Chapter 17
Saturday, December 23
Heidi woke realizing it was Saturday, the day before Christmas Eve, and she was still in her apartment in New York. No Derek to give her a gentle kiss before he left for work. No girls still asleep. Neither was there a baby to cuddle.
“They’re all not real,” she reminded herself out loud.
After a few minutes of thinking about them, she forced herself out of bed and jumped into the shower. As the hot water jets pelted her neck and ran down her back she mentally washed away all traces of her Amish life, allowing them to swirl around the drain and disappear. She didn’t even want to figure out how she’d gotten back there. Maybe she’d never know except for it having something to do with her grandmother’s diary.
While she dried herself with a white fluffy towel, she realized her visualization in the shower hadn’t worked. She couldn’t get Derek and the children out of her head. Back in the community, there was a sense of belonging because she was someone’s mother, someone’s wife, and someone's daughter. There weren’t any "mod cons" in the little family home, but neither did she need them. There was a certain sense of contentment in the small house, and she could’ve gotten used to the slow pace.
Once she was dressed in her usual business suit, she headed out to the living room where she had left Agnes’s diary. Picking it up, she hugged it to herself. “Why can’t I have a bit of both worlds? Why do I have to choose one or the other?”
She stared down of the diary and thought about Agnes. She was a brave lady to have traveled around the states back in the thirties, or hadn't it been the forties? There were buses back then but there wasn’t the transport network that was in place these days. It would’ve been a lot slower back then too with all the old roads and no freeways. It seemed Agnes’s mother had put a great deal of thought into the places to send Agnes, and from her writing, Heidi could tell Agnes had matured with every new place she visited.
Had Agnes been looking for a husband? Heidi wondered. From her diary notes, it seemed she wasn’t interested, but what if she wasn’t admitting it to herself?
Now she was curious where Agnes had met grossdaddi. She’d never know, however, because she would never pick up that diary again. It was entirely too risky. There was something about that diary that had given her the apparition and caused her to be in that other life, but thankfully, it had also brought her back.
* * *
She sat down on the couch still perplexed about what had happened to her. It was God showing me what my life would’ve been like if I’d stayed, she told herself. But why was He showing her? It wasn’t as though she could change her mind and turn back the clock.
That morning, she’d woken much earlier than normal and had a little time before she had to leave. She changed her mind, and leafed through Agnes’s diary to pick up where she’d left off.
Maybe all of it was God’s doing, or maybe the answer concerning her visit to the other world could be found within the pages of the diary.
* * *
I arrived in Munfordville and it took so long to get here and now I’m really tired. It was arranged that I ride here in a car with Englischers, a married couple and their teenage daughter, as there are no buses and that was the quickest way to get here. They were all nice and stopped along the way whenever I needed to go to the bathroom, which was quite a few times.
Elizabeth, Mamm’s cousin, seems really nice. She lives above her store and I’m in one of the two bedrooms. Mamm tells me she’s never married. I don’t know why that is so. All these people tell me that cooking good food is a way to a man’s heart and since she’s a good cook it doesn’t make sense.
Elizabeth’s hair is dark, almost black, with streaks of gray at the front. I think she is about sixty, because I know there are several siblings between them so she’s much older than Mamm. I asked if I could help her in the store tomorrow and she said I could. On the weekend, she will show me how to make jam. I told her I’d made it before and then she told me that she told my mother she had many secrets to tell me about how to make jams and preserves.
We had a nice talk and then she showed me the bedroom. As I write this I’m nearly falling asleep. More tomorrow.
* * *
Today was my first full day at Elizabeth's house. It seems funny to call her Elizabeth as though she's about my age. Normally I would call her Mrs. something or other or Auntie Elizabeth. She's not my aunt, but somehow she seems like one. Actually, since she's my mother's first-cousin, that makes her my "first-cousin once removed." I’d feel much more comfortable calling her Aunt Elizabeth. I asked her if she wanted me to call her that and she laughed and said no. She said Elizabeth was fine, so I'm getting used to calling someone much older by her first name. Is that her way of saying she's viewing me as an adult instead of a child?
Elizabeth's normal routine is to eat breakfast and then open her store, even if it's before eight o'clock. Today we opened the doors right at eight o'clock, after our breakfast of scrambled eggs and Elizabeth's freshly-made doughnuts. First she showed me how to hang up the shingle and place the A-frame sign close to the road, advertising the jams and pickles that she sells.
