Hearing some unwanted chords
downstairs, Kitty softly grunts “Ughhh” while throwing her pen down on her
daily entry of her journal. Meticulously
describing how Louisa and Henrietta sang a beautiful duet at the recent talent
show at school, Kitty finds the disconcerting noise is obnoxiously interfering with
her concentration.
Reluctantly grabbing one of her multi-colored
plastic crates from the corner of the room which normally holds various knickknacks,
photos in crafted frames, silk flowers in matching pink vases, a cup of gel pens,
and other assorted items, Kitty dumps the eclectic contents throughout her
floral green bed spread and promptly transforms the rectangular container into
a practical stepping stool.
Throwing her winter knitted
scarfs, Lydia’s mixture of wool hats to match each outfit, and assorted
mismatched gloves to the side, she finally finds the ultimate goal of her
search. Kitty immediately places the bright
red ear muffs over her head and smiles contentedly to herself.
Kitty plops down on her bed again
after scooping up the contents back into its haven to be sorted and displayed
at a later and more convenient time.
Lost in the world of words, Kitty is oblivious to anything that
surrounds her including her sister’s voice of faux fatal emergency.
“Kitty! Kitty!
Kitty, you’re not listening to
me!” adamantly stands Lydia directly at the foot of the bed in front of the quilted seated hope chest
with hands on her hips. “Kitty! Take
those dumb things off! I’m talking to
you! It’s 85 degrees today and I don’t
know why you are even wearing them!”
Slowly Kitty looks up from her
silent world having noticed a pair of blue faded jeans standing in front of
her. Speaking loudly unaware of her volume Kitty replies “What do you
want? I’m trying to write! Go ask Mary, she’s just playing the piano and
we all need a break from that!”
Annoyed, Lydia roughly grasps the
ear muffs along with some strands of Kitty’s hair and throws them across the
room.
“What did you do that for? I wasn’t bothering you!” whines Kitty holding
and rubbing her head reeling from the few seconds of unexpected torture. “What
do you want?”
“I’m going to meet Wickham after
school and I need your help flat ironing my hair. I want to make sure every strand is perfectly
straight. I would ask Mary but you
remember what happened the last time.
She got busy trying to read some lame book at the same time and didn’t
watch all the steam coming off the iron and accidently fried a strand of my
hair” shaking her head in disgust at the memory Lydia continues in a voice of
consolation “At least you try to pay attention and understand how necessary and
important this is to me”.
Kitty agrees and kindly decides
to come to her rescue, “At least your orange tan has finally faded. The salon did a good job of trying to cover
it up” and then absent mindedly Kitty asks “Why do you like Wickham anyway? Isn’t he a little too old for you?”
“He’s in college, and I will be
there next year” frankly states Kitty.
“Yes, but he was in the military
first and he is at least ten years older than you. How much do you really know about him?” curiously
asks Kitty not sure if Wickham is really interested in her sister or if it is
more of an unrequited love situation like last year with John Thorpe.”
“Whatever. I don’t think he’s that much older. Wickham
likes me. I know it” confidently states Lydia with a tone of determination “He
is going to like me before Liz returns from visiting with Char. I’m sure he has already forgotten all about
her and is focusing on me!”
“You know, have you tried
searching for him on the internet? The internet is full of information and
would probably tell you a lot about him, probably even more than Liz knows”
suggests Kitty having already looked herself and wondering how to bring up some
facts that Lydia might have missed in the quest of her romantic pursuit.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt. It would also give me some ammunition in how
to win Wickham. The more that I know the
better off I’ll be able to find things that we share in common with each other”
muses Lydia “Where’s your phone?”
“Where’s your phone?” counters
Kitty not wanting to share her phone with her sister.
“Well, if you must know it is
sitting in a bowl of rice. While I was
applying my makeup Banjo came running up to be petted and his paw scooted my
phone right into the toilet” remarks Lydia and then adds with a relieved sigh, “
Fortunately it wasn’t my Estee Lauder eye shadow that I got from the Precise Kit
gift box at Women’s Camp last year. Although I could never afford it on my own,
I look forward to receiving the makeup every year”.
“Okay, you can use mine as long
as you let me try some of that purple eye shadow. I like that violet shade. I think it would
look good with my eyes” admires Kitty as Lydia looks through her makeup bag and
hands her the small blue case.
“Let’s see. Intelius seems like a
good search engine to find out ages. I
don’t exactly know how old he is. Daniel Wickham” types Lydia “I don’t think
this could possibly be him. It lists the right locations where he has lived but
it says that he is 31. It lists an Ariel Shepherd Wickham too. She’s only 19. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him mention
anyone by the name of Ariel. Maybe she
is a sister”
“Why would she have Shepherd as
her maiden name then? She lives in Kellynch. Her name sounds familiar. I wonder if she attends Kellynch Hall?”
considers Kitty trying to place a familiar but unknown name “Beth Elliot
attends that corps. Maybe you could ask her about Ariel the next time you see
her at school.”
“Why bother? I’m sure she is nobody. It was probably a mistake on the internet”
rationalizes Lydia examining her manicure again.
“I don’t think so. Whatever is on the internet is true. I do all
my reports for school with information off the internet. Anyway, he’s so old. He’s in another decade even two decades from
me” observes Kitty “Why would you like him?”
“It just means that he is mature
and manly. He’s ready to settle down with
someone and I’m sure that woman will be me” sternly answers Lydia even more
determined to set her claim and ignore any red flags that Kitty is attempting
to raise. “He’s picking me up in an hour
so we need to get started on my hair”.
