Bullheaded

Another day, another town, another so called antique, another waste of time Fred thought. Every time he got the call about a rare collection piece it turned out to be nothing. Here he went again though following a lead, he huffed. Soon he would be at the town ironically called “The Town” and he could see if this so called antique was rare and worth anything.

Maddie flipped the close sign to open and tied her apron around her waist ready to start the day. Maddie’s sister Nikki was on vacation with her husband and daughter so Maddie had the bakery all to herself. Maddie’s fiancé, Chase, was working at his Grandfather’s hardware store and he helped Maddie with maintaining the barn. Things were going good in the town and Maddie had a few events signed up for the barn. She made a nice home here for herself and couldn’t wait to see what her future held. Smiling at the thought she got back to work making cookies for the lady’s luncheon.

After Maddie put the cookies in the oven she remembered she forgot to make the delivery to the diner because usually Nikki took care of that. Crap she thought, how was she going to deliver the pies and cakes with cookies in the oven. She was about to call Emily at the diner and let her know she was running late when the door chimed and a man walked in. Maddie hadn’t seen him before he was older and looked to be lost.

“Hello and welcome to Nana’s Place, my name is Maddie can I help you?”

“Uh yeah can I get a couple donuts and directions? I seem to be turned around.”

“Sure thing,” Maddie replied, “Who or what are you trying to find?”

“I’m looking for a woman named Kay.”

“Oh… She is a few doors down that way,” Maddie said pointing to the right, “Is this your first time visiting? Reason I ask is because you look kind of familiar Mr.?”

“Fred. And no I’ve been here before a long time ago. This bakery was run by someone else then though.” He said taking his food.

“Yeah my Grandmother, she left me this place when she retired.”

“Oh... well thanks for the donuts and directions” He said leaving in a hurry.

Weird Maddie thought as she got back to work.

Chase finished doing the inventory at the hardware store when his phone rang. It was his twin sister Emily who worked at the local diner and was also pregnant.

“Hey sis is everything ok?”

“No… well yes… it could be better?”

“What’s wrong? Its not the baby is it?” He asked concerned.

“Baby girl is fine. I’m calling cuz I need a favor. Maddie called and she is running behind with the deliveries and she just put stuff in the oven. I would go but…”

“Don’t worry I got it” He said interrupting her.

“Thanks a ton!” Emily said hanging up the phone.

Chase put the sign up that said be back in ten minutes and headed to the bakery. He could smell the cookies baking when he walked through the door.

“Mads? I’m here to pick up the cakes,” he said walking to the back.

“They are on the counter,” she replied while making cake batter. Chase stood there watching her for a little while then snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle.

“Chase what are you doing,” she chuckled, “you’re gonna get messy.” She said while Chase kissed her neck and cheek.

“Hmm I don’t care. What cha think I would come all the way here and not give my beautiful fiancé a kiss.” He said planting a kiss on her lips. They were interrupted by a ringing.

“Oh the cookies!” She said grabbing her oven mitts and taking the cookies out the oven, “Not that I don’t enjoy your company but isn’t Emily waiting on you.”

“Yeah I guess… see you tonight” he said with a wink grabbing the baked goods and leaving.

Fred arrived at the woman Kay’s shop and walked on it. He didn’t have time to waste. He wanted this to get over with as soon as possible.

“Hello?” He shouted, “Is anyone here?”

“I’ll be right there, give me a minute.” A woman yelled back. Fred glanced around the store, it looked like a normal clothing store. He didn’t know why he was here.

“Sorry about that. How can I… Fred? Is that you?” Kay said surprised.

Oh man it was her, if he knew it was this “Kay” he wouldn’t have come.

“Hey Kay um… I’m here about the statue.”

“If that’s how you want to play it ok then. It’s this way.” Kay said leading Fred to the back. Fred looked over the statue. It didn’t look antique or worth much but it did have some weird writing on it. It wasn’t very big either, so it was more like a knick knack.

“It’s nice isn’t it?” Kay asked, “And I ain’t seen a bull like that before.”

“Yes its nice but I don’t know about it being an antique. I’ll do some researching and get back to you. Where did you get it?”

“It was found in the old barn when it was being restored. Maddie brought it over with a bunch of other donated stuff. Oh, Maddie is the new owner of Nana’s Place, you know Lois’ bakery.”

“Yeah I met her. I uh… didn’t know she had a granddaughter.” He said rubbing his neck.

“Oh yeah she actually has a few but Maddie and Nikki are the ones who stayed in town and took over the bakery.”

