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