by Marta Perry
Instead, they had spent the day with one of her mother’s many cousins, giving her a chance, if not to forget her troubles, at least to push them to the back of her mind. The second cousins who were her age were all married and many of them had young children.
After a raucous game of tag with the little ones, Dorcas headed for the nearest chair, out of breath. Her cousin Jenny handed her a paper cup of lemonade, laughing a little.
“Can’t keep up with them?” she asked.
“I guess not.” She gestured with the cup. “Denke. This is just what I need.”
Jenny pulled a chair over next to her. “After spending all your days working with kinder, I’d think you’d want to get away from them on weekends. Instead you’re entertaining them.”
She smiled, shaking her head. “Not a chance. Besides, these are my kin. Amazing, isn’t it?” She glanced around the crowd—nearly forty of them, she’d guess. “We’re quite a mob when we all get together.”
“That’s what having big families will do.” Jenny patted her belly lightly, her figure now the same shape as her round face. “You’re getting behind, Dorcas. You’d best get started.”
Knowing exactly what Jenny meant, she shook her head. “You have them. I think God means me just to teach them.”
Jenny gave her a doubting look. “I don’t think so. God gave you a lot of love to share . . . even more than you need for teaching, I think.” She turned away to speak to one of her youngsters, but the sound of her words seemed to echo.
That memory slipped back to Dorcas as she stood on the school porch Monday morning, waiting for her scholars. Jenny meant well, but she didn’t understand. Dorcas’s scholars were enough for her. Not even those moments with Thomas could change that. She was certain sure.
A few of the younger children emerged from the path through the woods, followed in a moment by older sisters and brothers. The older ones accepted the responsibility of watching the younger, but that didn’t mean they wanted to walk right alongside them, it seemed. The older girls had their heads together, giggling over something.
Another little group came hurrying down the lane, probably afraid they were missing something. And in another moment, she spotted the group that walked to school along the blacktop road. They’d turned into the driveway, but instead of walking, they were running.
Racing, she wondered, or just excited about something? Three or four of them rushed up to her, with Esther right in the forefront.
Good. That meant that Thomas hadn’t driven Esther to school today, so she could feel comfortably sure she wasn’t about to run into him.
Esther reached her, closely followed by several of the older ones. “Teacher, Teacher!” Their faces were alert, and one or two of them looked a bit frightened.
“What is it?” She looked from one to the other. “Catch your breath first, and then tell me.”
Joseph Miller gulped and inhaled noisily. “They’re moving in at the house.” He turned, pointing down the drive to the small one-story house that stood facing the road, just next to the school drive.
“Yah, well, we knew someone would come in soon, ain’t so? Englisch, aren’t they?” The children certainly weren’t this excited just because someone was moving in.
Esther nodded, having gotten control of herself. “Just one old man was all we saw. He’s mean.”
“Mean?” Surely, they couldn’t have gotten into trouble already. She hadn’t even had time to greet the newcomer yet. “Why do you say that?”
“He yelled at us.” Several children nodded at Esther’s vehement comment. “We weren’t doing anything, but he yelled and told us to get out of the way of the movers.”
“Were you in the way?”
“No!” Esther was imaginative and dramatic, but then, thirteen-year-old girls often were for little or no reason.
But Joseph backed her up, and he had no imagination at all. “We were just standing and watching them carry things in. They had a great big television.”
That would have interested the young ones, she supposed. The important thing now was to smooth over the incident so that the children wouldn’t build up the poor man into a monster.
“And then the man came out and started yelling at us,” Joseph continued.
“It can be very hard for people to move, especially older people,” she explained calmly. “He was probably afraid you’d get hurt. I’m sure the next time you see him, he’ll feel better. And you be polite, all right?” She raised her voice. “Take your seats now, everyone. It’s time we got busy.”
The morning went on its usual routine, and Dorcas dismissed the possibly difficult neighbor from her mind. Most likely what she’d said would turn out to be true. It might have been disconcerting for the man to discover a clump of Amish children supervising his moving in.
She probably ought to call on him after school and welcome him. She’d intended to do it after he’d had a few days to settle in, but the scholars’ accounts made it desirable to get in her visit immediately. It was just as important to calm the new neighbor as it was to calm the children.
The usual opening routine quieted everyone down, she was glad to see. Anna, in the back by the oldest scholars, settled them when they continued to talk in excited whispers.
Anna had become used to the school routine since she’d volunteered to help, and she was proving to be a valuable assistant. When they started on arithmetic, Anna automatically moved to the primary scholars she’d guided through arithmetic the previous week.
Dorcas smiled at her across the width of the room. She must remember to tell Anna’s mother what a good job she was doing. Many sixteen-year-olds were too preoccupied by thoughts of the next singing and who might offer to take them home to focus on something like schoolwork, but Anna seemed to have a goal in mind—maybe a school of her own one day.
Catching a low buzz of talk, Dorcas moved along the aisle to where Esther was passing a paper to the girl next to her. Intercepting the paper, she frowned at them. “This is time for arithmetic, ain’t so? Is this paper arithmetic?”
