Monday, August 29, 1910
"The Idaho Statesman?" asked Sarah as she put the powdered donuts on a tray. She was working with Emily in the kitchen of the bakery.
"Yes. She showed me the article. Can you believe it? People in Boise now know that Lynn Watson directed this year's Eagle Creek Music Festival?"
Emily nodded.
Sarah moaned, "That should've been me! Why didn't my father choose me to be the director?"
"I dunno. Ask him yourself. I'm sure he had a legitimate reason to pick Lynn."
Sarah sighed. "Maybe."
They heard the storefront doorbells ring.
"In a second" yelled Emily. "The article went on to describe her as an engaging hostess with a profoundly adapted sense of musical vision."
"Musical vision?" asked Sarah as they walked through the door to the storefront.
"I know it's... it's a Chinese girl on the floor." Emily wore a puzzled expression.
A girl was sitting on the floor and leaning against the donut counter. "My name is Boo. I hate my mother!"
Emily sat down beside her. "I'm Emily, let's be friends." 
Sarah said, "Duck."
Boo bowed her head. Sarah slid the donut tray into the display case and then walked over to the cash register.
The doorbells tinkled again. A middle-aged Chinese woman stepped into the bakery.
"Have you seen a strange girl in this store?"
Sarah innocently shook her head, no.
Mrs. Zige then pointed out that Emily and Boo were clearly visible in the rounded mirror on the back wall.
Emily spoke up, "Can you give us ten minutes?"
Mrs. Zige sighed. She nodded and then left.
Emily waved, goodbye.
Sarah walked around to Boo and Emily. She sat down too.
"Let me guess: you just moved here from a bigger city and you want to runaway?"
The bells tinkled again.
Boo sniffled and nodded.
"That's the way I was at first" said Lynn as she joined them on the floor.
"I had to leave all of my friends back in Great Falls. I was in love with this boy named Terrence Conley."
Lynn was melancholy. "I thought for sure that he and I would one day get married, but, my father just up and moved us. Eventually, I made friends here too and...."
The bells tinkled again.
Emily held up a finger. "Hold that thought."
"Sarah? Sarah?" said Kimberly in an anxious tone.
"Back here" Emily said.
Kimberly Buchanan ran back behind the counter and sat down on the floor. "Was I too forward when I asked Jake to sit with me?"
"No/Yes" Emily and Sarah replied.
Lynn mumbled, "I should've been that bold with Tommy. I don't know why he won't talk to me as much as he does Emily or Sarah. Now Terrence Conley would actually give me the time of day and...."
The bells tinkled again.
"Emily? Emily?"
"Back here, Margaret."
She ran behind the counter and sat down. "I wasn't interested in Brian at all. I only asked him to join on the bench to make Kimberly mad and...."
Jean walked in through the kitchen door. She sat down.
"I'm forty-four and pregnant, what was I thinking?"
The bells tinkled again.
Lucille Grant hurriedly stepped into the storefront. "Jean? Jean?"
"I'm back here."
"Dixie told me that she saw a Chinese girl go into the jail. Did Julius get a mail-order bride?"
Jean made a motion, Lucille sat next to her.
Will Clementine came through the kitchen door. He stopped. For a brief second, he considered asking why seven women were sitting on the floor behind the front counter; however, he thought it best to just leave well enough alone. He returned to the upstairs office.
"I want to go back to Fargo."
Kimberly asked, "Who's Terrence Conley?"
"Dixie said the girl was about fourteen or so, but she couldn't be certain, they all look alike...." Lucille cringed.
Boo giggled.
Margaret asked, "You told me three weeks ago that you thought Brian was cute!"
Jean sighed. "It was late a night. I was exhausted and I just wanted to go sleep but oh no, his needs come first!"
Boo asked, "Why was I hiding behind this counter and sitting on the floor?"
The ladies began describing their various woes all at the same time.
Boo rubbed her temples. "I've moved to a loony-bin."
The bells tinkled again.
"Anybody home?"
Sarah, Emily, Jean, Boo, Kimberly, Margaret and Lucille all stood up.
"Hi Tommy" they said in unison. They looked at one another somewhat suspiciously with a dash of confusion.
Tommy Grossman scratched his head. "Can I get two loaves of wheat?"
The women all looked to each other; not sure how to respond.
Boo rolled her eyes. "Oh for crying out loud, this is a bakery!"
They returned to their questions.
Sarah asked Kimberly, "So, you don't like Brian Anderson?"
Margaret asked Emily, "How come I never heard about you and Terrence Conley?"
Jean asked Lynn, "Jake Watson is moving to Fargo?"
Lucille asked Sarah, "Do you think that Chinese girl heard me? I didn't mean anything by it." She said defensively, "Some of my best friends are Chinese mail-order brides."
Boo, in the mean time, found a brown bag and put in two loaves of wheat bread. She stepped over to the register.
Tommy handed her a quarter which she put in the register.
"Thank you, have a nice day" she said politely as he walked out the door.
The women continued talking with each other attempting to decipher the incredibly tangled problems they now shared. In all of the confusion, she forgot what brought her here in the first place.
Mrs. Zige returned to the store. "Are you feeling better?"
Boo shrugged. "Nope."
"Did you give that extra store key to the policeman so he could have a copy?"
"I did and in this section of Montana that apparently means we're now engaged. I can't wait to see how that one plays out. Also, I'm working at a bakery for free" she said as she stepped from behind the register and opened the door. "I'm still blue but at least I'm not alone at being confused, so, I kinda like it here."
Mrs. Zige smiled. "I knew you'd feel better. All you need was someone to listen to you."
"Right as rain, mother, right as rain."
They went back home.
