Merriton

“I’m not really in the mood for my weekly visit.” Kit Kat didn’t know the woman at her door, and she wasn’t even willing to wait for the introduction. “My name is Dr. Chinsky, Kit Kat. I was over at Elvis’ house, helping his with his vaccinations and I thought I should introduce myself.

Kit Kat nodded. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Keep Kit Kat Alive Committee. I got it. The house is cursed. A guy killed himself in my bedroom, and he’s probably haunting the house. I GOT IT! You’re all worried about me.” The doctor folded her arms. “Actually, I wasn’t worried about you until right this moment.”

Kit Kat cringed at her inhospitality. These people had been nothing but nice to her and, paradoxically, it was getting on her nerves. “I’m sorry. Come in.” Once the woman entered her home, she took off her coat and looked at her watch. “All I have to do is stay in here for fifteen minutes. We don’t have to talk, but Elvis is watching out there, so I have to stay for a while.”

Kit Kat took the coat from her hands and hung it up on the coat rack. “I’m so sorry. I just had a really shitty day yesterday and I just wasn’t in the mood. How about a drink? Maybe a coffee or soda?” It was Kit Kat’s test. If Dr. Chinsky accepted a coffee, then she wasn’t Mormon. If she didn’t, well, maybe she just didn’t want a coffee. “No thank you. I think I’ll just sit on this chair and wait my fifteen minutes out.”

She was appalled at her own rudeness, “No, no! I’m sorry, Dr. Chinsky. Let me get you a hot chocolate or something. I’m sure you were cold out there helping Elvis.” Dr. Chinsky shook her head. “No thank you. I’m just fine.”

The woman sat on the chair and looked at email on her phone. Kit Kat sat in her own chair, embarrassed at her behavior and clutching her laptop to her chest. “So, you’re a vet? I didn’t know Elvis needed help. I thought he did everything himself.” The doctor looked at her skeptically. “We really don’t need to talk. I’m perfectly content just sitting in silence for my fifteen minutes.” Kit Kat nodded.

She had been working on the final chapters of The Independence of the Dowager of Langthrope. She had felt such a joy finally fleshing out the surprise ending that she had planned for this book. Instead of choosing between the lackadaisical Duke and the socially unattached merchant, the dowager had secured her independence, finally finding the proper passage to India that she had always dreamed of without shackling herself to a husband to do it. Kit Kat had just finished the scene in which it is revealed that the Duke was so eager to marry the dowager so he could always be in the company of her confirmed bachelor son.

This shocking ending was going to send her readers reeling. This book was completely different from all the others she had written and she felt such a triumph with it. Antioch House, however, was probably going to have a coronary attack, but she would convince them to publish it nonetheless.

All of this writing was her only escape from the idiocy of yesterday’s holiday with John. After A.S. had warned her that John was horrible with birthdays and holidays, Kit Kat had a sick feeling when he wanted to take her out yesterday. She agreed, but every thing he did was strained and uncomfortable to her.

The final blow was the Valentine’s Day gift. When she opened the present, her heart sank. He had given her a Book of Mormon. Then he said something about one of her old books. It seemed that he had been trying to create some scene from The Stained Petticoats of Miss Eliza Smith. Kit Kat had been hard pressed to even remember what she had written and this had insulted John somehow.

She huffed to herself, thinking, “They’re MY books. If I want to forget them, I CAN!” Her angry breathing attracted the attention of Dr. Chinsky. The woman looked up at her and Kit Kat tried to calm herself down. Every thing John had done yesterday felt forced and artificial. She was so angry with him that she didn’t even want to think about it. All she wanted to do was finish her book and send the final chapters on to the publisher.

“Okay, I think I’m done here. Sorry to interrupt.” The doctor stood up and walked to the coat hooks in the foyer. “Really, I’M sorry for being so terse. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” The woman just looked at her with a serious frown, “You KNOW that I have to tell the committee about this on Saturday, don’t you?” Kit Kat nodded and vowed to find and attend that meeting herself.