The barometer by the front door had been pointing to “Stormy” for days now. Bill spent as much time in the garden and the garage as he could, keeping out of Kat’s way.
Every now and then, she would fling open the back door and yell questions at him. “Where’s the tea towel we brought back from our trip to the Ettamogah Pub? Did Violet steal that one from me too? Violet was always jealous when we went on a nice trip.”
Bill did not respond. Kat couldn’t let her anger go. “I can’t find the glass lid from that non-stick pot you threw out when the Teflon flaked off! It was a perfectly good lid. I could have used on a different pot.”
This time Bill did respond. “It doesn’t fit any other pot. And all the other pots already have lids.”
“Don’t try to justify Violet’s deception. I can’t find the cup that Kylie gave me for Mother’s Day when she was 10 years old.”
Bill sighed. “Don’t you remember, it got chipped so you gave it to Tiffany to play with in her sandpit when she was a toddler.”
“Well, she doesn’t need it anymore. She should have given it back to me. Anyway, I definitely know my spices were thrown out and at least two bottles of verjuice. Those things don’t go off. There was no reason to get rid of them.”
“Kat, Love, they’ve been in the back of the pantry ever since you watched the first season of Masterchef. Maggie Beer talked about verjuice, and you had to have some. But you’ve never used it.”
“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to!”
‘Love, we have the same meals every week and none of them use verjuice.”
“Well, you’re such a fussy eater. If it weren’t for you, I’d be able to experiment more.”
The next day, Kat picked up the phone and called Violet. Without preamble, she said, “I demand to know where you took my things!”
Violet replied, “Hello Kat. I heard you don’t appreciate all the work I did for you.”
“Don’t make me laugh! I know what you were up to. Now tell me where my stuff’s gone!”
“I wasn’t up to anything Kat, except trying to help you have a nice home. When you’re ready to do the rest of the house, let me know.”
“If you step one foot inside my nice house, I’ll call the police. You’re a thief! Now where did you take it? Did you take it home for yourself?”
“No. I took it to the distribution centre at the back of the op shop on High Street. Except for the broken crockery. There was heaps of that. It all went in the skip.”
“I was keeping that to make a mosaic! You have no right! I never could trust you.” And Kat hung up the phone as decisively as she could, hoping it would send a strong message.
Kat grabbed her car keys and headed out the front door, not bothering to tell Bill the Betrayer where she was going. In fact, she was going to the op shop on High Street to recover her things.
She walked the aisles of the op shop, paying close attention to all the kitchen paraphernalia. She couldn’t find anything that looked exactly like hers. But she did spot a few bargains, including a blender the same as hers. She grabbed that in case her blender jug ever broke. You can’t get them anymore.
There were no bottles of verjuice, but there was a stained and tattered Maggie Beer cookbook. She put that in her basket as well.
Finally, she found some chipped and cracked crockery. It wasn’t hers but it was perfect anyway. She could make that mosaic after all. Violet wasn’t going to stop her from achieving her bucket list dreams.
As she placed two heavy baskets on the counter, the lady serving her smiled and admired her choices. She said, “You’ve picked up some good bargains there. You know your stuff. Maybe you should volunteer here.”
PREVIOUSLY
Catch up on all the past Adventures of Kat here…
