Oct 27, 2019

Bobbie opened her eyes and saw a little black cat sanding on her chest staring at her. “Hey Fossie. Are you starving to death?” She sat up and Fossie jumped to the floor and seemed to beckon to her to join him in the kitchen.

Bobbie followed obediently and fed and watered Fossie before she made her own coffee. That’s love she thought idly.

Her phone dinged. It was Johnny saying he had fun at the market and also at the party after. At the market, the day before, they sang a Halloween set that included the songs “I Put a Spell on You”, “Werewolves of London” and Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to my Nightmare.”

At the party in the gallery, Bobbie convinced Will to have a DJ play instead of her and Johnny and had fun mingling with everyone. The party was hosted by the chamber of commerce and a lot of city officials were there. Greg and Trixie made an appearance they must have rented costumes; they were a convincing Raggedy Ann and Andy. Johnny had a Mick Jagger mask and his own lankiness really sold it. Bobbie was a black widow, of course and wore a little pin with those words on it in case it wasn’t clear.

Bobbie really wanted to have lunch with Trixie and Barb. Barb was still really self conscious about her eye and probably wouldn’t want to go out. She messaged them and they agreed to go down to the restaurant and get the brunch buffet and bring it upstairs to eat. They’d meet at Bobbies place.

Bobbie finished her coffee and went into her room. She needed to shower. She set the fan for 15 minutes. She was out in ten. She turned the fan on another hour to clear the steam and went into her bedroom to get ready. She picked a linen shirt dress and good pantyhose. Dried her hair, put on some simple jewellery and makeup and went to the kitchen to sip a second coffee and scroll her phone until her friends arrived.

There was a knock on the door and Rose walked in hesitantly. “Hi Bobbie, I’m subbing in for Effie today. I wondered if you need anything.”

“Oh. Hi Rose it’s so nice to see you. I don’t need anything right now but how did your first term of Uni go? You look different. Did you get a haircut?”

Rose smiled behind her hand. She was still self conscious. “Thanks Bobbie. I joined the gym at school and got a new bike. I think my braces are working too. They hurt sometimes. I really love my classes. It is way better than I imagined; I thought it would be like more high school.”

“That’s so good to hear. You look great. Do you still live with your aunt Jane?”

“Yes, we have fixed up her place a lot. Mark and his sister Amy, Amy’s in my class, really fixed the place up a lot. I could probably afford residence with my scholarship money but I like staying at Aunt Jane’s. She’s a really good roommate.”

“She drives your old bike to work now.”

“She loves working here. It’s a good place to work; even as a dishwasher.”

“I’m glad she’s happy.”

Barb stuck her sunglasses covered face in the door. “Hi guys. It’s nice to see you Rose; I hear you got some good scholarships.”

“Yes, thanks for helping me find them and get the paperwork all sorted. I’m subbing in for Effie and I have a couple of rooms to get to. It was nice to see you, Bye.”

Barb lifted her sunglasses for a moment. “I tried to do the makeup thing to hide it. I put a purple toned concealer on the green parts and a green toned concealer on the purple parts. And then more skin toned concealer and BB cream. I had to put some foundation on the other eye and cheek just to balance things. I never wear this much makeup. And I’m still going to wear these tinted glasses to get my brunch. Since I searched the internet to find my makeup tips I am being shown ads for domestic abuse resources. It’s really sad.”

“Poor Barb, it just needs time. I think the makeup helps a little. I just see the shadow of a giant black eye now.”

Barb was wearing a blue sweater set and a patterned durndil skirt. The blue tinted glasses looked nice.

Trixie arrived. “Hi guys. Wow, you look great. I didn’t know it was a dress up thing.”

“It Sunday brunch girlfriend. You look fine Trixie. I just want to set the table before we go down to get brunch.”

The girls put down their bags and Trixie took the place mats and napkins and Barb took the silverware and Bobbie brought the wine, wine glasses and some flowers. She uncorked the wine and sat it in the ice bucket to keep it cold. “There, we’re ready and we have a nice chilled Riesling waiting for us. You don’t need your bags. I’ll put it on my tab.”

They went down stairs and talked to people a few minutes before they lined up. Mark was at the omelette station and Sipho was carving a ham. Denny, Sipho’s young brother, was helping keep the salad bar full.

Mink was at the coffee and dessert station so Bobbie went over. “Hi Mink, everything is lovely as usual. Can I ask how Chase is feeling these days?”

