Chapter 4

The following morning proved to be remarkably normal. Too normal, in light of what had happened between Sara and Mark; and it worried him. It was a Saturday, and Mark's parents were up early as usual, laying out the weekend work chores for everyone. Mark noticed the conspicuous absence of Sara, although he knew that she was home. He was very conscious of not making obvious his concern though, but all through the weekend he could feel that Sara was avoiding him. By Sunday evening, he felt like a leper.

In the week that followed, nothing changed much; Mark continued work mowing lawns in the neighborhood to earn a little spending money and Sara spent most of her time hanging out at her friend Sally's house. Mark continued to feel a bit nervous when Sara would enter the room, and would be on pins and needles when the whole family would be together. But as the days went on, and nothing happened, his nervousness waned. He did notice that Sara was beginning to spend more and more of her time alone, in her room, and less with everyone else. Marks parents seemed to notice little, perhaps chalking it up to normal adolescence, but Mark knew better. For the first week, he worried that he had seriously screwed up his kid sisters life, twisted permanently by his uncontrolled sexual tension, and he began to avoid Sara as well.

The second week began similar to the previous, but as that weekend approached, Mark finally began to sense a change. Sara was beginning to return to her normal talkative self, openly giggling and laughing, relaxing with the folks.

It was Friday afternoon, as Mark was out in the garage putting away the mower after having worked all day, when he heard one of the cars pull into the driveway. Mark looked over his shoulder to see his mother stepping out of the car. Mark said hello to her and turned back to what he was doing as his mother walked into the garage. She walked past him to the door but then stopped, holding open the door.

"Mark?" She called out.

"Yeah, Mom?" He replied.

"When your finished, can you come in and see me? I want to ask you something." She said.

Without being able to put his finger on it, Mark sensed something unusual about her request. And it made him nervous. He finished cleaning off the mower and stepped into the house to wash his hands. He was standing at the kitchen sink, scrubbing away the dirt and grease he'd collected working on the mower when his mother walked up next to him.

"Mark, I've got a little problem." She said to him.

Mark gave her a quick glance and continued to scrub the soap on his hands, returning his gaze to the sink.