When we left Kat, she was disheartened and alone. Her long-time friendship with Violet was fractured and Bill was at the end of his tether, feeling frustrated. Violet has now withdrawn her offer of help, and Bill is standing firm on his ultimatum that the storage unit rental will not be renewed. So what can Kat do with all the treasurers she still has to sort through?
If Bill can put his foot down, so can she. It’s her house too, and it’s her stuff, so she’ll just bring the lot home one car load at a time. It will take several trips, because she only has a little hatchback, but she can do it. Once it’s home, she can sort through one box at a time without the pressure of a looming deadline.
Kat needs storage solutions, and she has some ideas. The first car load of boxes go into Kylie’s old bedroom. Bill won’t notice them there. No one ever uses the family bathroom, so the bathtub is the perfect storage place for another car load. And there’s a little more space under the pool table, and the top as well. Bill never plays pool any more anyway.
Bill had pooh-poohed all the stuff in storage, but she discovered a treasure trove that he will surely appreciate. Lucky these didn’t get thrown out. It’s 3 boxes of her Dad’s old fishing magazines in pristine condition. Some are even still in their plastic wrapper. She leaves those 3 boxes in the hallway as a special surprise for Bill, since he’s a keen fisherman too. Over dinner that night, Kat proudly announces her wonderful find and gifts the boxes to Bill. Kat feels vindicated. Now surely he will appreciate the value of not just chucking things out willy nilly.
A week later, Kat asks Bill about the fishing magazines. “How are those fishing magazines going?”
Bill replies, “Going? They’re gone! They made the recycling bin really heavy so I had to put some in the neighbour’s bin as well.”
Kat is horrified! How could he?! Doesn’t he know the value of some of those old magazines? They might have been worth something. If he didn’t want them, the young lad down the street might have wanted them. And it feels so disrespectful to her father, who had collected and collated them over so many years.
Kat had intended to head off for a girls weekend with Kylie, but now she can’t possibly go. She’ll have to stay and safeguard her heritage. Clearly Bill just can’t be trusted.