“He is pretty weak. He can’t keep much food down. He wears the hat you made him almost all the time. I wash it when he sleeps.”

Bobbie put her hand on their arm. “Oh Sweetie, I’m sorry I’m sure he’ll be better when the chemo stops.”

“That’s the hope. We are close to moving into his family home. Lorne and Rocco have out done themselves. We are hoping to be in by Christmas.”

“That is so great. The buffet smells so good. I should go get in line.”

Barb came up behind them. “Is it wrong that I just want to have a piece of cheesecake for brunch? It covers a few food groups; dairy and protein anyway. I’ll meet you upstairs, OK Bobbie?”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you up there.” Bobbie walked over to the buffet. She wasn’t in the mood for cheesecake for brunch so she grabbed a plate and waited in line. She saw Trixie at the end of the line talking to Mark as he made her omelette. Bobbie got a piece of ham from Sipho and made a nice salad from all the things in the salad bar, to have on the side. She saw Trixie was done and joined her as she was leaving the restaurant to head back upstairs.

Finally, they were all sitting at the table and Bobbie poured the wine. They raised their glasses. “To the vacation that almost a murder mystery.”

Bobbie clinked her glass. “Right, who knew what a dangerous game the oil industry is.”

The all agreed that it was behind them and they began eating. Bobbie put down her fork. “I had an interesting talk with Frank about Stargazer condominiums. I’m not sure how it’s going to get finished. I don’t think I have the money and the project has a lot of moving parts that I don’t understand. I miss the motel project where I had clear milestones and funding plans. I always felt in control. We had overruns and all that but I understood what was happening. I don’t have any Idea what’s going on over there.”

Barb took a sip of her wine. “Didn’t you talk to Townes about it. Frank must have talked to Townes.”

Bobbie shook her head. “I was letting him get a head start and he never shared his big vision for the place. Frank said he only helped him buy the land and his other money guys were dealing with funding the project. Frank wants me to put a lien on the motel to finance it; an idea I hate but the worst thing is I don’t think I have the energy to run this pace and figure out how to build that place too. I know this was important to Townes but I think I have to sell it.”

Barb was finished her cheesecake and poured herself more wine. “Are you going to sell it to developers? They would just make cardboard, expensive condos and they’d sit there and be bought up as foreign money laundering schemes or short-term rentals. No community and no regular folks. Maybe you can go through Townes’s things. He must have a computer. You can see who he was emailing and figure out how to get details about the project. I could help you manage things.”

“Barb, all developers aren’t like the devil. They have bottom lines they have to make and I can sell it with the condition that there would be a percentage of affordable housing. I haven’t really looked through Townes’ things and thanks so much for your offer to help. My real problem is I just don’t have the money. Marshal, my lawyer, says I may get a payout from the civil case against CanCom but that could be years away.”

Trixie frowned. “That’s a big decision but I understand about not wanting to take on too much… I’m getting real push back from our board. Margret has almost no influence now. She is completely bedridden and miserable. I think she’s not going to be around much longer. Without her voice, my job is almost impossible. I’m not as far along bringing Fox Energy into a green future as I wanted to be and even with your vote Bobbie, I don’t think they’ll keep me on. So, I’ve been thinking… When Margret goes, I’m stepping down too.”

“On no. I’m sorry Margret is doing so poorly, maybe I need to knit her some fingerless gloves to keep her hands warm. I didn’t realize you were getting so overwhelmed Trixie. Will you move back here?”

“Yes, I’ll move back here. Greg will be pleased. He’s been really supportive but I’ve been ignoring our relationship and it’s still pretty new. I have a long history of choosing work over my relationships. I think I have to chose him this time. Maybe I’ll start a financial podcast and concentrate on helping regular folks with their finances. I felt really good helping Roger get his disability tax credit and sorting insurance and owed benefits for his mom and helping Jane and Rose too.”

“Nice, Rose is here today. She’s doing really well in school.”

“That so good. So, I remember the motel project fondly too. When Greg and I move back, we can help finance Stargazer and help with contract management too.”

“So, would you buy it Trixie?”

“I don’t know. I’ll talk to Greg. We could buy it; we could invest in it and be part owners or we could just loan you the money.”

Bobbie smiled. “Maybe I could trade with Greg. I’d give him Stargazer Condos and he could give me the art gallery building.”

Trixie laughed. “I could run it by him. Let’s go see if we can find Townes’s computer and come up with a good plan.”