but limited enthusiasm. The cause might be lots of things. Maybe Bonnie had offended at some time. Maybe the "event" was some multi-level marketing come-on to sell essential oils or some new form of indirect robbery. Bonnie was hearing caution. She was not hearing "no." So she found a time when she would be welcomed, and formed a schedule for herself and Kat. Three visits Monday afternoon. Five Tuesday morning.

Kat had a minibus, Bonnie had a car. Bonnie would drive. Monday afternoon Kat parked her minibus on Main Street across from the ruins of the bar. No trouble finding an empty parking space. No trouble leaving the bus there all day. There was one car in front of the party store, no cars in front of the restaurant.

Kat got into Bonnie's waiting car. Both were silent as they looked down the street.

"Is Jim going to rebuild the bar?"

"He hasn't said." Kat hesitated, then continued. "We haven't been seeing much of each other lately."

"You two need to work that out. He's busy. You're busy. I know all the excuses. I also know nights are long. They shouldn't be spent alone." Kat didn't reply. Bonnie gave a short laugh and then patted Kat's hand. "Sorry."

Bonnie talked background as she drove to each of the homes. The woman's name, her maiden name, her parents and her grandparents. Oddly, often the grandparents were the most interesting. Kat asked about the kids. Any between eleven and thirteen? Bonnie was less sure about kids' ages. "They grow so fast. One day they are in kindergarten, the next day in Little League."

Homes? One in Amberg, just down the street from the bar. One just outside Pembine. Six scattered along county roads. People bought five acres or forty acres and put a simple house in the middle of trees. Inside, all the women had cleaned, and all had made cookies and coffee.

Bonnie was the familiar face. All the women remembered her from school. They had been a few years behind her, or a few years ahead of her, but they reached back to those years. Bonnie had been a cheerleader. She and Dave had been in the homecoming court. Bonnie remembered women who had had a part in a school play, or marched in the band. All those links were reestablished. Kat was used as the cause. Both Bonnie and their hostess constantly turned to Kat, beaming as they retold their school days. "You should have seen Bonnie if Dave scored a bucket. You have never seen pompons worked so hard." or "Krista had the best voice. She always got a solo when the chorus did a concert."

What Kat also noticed was that all of them had been out of school for at least a decade, yet school was still the main connector. For these eight, the intervening years had meant brief sightings at a store or a restaurant, maybe attendance at someone's wedding, but no close encounters. Kat thought they could be labeled acquaintances, maybe even friends, but not close friends. For starters, Bonnie had only been to one of their homes before.

So words came, fairly comfortably, and they included updates about kids and husbands, but Kat thought all were happy to have Kat in the room – someone new, something new, a chance at a new connection. They certainly shifted the conversation to Kat soon enough. A two minute bio – army officer retired, workshop business, the lodge. Then they moved on to Saturday afternoon. A gathering. A break in January routines. Local women – maybe twenty, maybe twenty five. A chance to see Kat's place. A chance to meet Kat. A chance to share a few glasses of wine.

The interest was there. The right questions. What to bring, what to wear, when to arrive who else would be coming? Even the two who had initially been cautious seemed to warm to the idea.

Visits stretch on. Bonnie had allowed forty five minutes for each, and was open about her schedule. She wanted Kat to meet some other people to help get the word out. So... But there always seemed one more memory to revisit, or one more question to ask. The reasons were obvious enough. Nights were long, days were short, homes were empty with the kids at school. Empty and quiet. And the woods that surrounded the homes, well, they seemed to go on forever. So, old friend, new friend, a break in the longest month in the year... They were still talking as Kat and Bonnie put on coats and backed to the car.

Evaluations as they drove away? Yes, one woman seemed to be wearing pretty heavy makeup, but there could be lots of reasons for that. Three of the women had children in Kayli's age range, but if they said that, then they weren't hiding anything, were they? None of the women were wearing shoes – after all, they were indoors, but when Kat and Bonnie had taken their own boots off, they had seen women's boots sitting on whatever mat had been left by the door for that purpose. Houses were neat. The women appeared healthy.

Eight visits, eight invitations, eight women who seemed eager to attend. If they were hiding anything, they were hiding it well. Maybe they would hide it less well at the gathering.