Katie's Forever Promise

by Jerry S. Eicher

  Samuel hung his head. “Yah, these are serious charges. But still…”

  Ray looked ready to say something, but Enos barged in. “I say we compromise then. I was going to propose trying to get Ruth Troyer—I mean Ruth Gingerich to return, perhaps next week.” Enos gave a sheepish smile. “But perhaps we could keep Katie on through the start of Christmas vacation. She’s probably already working with the children on a Christmas program. After that…”

  Katie turned away to hide the tears that crept down her cheeks. She’d forgotten about doing a Christmas program, but she wasn’t going to admit that now. It would be taken as more incompetence on her part.

  “Something must be done,” Ray finally said. “And I’m sorry about this, Katie. I did hope things wouldn’t happen like this today.”

  “How am I supposed to keep going with the schoolwork,” Katie asked, “knowing you’re going to fire me after Christmas?”

  A smile leaped to Enos’s face. “Are you offering to quit then? I suppose we could see if Ruth could come on Monday. She hasn’t been married but a few weeks, so that might impose some hardship on her, but she might be willing.”

  Katie hardened her voice. “We wouldn’t want to do that, now would we?” She wasn’t giving Enos the satisfaction of seeing her leave before she had to. “Nee, I’ll continue my work as long as possible.”

  “We’ll be praying for you,” Samuel said. “And I too am sorry things have come to this, Katie.”

  They all stood up, nodded at each other, and found their way out. Katie waited until the last buggy wheel was gone from the schoolyard before returning to the schoolroom, sitting at her desk, putting her hands on her face, and sobbing until there were no more tears.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Katie drove Sparky toward home, working hard to not take her anger out on her horse. If Ben would only come this afternoon so she could speak with him! But that wouldn’t happen. She’d just seen him yesterday. Perhaps she should dash into Dover and cry on his shoulder? But nee, that wouldn’t help anything in the long run. And Ben would worry more than he already did. They would have to weather this storm separately the best they could. Ben would come when he thought it best. In the meantime, she would suffer this sorrow alone.

  Katie decided she would share with Mamm and Jesse though. They would surely find out soon anyway. Oh, what sorrow would smite Mamm’s heart at this news. She’d suffer great disappointment and possible shame at her daughter’s failure. The whole community would know by next week. How could things have fallen this low? She’d been so close to success, to acceptance, to being loved by everyone. Now it was all going to disappear.

  Partly from her mistakes, but Enos, Norman, and Mabel bore their own fair share, to say nothing of Ruth Troyer Gingerich. Ruth would be preening her feathers in high glee on receiving word that her help was needed to rescue the school’s reputation after Katie’s failure.

  Katie pulled into the driveway and saw Mabel’s buggy parked near the barn. Why would she be here this morning? Had she come back to smooth things over from leaving so early yesterday? That must be what this was about. No doubt Mabel would be inside even now, making her apologizes to Mamm for Norman’s sudden departure.

  Katie stopped beside Mabel’s buggy and unhitched Sparky. She wasn’t going anywhere else today, in no way, shape, or form. There was housework that needed doing, and her heart was heavy. Sparky might as well enjoy some freedom by being let out into the pasture. Leading him into the barn, Katie pulled off the harness, brushed him down quickly, opened the back barn door, and shooed him outside.

  Katie paused to glance around inside the barn. There were clumps of manure tossed about, forming a rough trail leading toward the back barn door. Peering outside, Katie caught sight of Leroy and Willis unloading the manure spreader in the back field. One of them sat on the seat while the other ran the levers holding a pitchfork. The men must be taking the day to clean the horse stalls, she figured. There was no sign of Jesse. Maybe he’d gone into town for supplies.

  Leaving the barn, Katie went up the front porch steps, pausing at the sound of soft crying coming from inside. Looking through the window, she saw Jesse’s hat tossed on the rocker while he paced the floor. Mabel, tears streaming down her face, was sitting on the couch beside Mamm.

  Katie hesitated. Should she enter? Was this even her business? But she was family, and Mabel was her sister.

