She flicked on the light, glanced at the alarm clock, and realized that it was almost seven in the morning. She’d slept for a lot longer than she usually did, especially on Sunday nights. It was great knowing that she didn’t have to go to work in the morning, and the prospect of relaxing all day on a Monday with people she liked was wonderfully appealing.
Her neck was unusually stiff and Hannah rubbed it. Then she glanced at the other side of her bed and realized that Moishe had given Cuddles his pillow and he’d stolen hers in the middle of the night. She thought fleetingly of telling him he was bad for taking her pillow, but the two cats looked so angelic sprawled out on their matching pillows, she just didn’t have the heart to complain.
Hannah was just pulling on her slippers when she realized that there was a delicious scent in the air. It took her a moment to identify it, but when she did, she began to smile. Peaches. And the scent of peaches was probably what had awakened her in the first place.
“Michelle must be baking something with peaches,” she said to the sleeping cats. “I’m going to take a quick shower, get dressed, and go see what Michelle has in the oven.”
Moishe opened one eye when he heard her voice. He gave a soft, rather kittenish mew and began to stretch. Again, Hannah was amazed at how long her pet was when he stretched. He was lying on her pillow lengthwise and even though it was a king-size pillow, his head extended over one side and his back legs extended over the other side. He stretched for several seconds and then he sat up and reached out with one paw to rouse Cuddles.
Cuddles opened her eyes, stretched in a smaller version of Moishe’s stretch, and sat up. Then both cats swiveled their heads to watch Hannah as she headed for the master bathroom to take her morning shower.
When Hannah came back into her bedroom, ten minutes later, the cats had deserted her and there was a new scent in the air, the scent of coffee brewing. This caused her to make short work of dressing and within five additional minutes, she was heading toward the kitchen for her morning wake-up cup of the beverage that her father had always called Swedish Plasma.
She could hear the shower running as she passed the guest bathroom and Hannah knew that at least one of the men was awake. A few steps later, quietly tiptoeing past the two occupied sleeping bags in the living room, she entered the kitchen.
Just as she’d expected, Moishe and Cuddles were parked in front of their food bowls. Their heads were down, almost buried in whatever Michelle had fed them with their Kitty Kibble, and they didn’t even look up to see who had come in.
Hannah began to smile. As usual, Michelle had accomplished all of the chores that Hannah would have had to do if Hannah were alone. Her youngest sister simply pitched in and didn’t even expect any thanks for doing it.
Michelle was on the other side of the kitchen, removing something from the oven. It smelled so delicious that it made Hannah’s mouth begin to water. She stood there watching as her youngest sister carried a baking sheet with the aromatic treat to a wire rack she’d placed on the counter, and then Michelle went back to the oven for a second baking sheet.
“Good morning, Michelle,” Hannah said once Michelle’s precious cargo had been stowed on the wire racks. “Whatever that is, it smells absolutely wonderful!”
“Good morning, Hannah. I baked Peach Scones. It’s a new recipe and it seemed like the perfect time to try it.”
“If the scent is any indication, it’s a great recipe.”
“I hope so.” Michelle turned and hurried to the coffeepot. “Sit down, Hannah, and I’ll bring you a cup of coffee. And before you think to ask me, the scones have to cool for five to ten minutes.”
“I vote for five,” Hannah told her, pulling out a chair at her kitchen table and sitting down in her favorite spot. “I don’t think I can wait any longer than that.”
“Neither could Heiti. Aunt Nancy said that she made them for breakfast one morning and he almost burned his mouth by tasting them too soon.”
“Too bad we don’t have a little table outside. They’d cool faster out there.”
“And if they didn’t blow away in the wind gusts we’re having this morning, they’d be covered with snow in no time flat.”
“It’s bad outside?”
“The worst I’ve ever seen.” Michelle set Hannah’s coffee mug in front of her and went back to fill hers. Then she sat down in an adjacent chair and sighed. “Just look out the window.”
Hannah turned to look and began to frown. “The snow’s still coming down in sheets. I can’t even see the building next door and it’s only a few feet away.”
“I know. After we have some breakfast, I want to see if KCOW-TV is still on the air. They should have the latest news on the blizzard.”
“I’ll turn it on after we eat.” Hannah opened the refrigerator and looked inside. “What shall we have with the scones? The guys will probably want a bigger breakfast.”
“That depends on what you have in your refrigerator.”
“I have some breakfast sausages and several cartons of eggs. And I think there’s a package of shredded cheddar in there.”
Michelle thought about that for a moment and then she nodded. “I think there’s one on the second shelf, right next to the sliced ham.”
“Great! Then we could cook the sausages and have scrambled eggs with cheese. And if we wanted to, we could cut up the cooked sausages and add them to the eggs when we scramble them. We could even throw in some chopped onions and add those right before we add the cheese.”
Michelle looked a bit concerned. “That sounds good, but we’ll need more than one big frying pan. There are five of us at breakfast and all of the men will be hungry.”
“That’s true, especially Mike. Why don’t we make a baked dish in the oven with all of those ingredients?”
“I like that idea, but what shall we make?”
“I’m not sure, but preheat the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. That’s a standard temperature. If we need a hotter oven, we’ll simply increase the temperature.”
“Will we need both ovens?”
“No, just the top one. We’ll use a nine-and-a-half by eleven inch cake pan. That should hold enough for all five of us.”
Michelle hurried to the oven and set it to preheat. Then she came back to the table. “Do you want to taste the scones now?”
“Yes! Are they cool enough?”
“I think so.” Michelle went over to pick up a scone and when she turned around, she was smiling. “They’re just right.”
“Great!” Hannah began to frown as the doorbell rang. “Wait a minute, Michelle. Someone’s at the door.”
When she got to the door and pulled it open, Hannah gave a welcoming smile. “Marguerite!” she greeted her next-door neighbor. “Come in before you get cold.”
Marguerite stepped into Hannah’s living room and began to smile as the two cats rushed out of the kitchen to greet her. “Hello, Moishe. Hello, dear Cuddles.” Then she looked up at Hannah. “How wonderful! I think Cuddles remembers me!”
“I’m sure she does. Come have a cup of coffee with Michelle and me.”
Once Marguerite had been seated at Hannah’s kitchen table with Cuddles in her lap and a cup of coffee in front of her, they began to discuss the situation with the weather.
“Do you and Clara have enough food to last through the blizzard?” Hannah asked her.
“Oh, yes. We went to the Red Owl right after class on Friday night and shopped for the week.”
“You and Clara are taking a class?” Michelle asked.
“Yes. It’s so much fun! It gets us out in the community with the other senior citizens in the Encore program.”
Hannah was puzzled. “Where is this? And what’s the Encore program?”
“It’s an offering of free classes for senior citizens at the community college. The variety to choose from is amazing. Clara is taking a painting class and she doesn’t appreciate this weather one bit! If it doesn’t clear up soon, she won’t be able to complete her assignment before the next class.”