The bottom floor of the house is taken up with the store, and there is a little kitchen out the back. When there are no customers she's back there cooking, and she leaves off the cooking when the bell of the front door rings. Today I was able to sell things for her, and she kept cooking. That seemed to make her happy. She told me she's usually there by herself with no help.
She didn't make a lot of money today, but she says that it's just enough for her to live on. That explains why she doesn't hire help.
I made the suggestion that she knock out the wall between the store and the kitchen because people might like to watch her cook and see how the jams and preserves are made.
She told me people wouldn't want to see that and also the kitchen got too messy. I didn't argue with her, but I thought she might get more customers if she made the store more interesting. That's what I'd do if I owned the store.
For the evening meal, we went two houses down the road to Eunice’s house. It seems Eunice and Elizabeth are best friends. I am here for nearly another week, and if this place is anything like the other places, Malachi Arnold will soon appear. I don't know where he will stay.
I'm starting to think that my mother's secret plan was Malachi Arnold, like I wrote before. I’m guessing that she wants me to marry him, and that's why he appears everywhere. I wonder if he knows what is going on or whether my mother has given him some other reasons to be at all these different places. She can be quite bossy when she wants to be, and many people look on my parents as parental figures and that’s probably because of Dat being a deacon. Anyway, I will soon find out. That's all for tonight, my eyes are fast closing, and I need some sleep.
P. S. I know my sly-as-a-fox Mamm has something to do with Malachi’s travels, just as she arranged mine.
* * *
It's the next night now — Friday. Malachi Arnold has not appeared, so I'm beginning to think I might've been wrong. Perhaps the long journey to Munfordville put him off coming here. The good thing about being here is that Elizabeth is teaching me a lot about the art of jam making. And that life can be happy as an unmarried Amish woman.
* * *
Now it is Sunday; I didn't write yesterday because nothing else happened and Saturday was the same as Friday. I've been to the very small meeting today, and was surprised to see that there were only three families plus a couple of single men. The single men kept their distance. I wonder if they think I'm there to find a husband. There was one surprise for me at the meeting, and that was Malachi Arnold showed after all. I was shocked to see him. He's staying at the bishop's house. When I asked him why he was there, he looked down at his feet and mumbled something about traveling around. He gave the same story as before.
Now I know for certain he's following me. He must be in love with me. He’s a nice man, but I'm w
aiting to see if more develops. Surely there should be something extra in a man. If I was choosing with my head like I intended to, I would think Malachi Arnold would be a good choice especially since my parents like him. Now I'm not so sure if that's the best way to pick a husband. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry even if my parents are.
It was no surprise to me that Elizabeth invited Malachi for dinner tomorrow night. I'll try to find out then what is going on and what my parents told him.
When we came home from the meeting earlier, Elizabeth told me that she loves to sew, but by the time she’s put in a full day at work she’s too tired. I told her that once she shows me how to do everything, I will run the store for her until I leave and she can sew as much as she wants. That made her really happy. Although, I could tell she was hesitant in leaving me to do everything. I told her I’m a fast learner and I can do it all. I hope she allows me to do it because she is such a nice lady and I would like to do something for her before I leave. Also, it would be good for me to know how to make everything and how to serve the customers that come in.
Because I feel so comfortable with Elizabeth, I told her about Malachi Arnold and how he appears everywhere I’ve been. She agrees with me that it sounds like a plan of Mamm’s. She had a real laugh about it.
Now, as I’m writing this, I think Mamm must’ve told her the plan too because she did ask Malachi to come to dinner. I know for a certainty that Mamm told everybody at the previous places I stayed of her plan to have me marry Malachi. It wasn’t that much of a secret, if that’s what Mamm was talking to Dat about that night when I overheard them talking about me. A ‘secret plan’ she called it. She should’ve called it an 'obvious plot' rather than a secret plan. Not really a plot either, she should’ve called it … I don’t really know. I don’t like anyone interfering in my life, not even Mamm. Dat would’ve kept out of it. I’m sure he didn’t have anything to do with it.