  Mamm looked up when Katie walked in. Jesse didn’t say anything; he kept up his pacing, clearly agitated.

  “What’s happened?” Katie approached Mabel and touched her shoulder gently.

  The response from Mabel was louder sobs.

  “What is it?” Katie turned to Mamm.

  Mamm shook her head and looked away. Maybe they weren’t going to tell her, Katie thought. Should she go upstairs then?

  “This.” Mabel seemed to have made up her mind to speak. She pulled up her dress sleeve. A long, red mark circled her upper arm with smaller ones on either side. “Norman did this.”

  Katie gasped.

  Mabel was sobbing again as she slid her sleeve back down.

  “She has others,” Mamm whispered. “On her hip from falling when he pushed her.”

  Katie sat down beside Mabel. She would surely collapse if she didn’t. No wonder Jesse was pacing the floor. She stole a glance at his face. It looked like a thundercloud. She’d never seen him so worked up.

  “Oh, Mabel!” Katie wrapped her arms around her. “How absolutely awful. I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m going over there right now to talk to that young man,” Jesse stated.

  “Please don’t,” Mabel begged. “He’ll only get worse. I didn’t tell him I was coming here, and Norman will be even angrier if he finds out. He’ll say I’m worthless and went home crying to my daett.”

  Jesse’s words shot out of his mouth. “No man is treating my daughter like this!”

  “Jesse,” Mamm interrupted, “Mabel may be right. What are you going to do when you get there? Mabel has to live with him.”

  “Ignoring this kind of problem doesn’t make it go away,” Jesse turned on his heels. “Come, Mabel. I’m following you home.”

  “Norman’s not home, Daett. I told you. And I don’t want you coming. I’ll leave now, and I won’t bother you any longer.”

  “This is not a bother, Mabel,” Jesse said.

  “Jesse, at least wait until you cool off,” Mamm said. “You’re too angry right now. Wait awhile.”

  Jesse looked at Mamm, let out a sigh of exasperation, but nodded.

  Mabel rose and put on her coat.

  Mamm and Mabel left the house together, walking across the lawn. Mamm held on to Mabel’s arm the whole way.

  Jesse walked over to the window to watch them go, and Katie joined him. When the two reached the buggy, Mabel climbed in. Mamm undid the tie rope and handed it to Mabel. Mamm stood and wiped her eyes as she watched Mabel leave.

  “I’m sorry you had to see this, Katie,” Jesse said, still looking out the window.

  Katie’s voice trembled. “You will do something for Mabel, won’t you? I feel so sorry for her.”

  “I’ll talk to Norman. This behavior has to stop.”

  “I never thought he’d go that far. Not really.”

  Jesse’s voice cut through air. “Was he like that when you dated him?”

  Katie nodded. “Not that bad, but I knew he had a temper. He put on quite a tantrum the night he cut off our relationship.”

  “I would have thought better of the Kuntz family.”

  Jesse doesn’t know the Kuntz family that well, Katie thought. But probably most of the community didn’t. She decided to keep her opinion to herself. “I did talk to Mabel before the wedding, but she didn’t believe me. She thought I was just upset about her marrying Norman.”

  Mamm came back in still crying, and Jesse gathered her in his arms.

  Katie walked upstairs to change out of her school dress. Maybe she could bury herself
in work today and forget everything. But it was the day after Thanksgiving, and the only work planned was cleaning the house from the Thanksgiving festivities.

  Carolyn’s bedroom door had been closed when she came up, so Carolyn must be in her room, no doubt shooed there by Mamm when it became apparent what Mabel’s story had been. Joel was probably sent up to his room too. What a Thanksgiving season this was turning into. Normally this was a time to give thanks, and yet all around her there seemed to be so much not to offer the least bit of thanks for. How strange. And yet Da Hah was allowing it. And He must know what was best, even though it made no sense in human terms.

  Katie knocked on Carolyn’s door. “Carolyn, may I come in?”

  “Yah.”

  Pushing open the door, Katie stepped inside. Carolyn had the dark drapes drawn. She was lying on the bed reading a book. She didn’t look up, and she’d probably been crying from the looks of the wetness still on her cheeks.

