“I’ll leave you two to your workouts, then.” Tad turned on his heel and headed for the door. “If you have any problems, just holler,” he called out over his shoulder.

“Tad’s a nice guy,” Andrea said, unlocking a door with her key. Hannah followed her into a room with stark black machines that looked highly threatening.

“We’ll start here.” Andrea led the way to something that looked like a bicycle that was fashioned out of the wrong parts. “Just watch me for a while and then you can try it.”

Oh, goodie! I can hardly wait! Hannah felt like saying sarcastically, but of course she didn’t. Andrea was trying to help her, and she should be more grateful.

“You put your hands here.” Andrea grasped the handlebars and placed her feet on the pedals. “And your feet here. And then you push back with your feet and pull forward with your arms.”

“Right,” Hannah said.

“It’s just like a rocking chair, except that you have to work at it.”

“Right,” Hannah said again, watching her sister push and pull to glide back and forth. It reminded her a bit of an animal in a zoo, mindlessly repeating the same behavior over and over again, hoping for some reward. Wasn’t there some way to tone up and lose twenty pounds without sacrificing her dignity in the process?

Andrea hopped off the machine and Hannah noticed that her sister wasn’t even breathing hard. “You try it now. It’s a great way to tone up, and it really stretches your muscles.”

Hannah had all she could do not to groan as she got into the proper position. The seat was too small, and it didn’t seem to conform to human anatomy. The handlebars were up too high, and she wasn’t sure she could pull herself forward on them. The pedals were set at an awkward height, and she knew her legs would cramp if she spent more than a few minutes riding the infernal contraption.

“All set?” Andrea asked her.

Hannah struggled to duplicate her sister’s actions. It had looked easy when Andrea had done it, but her sister’s seemingly effortless glide back and forth took real muscle to accomplish. She told herself that it would get easier once she got used to it, but she didn’t hold out any real hope that would be the case.

“That’s it. You’ve got it now.”

Hannah might have replied, but she was panting too hard from her efforts. Not only that, she didn’t trust herself to speak. She’d just glanced at her reflection in the mirrored wall and remembered the time their father had taken the whole family to the circus. They’d all laughed when the baby elephant had ridden a child-size tricycle around the ring, but it didn’t seem that funny at all in retrospect!

PISTACHIO WINKS