“I didn’t see but one” Fred mumbled while taking pictures of the bull statue.

“Yeah Nikki is on her so called honeymoon. You can just take the thing to do the research. Unless I have a reason not to trust you Fred,” Kay grinned.

Later that day Fred was at the library doing research on the bull figure when the woman from the bakery walked in, Maddie he believed was her name. She brought some kind of baked goods and was talking to the librarian.

“Thanks again Maddie. You sure you don’t want to hang around for the meeting?”

“Thanks Mrs. Wylie. Maybe next time I will but I have to go help Chase with the barn.”

“Good thing you did fixing that barn up and reopening the bakery.”

“That’s so kind of you to say. See you soon” Maddie said with a wave of her hand as she walked out.

Fred watched her walk away. So this girl was the owner of the barn and the bakery. Must have a lot of time on her hands, Fred thought. He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the computer screen. He found what he was looking for and found out the bull was actually worth a lot, however without the matching pieces it was no good to him. Fred had to come up with a plan to see if Kay had the rest of the pieces without letting her know how much they were really worth.

Fred walked backed to Kay’s shop a short time later but it had a closed sign on the door. Great now he would have to wait until tomorrow or maybe he would just go to the source. Kay said Maddie gave her the bull so maybe Maddie had the other pieces or knew where they were. Mind made up Fred walked to the bakery but saw that it too was closed for the day. Does no one stay open late in this town he thought then remembered that Maddie said something about going to the barn after leaving the library, maybe she was still there. Fred got back to his truck and headed for the barn, he remembered it from last time he was here and sort of knew where it was.

Fred arrived at the barn and there seemed to be some kind of event happening. He would stop in and wait until it was over then talk to Maddie about the bull set. He walked in and it seemed like the whole town was there, he saw Kay too so he tried to avoid her and sat down in the back.

“Welcome everyone to the auction! I would like to thank everyone for coming out and for those who donated items to be auctioned off. Tonight’s proceeds will go towards updating and building a new park here in town. Now I’m not much of an auctioneer so I’m going to turn it over to Chase. Thanks again!” Maddie said climbing down the stairs as Chase climbed up. He gave her a little peck on the lips before standing behind the podium.

While Chase got the auction started Maddie took her seat and looked around the room. The turn out was more than she expected and she was glad these people came out for a good cause. Maddie noticed someone in the back; it was that man Fred from earlier. Nice he could join them Maddie thought.

Fred was getting bored but he did bid on some baked goods and won. He was about to leave and just talk to Maddie at the bakery in the morning when Chase held up the last item to be auctioned off. It was the last two pieces he needed that went with the bull. This is great he thought, he could just bid on them. No way anyone knew how much money they actual worth.

“All right folks this here is the last item. It’s a mother and baby bull set. They are hefty little knick knacks. They were found here in the barn, so don’t know much other than that. Someone make an offer and we will start the bidding.” Chase said.

“Fifty dollars.” Someone yelled.

“100 dollars!” Fred replied and when every one looked at him he said, “Its for the kids, I just want to help,” He grinned.

“Ok then 100 going once going twice…”

“125” Kay smirked.

“150” Fred replied looking over at Kay.

“Ok! 150 going once, going twice…”

“200!” Kay shouted.

“300! Final offer!” Fred yelled standing up.

Chase looked at Kay who shook her head, “Ok sold for 300 to the man in the back!” Maddie thanked everyone again for coming and started cleaning up when someone approached her.

“Hello again” Fred said.

“Hello! Thank you so much for bidding! You must really like bulls, haha” Maddie said cleaning the tables.

“No problem glad I could help out the children. Plus I got me some tasty treats coming.” Fred said with a wink.

“Yes that reminds me,” she handed him the voucher for the cake and cookies with a smile, “Thanks again!”

“So when do I get the bull knick knacks?”

“Oh Chase will handle that.” Maddie said moving to another table.

Fred walked over to the man Chase to collect his winnings but Kay was already there.

“Is this where I get my prizes.” He asked.

“Sure is. Thanks for the donation.” Chase said handing Fred the trinkets and walking away to help Maddie.

“I know what you are doing. After you left I looked up those pieces and they are worth more than you said.”

“I didn’t give a price, Kay”

“Yeah well I’m not going to give you my piece that easily.”

“But Kay I already have it.” He said with a smirk and walked away. So if these pieces were found here in the barn Fred wondered what other treasures were hidden. He might hang around and find out.