Secondhand Life - Part 31

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While Mikey and I were trolling the internet for customs, cultures and quirks of the various countries we would be visiting, my phone chirped with a text.

I figured it would be Dez, although I considered it might be Eoin or Kirk. A little voice in the back of my head thought it could even be Bianca.

Nope.

I swallowed hard when I saw the 203 area code.

What the hell happened?

I quickly excused myself from Mikey and curled up into a chair in the corner where I cradled the phone between my folded knees and texted her back.

You mean the Hollywood Bowl thing?

Yes

It was a guerrilla promotion stunt to push the upcoming soundtrack album – AND give us more time to rehearse – AND shoot the concert so we had more material for DVD extras and stuff.

Not that.

Oh, crap. I was busted. Knew it the moment I saw Katherine's number.

You mean Bianca.

Yes

I didn't respond immediately. I was trying to figure out exactly what I was going to say... how I was going to explain this. While I was hesitating, formulating my reply, Katherine apparently got tired of waiting.

Did she actually storm the stage?

Yes.... but I knew it was going to happen... we sort of set it up.

You collaborated with her?

Not exactly ...collaborate... it was more like.... would this be easier to do with a voice call?

No.

That was it. A one word reply. No elaboration or explanation... No matter how hard I tried to capture the essence of Katherine-ness, little things like this would continue to surprise me.

OK. Let me explain.

No response. I presumed she was waiting. And I was still trying to figure out how TO explain. There was a long pause... it had to be minutes....I took a moment from thinking about my reply to text check Katherine.

Are you still there?

Yes

And more long silence until finally I decided to just plunge in.

You know I accidentally crashed a pilot she was secretly filming at UCLA? We kind of got into it.

Yes

That was not a stunt. That just happened. And the internet just blew up.

I saw.

After that, I contacted her to say it wasn't really a setup. It was a genuine accident. But I also mentioned that the internet firestorm was beneficial for both of us. She seemed to hate it, but she had to agree with me. So I suggested that we... fan the flames.

She agreed?

Finally, but it was a hard sell. She was convinced that I was setting her up.

She would

But I wasn't.

I would

I didn't HAVE to. The concert was already coming together, and I thought if I crashed her thing – even accidentally, it would be payback if she crashed mine ...yours... the Thornbirds live show. I knew we were going to do some Broadway standards and I suddenly remembered that old song from Annie get your gun, which is kind of like a musical duel.

I don't know it

I watched it with my mother countless times as a kid. She loved musicals as much as my Dad hated them, so whenever he ditched us to go to the pub, she would put on 'her shows' & I'd curl up on the couch with her until I fell asleep. So I knew this would be perfect for a face to face showdown. Her storming the stage and our fighting by a SONG is so corny it may as well have BEEN in a musical. She agreed to the idea and it seemed to work. We both got major traction out of it It was a win-win.

You didn't make peace with her

No. A truce at most. You have worked together in the past.

Yes

Yet you never made up. I presume it was all business.

Yes

Same thing here. We won't be having sleepovers or braiding each others hair.

What did she tell you

Nothing. She barely spoke to me. Why?

Good. You're doing fine. Just don't get carried away and build bridges I'll only have to burn.

No ma'am. I never forget that once we finish Asia, I'm done and it's your life again. I don't want you to come back to anything that wasn't the way you left it.

Too late for that. Lorne Cullen is already fielding offers for other musicals and even an offer for a duet on a Lady Gaga album.

Sorry.

I'll shut it down when I get back. Generally you've been good for business. HauteShot is having it's best year yet and I still get to relax.

How is that going? The relaxing.

Strange, but I'm getting used to it. I'll be bored and ready to jump back in when you finish Asia in 3 weeks.

I must say thanks to you and Dez and Dr Dale for this opportunity. I'm glad if I could help. It was an adventure. However surreal.

Surreal is what it is. Always. That is why I needed to step away.

I understand. More each day. It's been a pleasure.

Good. Dale says you are doing well, so just keep doing it. And no bridge building.

Understood.

And that was it. No goodbye, goodluck, godspeed or anything. Not even a Bianca 'L8R freak'. But then again, that's Katherine.

I texted Dennis.

I just got off the phone with our pal in Putnam. We need to talk.

OMG you CALLED her?

Not me.

She called YOU?

Texted actually.

Of course. Yes, must talk. I will find you as soon as I get home. Within the hour.

I never really knew exactly what Dennis did for Katherine – and her household at casa Keller. As far as I could tell, if it wasn't someone elses specific job, Dennis did it. I wondered how Katherine was getting along without him. Then I thought that she seemed to stay holed up in that house with very little social interaction, and she did have housecalls from Dale every few weeks, so I guess she had what she needed. I knew I would be utterly lost without Dennis in my life ….in Katherine's 'official' life.

When I got back to Mikey, he was like a kid before Christmas. He showed me some items he found on EBay and explained what he had in mind. I nodded my approval and managed to suppress my smirk. I think he had a devilish idea, but when he explained his scheme, my imagination took it much further. It was far too early to share my idea, since we didn't even know if the item was remotely what it appeared to be, let alone whether we would take delivery before we left for Asia. Then I began to wonder how on earth we would explain the thing to customs inspectors. I realized I was getting ahead of myself, so I sent myself a little email reminder for later and moved on. Mikey was already tearing through videos of K-Pop idols, so I joined him in screening the videos while trying to figure out what he was watching and why. He had something up his sleeve and I wanted to see if I could guess what it was before he told me.

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Comments

I am guessing the sooner this gig ends for Elsie the better

But frankly if Elsie breaks a few eggs, Katherine will just have to accept that.

Katherine is Katherine but I betcha deep down she knows Elsie is a better Katherine then she is.

I don't think Katherine is built for that kind of emotional complexity.

Oh well, time for Elsie to find her own way.

"Wait. What?"

that's my responce too. they had a sleepover? Or was it something ... more?

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Wait. What? Another side to Katherine?

I'm so waiting for the full story of Katherine Keller!
It will sure make a separate book :-)
Love the storyline and energy of Elsie trying to correlate her world with Katherine's. Love that Katherine starts to look just a little bit more human :-)

Great Chapter

More insight into Katherine, and a sign that she is coming back sooner than later. Nice surprise at the end.I had guessed that something like that had happened between Katherine and Bianca.

Thanks for sharing. Please keep the chapters coming.

Okay , that was a surprise

I was sure Katherine was not interested in coming back, given how different an image and talents Elsie brings it seemed obvious that if Katherine was planning to come back she should have had this sort of conversation long before.

I wonder if Katherine will manage to get her image back.

I hope you publish this on the kindle

It's just too good not to. I'd love to be able to read it all in one sitting when it's done.

When I FINALLY get it done... ;-)

Yes. It will either be available on Kindle, or just posted here as one big, meandering tale. :-)
I hope that by the time I reach the end (there IS an end... honest!) you will still want to wade back into it. :-D
K@