Merriton

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Angie stood at Kit Kat’s doorstep. It was her week to visit and make sure that the Bowen House wasn’t driving its occupant insane. Kit Kat smiled and replied, “It’s hard not to interrupt me when I never take a break. Come on in.”

Kit Kat took Angie’s coat and motioned toward the parlor. “Sit down.” There were two chairs sitting side by side, facing the window. One of them had a laptop on it, so Angie walked toward the other. It was an awkward set up in a room designed to focus on the fireplace. A table tray sat between the chairs and there was no more furniture in the house. The emptiness of it made the room echo.

“It seems like someone is coming pretty much once a week, so I bought another chair so whomever it is has a place to sit.” Angie smiled and replied, “Yeah, it’s part of the ‘Keep Kit Kat Alive’ project.” Kit Kat laughed. “I thought as much. How do you guys decide who’s coming each week?”

Angie felt trapped. She wasn’t supposed to admit that they were so worried about her that they had meetings, but, really, was it fair that they were talking about her behind her back? She decided to come clean. “Actually, we meet once a month.” Kit Kat appeared interested. “Really? Once a month? When’s the next one?” Angie tried not to reveal too much, “Couple of weeks.”

Kit Kat squinted at her, but thankfully dropped the subject. “Can I offer you a drink? A coffee? Soda?” Angie shook her head. “No thanks.” They both sat on their seats and looked out the window at the empty and snowbound corral. It was a sunny day and Angie could see the Lancaster house peek through the trees.

God, this was hard. Angie had no idea what to say to Kit Kat. When they all were in high school, Kit Kat and A.S. had been enemies. Since Angie had been best friends with A.S., that made her and Kit Kat automatic enemies, even though the two of them had no particular argument with each other. As adults, it was hard not to fall back on that habit. What to say, what to say?

“So, Dora told me that you and A.S. had a knock-down, drag-out fight a few years ago.” Angie tried to remember exactly which incident Dora might be talking about. She and A.S. had minced words so many times over the last few years that she really didn’t know which one Dora might have been witness to. “Well, knock-down isn’t quite the right description. We’ve never actually HIT each other.”

Kit Kat laughed. “I don’t know why not. I’ve wanted to hit A.S. every time I’ve ever talked to her.” The two of them laughed and Angie continued, “Once she had kids, we didn’t really have much to talk about anymore.” Kit Kat nodded. “Yeah, it seems like all my friends who have kids just fall off the face of the planet for a few years. Funny thing is, they come back.”

Angie was surprised. “They do?” Kit Kat smiled at her. “Yeah, they do. Once their youngest gets into school full time, they find themselves kind of lost. They look around and realize that they pretty much abandoned everyone and everything except the kids. You’ll probably see her again next year. I think that’s when her youngest goes into first grade, isn’t it?”

Angie shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll be friends with her again, though.” She paused and looked out the window again. A slim goat was making its way from the Lancaster place to Kit Kat’s. Angie pointed. “Looks like Elvis is losin’ one of his goats.”

They both stood up and walked to the window. The little goat hopped the corral easily and walked toward the barn. She nuzzled with her nose at the door until she finally inched it open, then flattened her body into the door. It closed itself behind her and had they not observed it, they would have never known that they had a visitor.

Kit Kat walked toward the coat hooks and grabbed her coat. “That’s Mary. She visits about once a week as well. Is she on the Keep Kit Kat Alive committee?” Angie laughed and put on her own coat, following Kit Kat outside. “No, she’s not.”

Kit Kat entered the corral with Angie behind her. The two of them went into the barn. This barn didn’t smell like most barns. It was a cocktail of hay, excrement and the acrid scent of new wood. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the barn and it all slowly came into focus.

Kit Kat removed a rope from the wall. The goat had put herself in one of the stalls and was looking for food in the bin that had long ago been emptied. “Elvis actually tried to give this goat to me because she keeps coming back to the barn.” She slipped the rope around Mary’s neck and gently lead her away from the food bin.

Angie was surprised at this. Elvis hadn’t mentioned trying to give Kit Kat a goat at any of the last few meetings. It wasn’t like him to just give away livestock, no matter how thin and sickly it might appear. The two of them led the goat out of the barn, past the corral and toward the Lancaster house.

“So, do you think that A.S. won’t be your friend anymore because she’s so self-absorbed or because you’re going to run for mayor against her father again?” Angie was surprised at the question, but answered readily, “Well, because I’m running for mayor. She was pretty angry when I ran last time.” Kit Kat nodded. “Yeah, I heard.”

As they neared Elvis’ property, the goat slowed, unwilling to walk further. Kit Kat pulled and tugged, moving the animal along, stubbornly. “I have NO idea why you would even want to be mayor. Sounds like a big pain in the butt to me.” Angie sighed. “Tort is getting so old that everything is falling through the cracks. You should have been at Onion Days last year. It was a pathetic joke.”

Kit Kat saw Elvis milling about his sheep and called out to him, “Guess who came for a visit?!” She waved to him and he approached them. “Well, hello, Angie. That was nice o’ ya to visit Kit Kat.” Angie laughed and pointed at the animal at the end of the rope. “I think she means your goat, not me.” The three of them laughed and Elvis took the rope from Kit Kat’s hands. “Mary, here, thinks she still lives in that barn. Can’t seem to break ‘er of it.”

Kit Kat replied, “I saw her this time. She hopped my corral fence with at least a foot to spare. She’s not crawling under like we thought.” Elvis nodded. “How’d she git into the barn?” She laughed. “You’d never believe it unless you saw it. She just keeps hitting the door with her nose until she nudges it open.” Kit Kat pantomimed the movement, using her hands to represent the door. “Once she gets her nose in, she keeps pushing until she gets her whole body in.” Elvis nodded. “I’d tell ya ta put a lock on the door, but then she’d be freezin’ outside the barn. Don’t know what’s better.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter either way.”

They said their goodbyes. Angie followed her back to the Bowen House. Kit Kat continued their conversation as if nothing had happened, “If Onion Days was so pathetic, why don’t you volunteer to help?” Angie cringed at the question. It was the same one that Curly and Elvis had asked so many times. Why? Why was she sick of helping Angie?

“You know, Curly and me, we helped A.S. every year on Onion Days. My aunt used to do it when she owned the restaurant, so we did too, but you know who got credit for how great Onion Days turned out? A.S. and Tort.” Angie sighed. “Guess I just got sick of her gettin’ all the credit. Didn’t seem fair to me. If I’m gonna do all that work, I wanna get the credit.”

They arrived back at the house, but Angie stood on the porch, not willing to go back in. Kit Kat nodded and replied, “You know, A.S. might not be the nicest person in town, but you always know where you stand with her.” Angie was shocked by her words. “She never backbites you because her teeth are always bared to your face.”