Life wasn't so bad for Bat Kayhill these days. Two years ago, he didn't feel that way. 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 town life. He missed ranch life with the cowhands and was ready to move back home. The one hitch was he dreaded living in the house alone. The place was full of sad 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. 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 she cleaned 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 helping him and sewing his unknown woman The Blue Bonnet.