“No, Teacher,” they mumbled in unison.
“Let’s see what it is, then.” She unfolded it to see Thomas Fisher’s name looking up at her. After a startled instant, she realized that it was an advertising flyer for construction jobs. She looked at Esther, an eyebrow raised.
“I’m sorry, Teacher. I helped Thomas make some posters to put up in town. To get jobs with, I mean.”
“I see that. It’s a kind thing for you to do, but not when you’re supposed to be working on arithmetic.”
“I’m sorry.” Esther said the right thing, but there was a slightly rebellious look on her face. Esther, Dorcas decided, would be worth keeping an eye on.
“Let’s get to work, then.” She started to take the paper away with her, then reconsidered and left it on the desk. She didn’t need to be looking at it; that was certain sure.
Nevertheless, it had brought Thomas back into her mind, and now she’d have to chase him out again.
The sun was still shining at lunchtime, so Dorcas announced that they might take their lunches outside to eat before recess. The reminder was important, because otherwise they’d toss lunches on the picnic table and forget to eat them. Still, it was a pleasant break in the day, even though it meant an interrupted lunch for her and for Anna.
Outside, Dorcas managed to eat half of her sandwich before she had to send several of the younger boys back to finish their lunches. She turned to frown at Joseph, who had his bag poised to throw at one of his neighbors. Joseph turned the gesture into a stretch and put the bag in the trash can.
Dorcas had just headed back to her own lunch when she realized someone was approaching them from the road—an Englischer unknown to her. She stepped forward to meet him, catching Anna’s eye. They’d had to practice what to do in case of a threat, something th
at would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But the horrible rash of school shootings had made everyone nervous, and she’d had several meetings with the school board to work out their procedures. Already Anna moved in front of the children, ready to hustle them to cover at the slightest sign of trouble.
Reaching the visitor, Dorcas gave a tentative smile. The elderly man didn’t look threatening, but he also didn’t look friendly. He was probably in his late sixties, with a fringe of gray hair cut very short around a bald head, and a gaunt frame.
He didn’t leave her in doubt for more than a moment about who he was or why he was here.
“Those kids of yours were trespassing on my property this morning.” He glared at the nearest of the scholars. “They were getting in the way when I’m trying to move in.”
Since he hadn’t mentioned a wife, Dorcas suspected he was going to live there alone, and by the look of it, he wasn’t going to be a very friendly neighbor.
“I’m very sorry, Mr. . . . ?” She spoke in her most peaceful tone.
“Haggerty,” he answered. “Listen, that’s my land, right up to the fence, and you better remember it. I don’t put up with trespassers.”
“I’m sorry,” she tried again. “I’m sure the children didn’t mean to disrupt your move. We’ve all been interested in who our new neighbor was going to be.” And how nice, she added silently without much hope.
“I didn’t move out here to have neighbors.” It was almost a snarl. “I moved out here to get away from them. I have a right to privacy, and if you’re in charge of this school, I expect you to see that I get it. That means no kids walking across my property.”
Unfortunately, his property ran along the very narrow berm of the road, just on a curve, making walking on the gravel berm a risk. The image flew through her mind in less than the time it took to breathe.
“But Mr. Haggerty, it’s difficult to walk along the berm just there because—”
“I don’t care why. Just keep them off my land.”
Before she could marshal any response, he’d turned and marched off. Anna, her face white and her eyes wide with shock, pressed close to her.
“That . . . that was awful. He scared me. And our scholars.”
By the look of it, Anna was taking it harder than the youngsters were. At least they were intent on getting a maximum amount of play in their recess rather than complaining about the neighbor.
“I wouldn’t worry about it.” She patted Anna’s arm. “I’m sure he’ll cool off once he gets settled in.” She tried to sound more hopeful than she felt. The last thing an Amish school needed was trouble with an Englisch neighbor.
Had she handled it badly? If only she could have made him listen to her . . .
But on second thought, she didn’t see any way she could have made him do anything. She hated the thought, but if the matter didn’t improve, she might have to take it to the school board for advice. They’d probably think . . . well, she didn’t know what they’d think.
* * *
—
Thomas, walking down the business street of Promise Glen, had worked his way through his list of places to display his posters. Everyone had agreed to put it up, but no one had seemed overly hopeful as to results. Still, he had to start somewhere.
He approached the harness shop, sure that Jacob Miller would agree to display one. After all, they’d been through school and their teen years together, when Jacob had joined him in more than one foolish prank. The fact that they hadn’t seen in other in years didn’t wipe out that early friendship, did it?
Sure enough, the instant Thomas stepped inside, Jacob was pounding him on the back, grinning.
“I thought it was about time I was seeing you. I hear you’ve come home to stay, ain’t so?”
“Yah, if everything goes well.” He stood back, surveying Jacob. “You grew up.” The skinny kid who’d been all elbows and knees now topped him in height and probably in weight, too. And there was nothing wrong with the muscles he’d developed, either. The Amish tended not to be very big, and Jacob probably stood out in any crowd of them.