“Don’t you want to try and look
up some more things? Maybe you could
look on Facebook?” suggests Kitty.
“I’m not worried. But there is only one thing. Don’t tell Liz or our parents that I’m going
out with Wickham tonight” Lydia more forcefully states “Promise me that it will
just be our secret. If you tell, I’ll
tell them about you denting the bumper on “Maud”. Liz will kill you for damaging her precious
car while she has been gone. You’ve only
had your license a week and I don’t think she would be happy to know you are ‘borrowing’
her car.”
“I don’t know how she could tell
anyway, she’s backed into so many things. Her bumper has so many different
colors on it from brushing against a lot of places” justifies Kitty “remember,
she is the one who always pulls through at the grocery store or parks as far
away as possible so she won’t back into anyone”.
“Yeah, remember last month when she
went over the curb while trying to turn from the lane and hit the ATM at the
bank! That was so funny! But I don’t think they were too happy about
it” reflects Lydia as both girls share a giggle at their older sister’s
expense. “I don’t understand how “Maud” wasn’t dented but the ATM looked a
little shook up by the incident”.
A few minutes later, Lydia
returns from the bathroom in full make-up and a short black miniskirt with a
slightly transparent ruby blouse that has a deep ‘v-neck’ in the front. She is wearing off-black shear hose with stiletto
heels.
“Where did you get that
blouse? I don’t remember seeing it
before. I know mom would not have let
you buy it. How are you going to get
passed mom and dad in that outfit anyway?” worried asks Kitty “Where did you
tell them you are going?”
“We’re just going out to Burger
Palace but I want him to see how attractive I am. I want him to remember me and forget about
Liz or whoever that Ariel girl is” emphatically challenges Lydia “The blouse I
borrowed from Mary Crawford. She said I
could have it if I want it but I would have to find a way to hide it from mom
or she’ll donate it to the thrift store”.
“It still doesn’t answer my
question how are you getting out of the house and how are you getting to Burger
Palace?” shrewdly asks Kitty wanting to discover what her sister’s attempt at
subterfuge will be.
“I’m going to wear my long blue Army
uniform coat and put my heels in my community care canvas bag. They’ll know I’m up to something if they see
my heels and then I’ll have to come up with another excuse where I am going. This way they just think I’m on my way to
visit someone at the senior care facility” delightfully pleased with her romantic
scheme gushes Lydia “They won’t know a thing.
If I take too long, they’ll just think that I’m being entertained by one
of the seniors at the home.”
“I like going to the nursing
home, so don’t wreck this for me. Last
week Mrs. Olson’s mother had cookies and sweet tea waiting for me. I love hearing her stories from when she
worked as a SA representative in the USO during World War II. She use to sing in a big band and helped
organize the entertainment on the weekends. She also wrote the soldiers letters
of encouragement too. I could see myself
being a lot like her if we had been friends and lived at the same time”
dreamily offers Kitty lost in her own thoughts of the many stories of broken
hearts and seeing herself in uniform with many young men in military uniform surrounding
her with hot coffee and donuts.
“Earth to Kitty” calls Lydia
snapping her fingers in front of Kitty’s face “Remember, don’t say a word. I’m taking Liz’s car. She won’t know if she is not here. I’ll be
back. Do NOT tell mom and dad where I’m
going or who I am with! They know
Wickham so it shouldn’t be a problem anyway except that it is a school night.”
“Ok, I promise. But you owe me one. I don’t know for what right now but I will
one day” yells Kitty while Lydia is hunched over and largely tiptoeing out of
the room clinching her long blue coat at the neck with her black flats and
carrying a rather large canvas bag. Kitty rolls her eyes and wonders how her
parents could possibly miss Lydia acting suspiciously with that kind-of peculiar
behavior.
As she sneaks downstairs, Mary can
be loudly heard banging in a series of mishmash chords on the piano. Passing
the family room, forgetting her strategy for a moment Lydia raises her neck and
shakes her head. How she wishes Mary
would one day learn how to really play the piano rather than just attempting to.
She quietly passes her dad
reading the paper in the recliner but quickly comes to a complete halt on
hearing his voice “Where are you headed Lydia?”
“I’m not really going anywhere” replies
Lydia forgetting what excuse that she had rehearsed in her mind earlier afraid
to lie to her dad.
“It looks like you are at least
planning to go outside with that big coat on.
It’s 85 degrees and spring, but I guess if that is what the kids are
wearing nowadays you are entitled to play the role of a fool once in awhile and
be an active participant in your generation” then more gently Mr. Bennett
replies “However, I would advise that you wear something more like spring under
the coat. It might get a little too uncomfortable in this heat.“
“I did dad. Don’t worry.
I’ll be very comfortable in this weather” remarks Lydia “I’m taking Liz’s
car to Burger Palace to meet some friends.”
Looking at the community care
symbol on the bag and assuming that one of the seniors from the Sunshine Club
is going to meet her, Mr. Bennett replies “I hope you have a great time on your
visit. Don’t worry about rushing
home. Some people are lonely and need
some company.
Smiling at his daughter with deepest admiration for her surprising compassion
and care “Have a good night. I’ll see
you later.”
“Thanks dad!” graciously
appreciative replies Lydia believing that somehow he is able to read her mind and
that she is meeting Wickham “I won’t be too late. But don’t worry about me.”
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