Chapter 42: HIGH-SIDDITY

On Sunday Ashleigh sat in Mrs. Jameson's kitchen with the other ladies. She'd come every single weekend since that first time she'd shown up hesitantly on the doorstep like a little stray kitten. Surprisingly, it wasn't out of a sense of duty. This family made her feel closer to Christopher in the sound of their accented voices, the stories they told about him, and the resemblance that they all bore to each other. And in turn, she began to learn and understand them. For instance, she found that they weren't just regulated to the kitchen to cook for the men. The kitchen was their gathering place. They drank their coffee or soda, had a slice of cake or pie and they talked about the happenings of the past week. They were funny, sweet and entertaining, and best of all they loved having a new person to tell their old stories to.

Ashleigh was making the meatloaf as she listened to tales about the wildcats that sound like women screaming and ghost stories about people who had died but then b