  “Is Mabel gone?” Joel asked from his seat on the floor. He had nothing in his hands, so he must have been watching Mabel leave through the slit between the drapes.

  Katie walked over and jerked them open. “Yah, Joel. And you two should be outside on a day like today.”

  “Mamm made us come up here,” Joel objected, getting to his feet.

  “Well, you can go outside and play now.” Poor Joel. How was she going to explain to him about her not being his teacher after Christmas?

  “What happened with Mabel?” Carolyn asked.

  Should she tell her? Mabel would be shamed, but that couldn’t be helped. Besides, it wasn’t Mabel’s problem, it was Norman’s. Katie sat down on the bed. “Don’t ever marry an angry man, Carolyn. Especially after you’ve been warned.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t. What did Norman do?”

  “He must have grabbed her very hard. Her arm has red marks on it. I don’t know if Mabel fell down or Norman pushed her, but Mamm said Mabel also has bruises on her hips.”

  “Norman’s a beast!” Carolyn minced no words. “Daett should have let Mabel marry Mose. He wouldn’t have done that to her.”

  “Maybe Mabel didn’t love Mose like she loves Norman.”

  “Oh, she loved Mose all right,” Carolyn said. “I had to try to sleep through her crying at night.”

  “Mose could have come back once Mabel was of age,” Katie said. “But he never did.”

  “I wouldn’t have either.” Carolyn sat up on the bed. “Mabel isn’t the nicest person in the world.”

  “She’s your sister, Carolyn. Don’t say such things.”

  “I suppose I shouldn’t,” Carolyn allowed. “So what are we doing for the rest of the day?”

  Katie’s face brightened. “We have to clean the house first, but afterward maybe you can help me with ideas for the Christmas program at school. I haven’t started a thing yet.”

  “Okay!” Carolyn said, obviously pleased at being included in such an important project. Not every day did one get a chance to help the schoolteacher with a presentation the whole community would see.

  “Let’s get started on cleaning the house,” Katie said.

  When they arrived downstairs, Mamm was staring out the living room window. Katie grabbed a broom from the closet and began working. The house had been cleaned from top to bottom the week before Mabel’s wedding, so it didn’t take that much effort to restore things to normal after yesterday’s celebration. Carolyn pitched in, and after awhile Mamm joined in. They finished in no time.

  Katie then got out a tablet and several books from the desk. Then she went into the kitchen and called Carolyn. They spread everything out on the table and were just getting started when they heard the sound of buggy wheels moving down the driveway away from the house. That must be Jesse driving over to Norman and Mabel’s place. No wonder Mamm was standing by the front window again. Her heart would be deep in prayer, crying out to Da Hah for wisdom and mercy.

  Few families in the community had this type of marriage problem. And for Mamm and Jesse to have this happen to Mabel would be a matter of deep shame. Jesse was taking a big risk in even going over to speak with Norman. But such was his love for his daughter—both deep and passionate. He wouldn’t stand by and do nothing even if it brought disgrace on his own head.

  “So where should we start?” Carolyn asked, looking at Katie with expectation.

  Katie forced herself to concentrate. “Let’s see, we need something to open up with, I guess.”

  Carolyn stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. “I’d want to open with a bang. Maybe by announcing the birth of Jesus right from the start. Wouldn’t that be fun and different?”

  Katie pasted on a smile and tried to concentrate. Right now she really didn’t care about putting on a program. But yah, that did sound like a gut idea. “Carolyn, I knew I asked you to help me for a gut reason.”

  Carolyn beamed as they continued to work, laying out a rough sketch of poems and Scripture readings which would be memorized by the students. Since Carolyn had been a student last year, she knew the pupils well enough to help match the parts with the right children.

  “Jane and Clarice should each say a long poem,” Carolyn declared. “Clarice’s piece could be on the hope of the coming Messiah, and Jane’s could be on the dark times before there was a Savior born. Don’t you think so, Katie?”

  “That’s fine with me,” Katie said. “But shouldn’t that come before the opening about the birth of Jesus?”

