You won’t believe what happened next…

 

            It wasn’t the kind of wind that would tip your hat or send it bouncing down the walk.  It was more of a slow, gentle breeze; the kind to carry with it the aroma of freshly baked cookies and that is exactly what Sally noticed as she was making her way to church that Sunday morning.

 

            In fact, the scent was so welcoming that it drew her completely off course.  With her eyes closed she kept following the sweet, heavy goodness that she had discovered in the gentle air.  It all seemed so real, like the very air molecules had themselves turned into chocolate chips.  It was drawing her down an unfamiliar street, far from the ringing church bells that were now just some distant annoyance.

 

            The scent drew her across the street and up to a front yard where a squeaky iron gate announced her arrival.  Margret, the large Irish setter on the porch awoke only long enough to see that it wasn’t someone who was dressed to toss a ball or play in the lawn sprinkler, so she lay her head back onto her paws and once again went to sleep.

 

            Mr. Banks, on the other hand, the very large house cat who had been snoozing on the living room sofa, knew all too well that the squeaking gate was an intruder alert and he was now scrambling from window to window, bouncing off table tops and dashing across the fireplace mantle trying to see just who dare enter his yard.

 

            It was the sudden thunks and clunks of Mr. Banks that Rebecca heard.  She was working down in the basement, much too engrossed in her work to have heard the front gate, but the ruckus being made upstairs was unmistakable.  Rebecca set her beaker back into its holder and turned off the flame on the burner.  By the time she reached the living room Mr. Banks had already fluffed himself up to look as big and scary as he could and stood hissing at the front door.

 

            Rebecca reached down and picked him up under one arm and pulled the front door open with the other.  There, standing on her front porch next to Margret stood Sally.  She was smiling widely and although Mr. Banks was still squirming and making a fuss, Rebecca pushed open the screen door.  “May I help you?”

 

            Sally blinked up at the lady holding a cat under her arm and said,

“I smell cookies.”

 

 

 

End of Chapter 1