“I could say the same for you.” Still smiling, Jacob gestured toward the back of the store. “Komm on back. There’s a couple chairs by the machines.”
The heavy-duty machines for sewing leather had a spot of their own in the back, with room for two workers at a time, if needed. They were powered by a belt that ran through a slot in the floor to the cellar below. He remembered being allowed to try one out when Jacob’s father was running the shop. It had been a lot harder than it looked to handle the heavy leather and keep the stitching straight.
“Sorry to hear about your daad,” Thomas said, feeling a little awkward to be expressing sympathy so long after the fact.
Jacob nodded, his open, friendly face darkening for a moment. “And Mamm not long after him. Still, she wouldn’t have been happy here without him, I guess. Anyway, I had already started to run the store, so I continued. And here I am.”
“I guess we’ve become the grown-ups, whether we want to be or not. But it does seem funny sometimes.”
Thomas had managed to escape a lot through being away, but he’d found the changes that age brought to his parents too evident since he’d been back. Not that either of them was likely to admit to aging.
“Yah.” Jacob shrugged. “Some days it feels pretty good, and some days not. I had a good business to step into, so I can’t complain.” He lifted an eyebrow, studying Thomas’s face. “I hear you’ve been working construction. You like it?”
“Best thing I ever did. My onkel is one of the best, and he made sure I know enough to handle just about anything to do with building.” He held out the poster. “That’s what I’m doing today. Putting these up around town, hoping to drum up some business.”
Jacob read it and nodded. “Fine idea.”
Carrying the poster, Jacob went to the long bulletin board that carried notices about anything and everything. He moved some around, took three off entirely, and tacked Thomas’s up right in the middle.
“There. And I’ll talk it up to anybody who comes in. Hope it’ll get you some business.”
“Me, too. Denke.” He wouldn’t want to sound desperate, but he didn’t like not having work on hand to do. It didn’t seem right, not after working with his uncle, who was always booked up far ahead. “I don’t have enough to keep me busy.”
Jacob straddled the chair. “Seems like there’d be a lot to do this time of year on the farm.”
“Yah, there is. It’s funny not having Daad yelling at me to get it done.” He shrugged, surprised at his own need to talk to someone about it. “But nobody seems eager to let me help. The young ones grew up while I was gone, I guess.”
Jacob picked up a buckle and began toying with it. He always had to have something to fiddle with, Thomas remembered. Still studying the buckle, he said, “I hear tell Jonas is a big help to your daad. Wants to be a farmer, ain’t so?”
Thomas nodded ruefully. “He does, and that’s fine with me. I sure don’t want to take over the dairy farm. I just have to convince Jonas of it.”
“A little jealous, is he?” The grown-up Jacob showed an insight that the awkward, enthusiastic boy never had.
“Yah. That’s another reason why I need to get some work of my own—so he’ll stop thinking I came back to take something away from him.”
“Not so easy being the prodigal son, ain’t so? I’ll do my best to spread the word.” Jacob frowned absently, looking at the poster. “It’s too bad you’ve been away so long. People forget.”
“It seems to me the problem is that they remember the wrong things. I’ll have to convince them I’m not a heedless teenager any longer.” He wasn’t going to retreat, not now that he’d come home.
He rose, holding out his hand to Jacob. “Denke, Jacob. I appreciate it. And I’m gl
ad to have somebody to talk to besides family.”
Jacob grabbed his hand and then slapped his shoulder. “It’s wonderful good to have you back.” He grinned. “And not married. I’m tired of hearing people ask when I’m going to get serious and marry some girl. Now they can ask you, instead.”
“Yah, I can see the question lurking in Mamm’s eyes already. Nothing she’d like better than a houseful of grandchildren, I guess.”
Jacob walked to the door with him. “Things will settle down. You’ll see. As for that old story . . . even if they talk about it at first, there’ll be something else to keep the tongues busy soon enough.”
He nodded. He surely did hope Jacob was right.
Thomas stood for a moment on the sidewalk, thinking if there was anyplace else to put a poster. But it seemed he’d covered them all. Promise Glen hadn’t changed much in the time he’d been gone, and he was in a mood to be glad of something that hadn’t.
Climbing into the buggy, he headed for home, satisfied with his day’s work. Not only had he started getting the word out about his business, but he’d spanned the years between them with Jacob. Remembering Jacob’s grin made him smile. That, at least, was still there, though not as frequent as he remembered.
Jacob had always been relaxed and easygoing, taking things as they came. It was surely natural enough that he’d be a bit more serious now, having lost both his mother and his father just a couple of years ago. He probably should have asked about Jacob’s younger sister, but he hadn’t thought of it. Was Jacob responsible for her now? He’d have to ask Mamm about the family.
Well, however little his relationship with Jacob had changed, he couldn’t say the same for his own family. Certainly not with Jonas and his prickly response to anything Thomas tried to do. And Esther had turned into an almost-teenager who perplexed him anew every day. Adam seemed the same easygoing kid he remembered, but he wasn’t sure what was going on behind his relaxed exterior.