  Carolyn shook her head. “Everyone knows the story, Katie. It doesn’t matter. The effect is what will carry the day. You have the first graders announcing the birth of the Jesus in their little squeaky voices—hopefully getting them to smile a lot. Right after that, you have Clarice and Jane stepping out with their parts. People will follow with no problem at all.”

  Katie couldn’t help asking, “Did Ruth do this any of the years she taught school?”

  Carolyn laughed. “Nee. That’s why I’m interested in something different. She always followed the story from the beginning to the end without fail. Every year the same thing.”

  “Then it’s fine with me,” Katie declared. If Ruth never did this, then that was exactly the thing she wished to do. That was a contrary attitude and quite unchristian, but right now that was how she felt.

  They worked through the afternoon, and Mamm came to join them until she heard Jesse’s buggy come down the driveway. When Jesse walked in, Carolyn and Katie heard some whispering. Carolyn looked away, holding her ears with both hands. But Katie listened as Jesse answered Mamm’s questions.

  “Yah, I told Norman what I had to say.”

  “Mabel didn’t accuse him of anything?”

  “Nee, and I don’t know why. She acted like nothing had happened. She was all smiles when I got there, and she stuck up for him the whole time. She even said she’d fallen by accident. Norman did admit they’d been arguing, and he may have gotten a little loud. But that he was trying to catch Mabel from falling, and that’s where the marks on her arm came from.”

  Mamm’s soft sobs came next and were followed by silence.

  “Can I open my ears now?” Carolyn whispered.

  “Yah.” Katie smiled faintly. “Everything’s okay, I think. For now.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Ben parked his bicycle beside his daett’s barn. Dusk fell early now, but he had lights on his bicycle and a flashlight so he figured he’d be okay. More than a week had passed since he’d been at Katie’s for Thanksgiving. The Englisha people were beginning to put up their Christmas decorations in their living rooms, but he hadn’t paid a lot of attention while driving past the houses. His mind was occupied with other things. It was time he made another trip to see Bishop Miller. He couldn’t make things worse for Katie, could he? How could a simple talk harm anyone? And it might help.

  Someday this legal mess would be over, and things could settle down to normal. Until then, there was little any of them could do about the situation. Katie had her
meeting with the school board members last week, and Ben wanted to ask his mamm how things had gone. He should have gone over to see Katie sometime this week, but he’d been afraid of making things worse. Katie claimed he wouldn’t, but he wasn’t convinced.

  “It’s good to see you, Ben!” his mamm hollered from the front porch, interrupting his thoughts. “We just finished supper.”

  “I’ll be right in,” Ben hollered back. His mamm was waiting for him when he came up the steps.

  “Have you had supper?” she asked.

  Ben nodded. He’d made sure he’d eaten beforehand. He knew Mamm would be tempted to invite him in otherwise. Bishop Miller might not say anything about his eating at home, but why run the risk? He had pushed things far enough by spending Thanksgiving at the Mast’s place. He was thankful his daett allowed him the use of Longstreet and the buggy during his visits to the farm.

  “We’re having devotions,” Mamm told him, seeming to read his thoughts. “You can stay for those, surely?”

  Ben answered by following Mamm inside and taking his usual seat on the couch. He gave a quick smile and nod to his siblings. Daett read the Scripture, and Ben listened to the familiar words from Luke, chapter 14: “And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden…” The text was a parable about a man who was invited to a feast. This didn’t relate to Ben’s situation. He’d hoped the selection would perhaps be a message to him from heaven to give him direction, but it didn’t seem to be.

  Daett finished reading and closed the Bible.

  Ben knelt along with the rest of them as Daett prayed, asking for safety and blessing on all of them and thanking Da Hah for all the grace already given. When they stood up, Ben followed Mamm into the kitchen.

  “Have you heard anything about Katie and the situation at school?”

  Mamm’s eyes grew large. “Don’t you know?”

  Ben frowned. “I haven’t stopped by to see Katie this week. I’m afraid I’m making enough trouble for her as it is.”

  Mamm smiled sadly. “You’re probably right, Ben. The school board is letting Katie go after Christmas. I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you such bad news.”