The Blue Bonnet

Life wasn't so bad for Bat Kayhill these days. Two years before, he'd moved from his Bar BK Ranch to live with his daughters in Dead Horse, Oklahoma after his wife died. Now he was tired of living in town. He missed ranch life and was ready to move back home, but he dreaded living in the house alone. The place was full of memories and the spirit of his wife, Hannah. It would be an awful lonely house without a wife. His sister, Billie, said there were plenty of single women in town. She suggested Bat start wife hunting. Bat took her up on the idea, but he wasn't finding a woman that compared to his late wife. The idea came to him he should be prepared with a gift when he did find the right woman to ask to be his wife. He asked Miss Leta Mays at the Seamstress shop to make him a bonnet. The wife search was a slow process, but he had the help of Billie, lending her advice and cleaning up his ranch house. Miss Leta conferred with him over lunch, a supper and a picnic about how the bonnet should look. Since Bat didn't know about such things as women's bonnets he came to rely on Miss Leta's help. Though, he couldn't tell her or anyone else he had this crazy notion to buy a bonnet before he found the woman to be his wife. He really appreciated Miss Leta taking an interest in him and sewing The Blue Bonnet.