Chasing Anne

Do You Dance?

Anne awoke to the smell of bacon. Her first thought was that Mark had broken into her house again and was making her breakfast and so she grabbed her blanket off of her bed and wrapped it around herself to keep warm. Dawn whined at the door, the smell of meat filling her with hunger. Anne opened the door and let the dog out of her bedroom, but when she left it, she quickly realized that she was not in her own home. Dawn trotted ahead of her toward the smell of the meat and as Anne got closer to what she thought was the kitchen, she peeked in the doorway and sure enough, Mark stood in the kitchen making bacon and eggs. His sister, Brianna, wasn't in sight. She walked into the doorway and leaned against the door frame. Mark was humming an old hymn and seemed not to notice her. She cleared her throat, but he still couldn't seem to tell that she was in the doorway. Then Dawn nudged his hand and she could tell that a smile came over his face. He turned, beaming.

"Good morning!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

Anne nodded, pulling her blanket closer. "You're up early."

Mark shrugged. "I'm off to work in about twenty minutes. Somebody's furnace broke and well, it can't be very nice to have a broken furnace in the middle of a snow storm."

"Snow storm? It's April!"

"Have you looked outside yet?" Mark asked, raising a brow.

Anne shook her head and went over to the window. She pulled back the curtains and gasped. At least a foot of snow was piled outside their door and it was still falling heavily. "It's April!" she exclaimed again. "It's not January!"

Mark laughed. "Well, you can't quite argue with the weather."

"Where's Brianna?" Anne asked, seating herself at the kitchen table.

Mark chuckled. "She'll be awake soon. She's not exactly an early bird." He took the bacon off of the griddle and then took the eggs out of the frying pan. Dividing the food onto three plates, he carried two over to the table and covered the third with a glass lid. After he'd set down Anne's meal and set the salt and pepper on the table, he sat down with his plate and took Anne's hands in his, bowing his head. Anne followed suit.

"Lord, we thank you for another day to serve and glorify you. I pray that you would help both of us do that today. Keep the family with the broken furnace warm until I get there and help Brianna to wake up. I pray this in your son's name, Amen."

Anne quietly repeated amen to herself and then reached for the salt. Mark took the pepper and doused his eggs with a good deal of it. "Did you sleep well?" he asked.

Anne nodded. "You?"

Mark shrugged. "I slept all right. Nothing phenomenal."

Anne nodded and bit a piece off of the crispy bacon. Dawn whined and in response received a piece of bacon from Mark. Anne rolled her eyes. "I swear, Mark. If Dawn lived with you a moment longer, she'd become a pig."

"Is Blaze a pig?"

"Well, no, but-."

"Then I wouldn't make her a pig!"

"No, you'd just make yourself a pig," Brianna called from behind. "Good morning, Anne."

"Am I a pig?" Mark asked, clearly offended.

"No," Brianna admitted. "But you could be."

Mark looked from Anne to Brianna. "Maybe having you two stay together was a bad idea."

Brianna laughed, pulling a jug of orange juice out of the fridge. "Oh, please. I'm not that bad of a host. I'm far more organized than you are, Mark!"