Rules of Escape

Chapter 38 - Ana

Ana knows her mother had misgivings about Ana making Joe's home her own, so when Ana opens the door and sees glistening pride in not just her dad's eyes but also her mother's, she is momentarily stunned. She also sees uncertainty in her mother. Her mother, who always walks quickly and with confidence, knowing exactly where she is going and what she's going to do, now stands holding Ana's father's hand, her head swinging right and left and up and down as she takes in everything. When her eyes finally meet Ana's, they open wider and a true, tentative smile breaks out on her face.

"It's so beautiful here, Ana," she says.

Ana nods and takes her mother's hand, drawing her inside. She leads her parents to the living room and waits for them to settle in chairs before leaving to get glasses of water. She carries the drinks into the living room and hands one to each of her parents.

She will let them catch their breath and have a drink before she shows them around. That's what Ro said she should do. Ro said they might like a drink and to use the washroom when they first arrive.

"Where is everyone?" her dad asks.

"Jiiiickens," Ana says and points out the kitchen window.

Everyone is in the back yard working on the chicken coop. The chickens arrived today and are still in crates waiting until the coop is perfectly set up. Everyone is excited about the chickens, including Ana, who knew her parents were coming and waited impatiently inside the house, watching out the window for their car to drive down the driveway, rather than help with the chickens.

Ana grabs her parents' hands and pulls them out the kitchen door. They hurry after her, hastily depositing their water glasses on the kitchen counter on their way out. Ana drags them over to the crates to look at the birds. They have three dozen. Ana points to her favorite, a large rooster with bright red and green tail feathers. It struts proudly in its cage, pecking at bits of straw. It looks healthy and fat, like it would be good to eat, Ana thinks.

"Wow, he's a big bird," her dad says. "I bet he'll make a lot of noise in the morning."

"Yes, he will," Joe replies. "There'll be no more late risers around here!"

While Ana listens to her parents talk to her friends, she carefully inspects each bird. When the birds first arrived, she was too excited about her parents coming to visit to pay much attention to the birds. They all look healthy, even Kazuki's little white chickens with fluffy heads and black eyes. Ana would not like them as pets, but she is pleased they make Kazuki happy. They will get their own special coop because Kazuki thinks the other birds will be jealous of their beauty and pick on them. Plus, he intends to spoil them, but he only told Ana about that plan.

Ana leads her parents over to the garden and watches as they admire the vegetables and fruit. She hands them cherry tomatoes and raspberries to eat. She gives them some peas and shows them how she can shell them and pop the peas into her mouth with one hand. Her parents follow behind her munching on food she gives them. Ana sees them look at each other and smile. They are holding hands and leaning a bit towards each other, but not because they need help walking. Ana thinks they must want to be close to each other. She likes seeing them like this.

"Ana! We're putting the chickens in the coops! Come watch!" Evan calls.

After finishing off the last touches on the coops and triple checking the water dispensers and food trays, the chickens are finally settled in their coops.

"I wish it wasn't such a long drive to get here," Ana's mom says. "I just love this place and seeing what everyone is doing."

"Do you have a Facebook account?" Ro asks. "I frequently add pictures and sometimes upload videos to our page."