Bitsy's Bait and Bbq

Bitsy's Wisdom 1: You choose your bait for the fish that you want.But once you drop it in the water,you get what you get. Emma had let her sister, Katy, be in charge of the map, never a good idea. Field note,she thought to herself,Once leaving the commercial trade route between St. Louis and Springfield, the mountainous roads become increasingly rougher and directional cues more tricky.Without a guide or compass,reliance upon mass-produced cartography is a necessary challenge. "It looks like we stay on this road for just a little way and then we turn," Katy said. "Left or right?" "Huh?" "Do we turn left or right?" Katy glanced back down at the map uncertainly."Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get there," she said. Emma managed not to roll her eyes, but it was a struggle. Katy was far too willing to just figure things out as they went along. Her plans were willy-nilly and rarely thought through. Her decisions were made on the spot and the outcomes not always what she'd hoped. It was no way for a twenty-five-year-old single woman, mother of a five-year-old, to behave. Emma would have gladly explained all that to Katy,again,but her lecture was forestalled by a convenient road sign. "There it is!"Katy cried out."Warbler Lake Recreational Area, two miles." Emma made the appropriate turn with only a couple of sputtering hesitations of the aging Geo's tired engine. The old car, so dependable on her little inner-city commute, had never made such a journey. And it had never towed a rented trailer with all the worldly goods of Katy Dodson in its wake. "Warbler Lake,"Josh repeated from the back seat,though the way he said it it sounded more likeOgler Lake,which was something completely different. Emma hoped he wasn't being prophetic. "We're almost there, Josh," his mother told him. "In just two miles we're going to see our brand-new home." "Yea!" the little guy said, and pumped his fist triumphantly, like an end zone celebration at a football game. Katy giggled. It was a sound that Emma hadn't heard enough lately."I'm so excited," her sister confessed needlessly. Emma nodded. "Now, don't be disappointed if it's not quite how you think it will be," she warned. "It will be perfect," Katy declared. Emma was not quite so sure. Experience had taught her that life had a way of not working out the way you planned. And Katy was so hopeful,so trusting,that she could be her own worst enemy. But this was too important. Katy had bet her entire future on it. Her sister clutched the sales page printed from the computer listing. Katy treated the grainy photo on thin paper as if it were a priceless artifact.In fact,it wasn't even a very good snapshot.It was too far away and the house was practically hidden behind a large outbuilding and the huge, fifties-era roadside marquee that read Bitsy's Bed & Breakfast. Because of the shade of a huge oak tree on the corner, the actual words were not completely visible. "Bitsy's" was clear. And the two big redBs in the words below it. The rock house in the distance had a wide front porch and a gleaming metal roof. Its actual condition was not described in the listing. "What does it say again?" Emma asked, and then wished that she hadn't. Katy had read it to her a hundred times, and although it did sound good, there was something missing. Something that Emma couldn't quite put her finger on. "Ozark Mountain B & B. Great opportunity to own your own business!" Katy read aloud. "Live where you work. Turnkey operation on beautiful lakefront has long-time reputation and repeat clientele. Three-thousand-square-foot building on well-lit intersection at the end of main street. Kitchen renovated to meet all health department standards.In top condition,includes all furnishings, equipment and recipes. Open year-round with seasonal customers and localMorsi, Pamela is the author of 'Bitsy's Bait and Bbq ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780778324232 and ISBN 0778324230.