Anyway, I told Elizabeth I would make the evening meal for Malachi if she didn’t mind. She said I could. For dessert, I’m making the doughnuts that I learned to make at Aunt Elsie’s. I don’t know what I’ll make for the rest of it. It depends what I can buy at the markets. I’m looking forward to having the kitchen to myself. Elizabeth said that weekdays early in the week aren’t busy, so I can have the kitchen all to myself from mid-afternoon. I hope I can talk to Malachi alone and find out the truth of why he’s here. I’m sure he didn’t buy any horses either, from Aunt Sally and Onkel Abel.
I’m writing the recipe for doughnuts below so I never forget it. We never have them at home. I’ll cook them all the time when I get back.
* * *
Doughnuts: (Makes around fifteen)
Ingredients:
Half a pound of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
One pinch of salt
One pinch of nutmeg
4 tablespoons of butter
¼ cup of sugar
Two eggs
Half a cup of milk
Caster sugar (also called superfine sugar)
One lemon
* * *
Method:
Sift together: flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
Rub in butter, add sugar, then well beaten eggs, and sufficient milk to mix into a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured board
Roll out a cord half an inch thick
Cut into rings with the doughnut cutter.
Fry until doughnuts are golden brown.
Sprinkle with caster sugar and serve hot with slices of lemon.
* * *
I’ve only just finished cleaning up after dinner and Elizabeth and I have gone to bed without our usual evening tea and chatting because it’s so late. Malachi came to dinner and, just as he walked in the door, other visitors arrived. We ended up with three extra people for dinner and I was so pleased I’d made enough. Aunt Elsie told me to always make extra. The visitors were Wilma and her husband, Joseph, and Wilma’s sister, Florence. It was a surprise visit as Wilma lived a distance away and she and Elizabeth normally wrote to one another.
Tonight, everyone enjoyed the roast I made, or said they did. I was pleased too tonight because Florence gave me her recipe for sauerbraten and spaetzle. It’s a lot of trouble to make, but it’s worth it. Spaetzle is like dumplings, but they are really noodles. They go so well with the Sauebraten.
Sauerbraten (for this recipe the beef needs to be marinated for two days)
Ingredients:
2 lbs beef
Marinade:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup vinegar
2 tbsp mustard seeds
2 small onions
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cups of mixed celery, stems and leaves
1 tbsp parsley root, cut
1 leek
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Mix the red wine, water, vinegar, cloves, mustard seeds, and bay leaves.
Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
When it cools add the vegetables.
Rub the marinade all over the beef and seal the dish and leave in your refrigerator for two days, turning over at least a few times a day.
* * *
After two days: Remove beef from marinade, drain marinade through a sieve. Keep the marinade liquid (discard the vegetables).
* * *
Rinse the meat and pat dry.
Heat butter and brown the beef briskly on high temperature.
Add some marinade, reduce temperature.
Cover with a lid and let it cook for ninety min, pouring small amounts of marinade over the beef frequently until the marinade is used up.
Remove beef from pan, wrap it in a tea towel to keep warm. (modern equivalent aluminium foil).
Mix cornstarch with cold water, add it to the broth while stirring continuously
Spice with salt and, pepper, and then add a pinch of sugar.
* * *
Spaetzle (serves six)
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch freshly ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ½ pints hot water (just more than a gallon)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* * *
Method:
Mix together flour, salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Beat eggs well, and add alternately with the milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.
Press dough through a large- holed sieve.
Drop a few at a time into simmering liquid.
Cook 5 to 8 minutes.
Drain well.
Lightly fry cooked spaetzle in butter.
Sprinkle fresh parsley over spaetzle before serving.
It was hard to get a chance to talk to Malachi and ask if my mother had suggested he follow me from place to place. He told everyone at the table he was visiting the countryside and that my mother and father had suggested different communities where they knew people. I still didn’t have my answer, because it could’ve been a coincidence. I might have made a fool out of myself if I’d said anything to him.
Then Malachi said something that surprised me; he’s leaving tomorrow and going somewhere else. I couldn’t find out where because too many people were talking at once. I was a little upset that I wouldn't see more of him. I’ve known him so long, yet I don’t really know him properly. I know he’s a good person and he’s nice and polite. I don’t even know what he thinks of me. I guess he thinks I’m okay. Okay as a friend, but does he think I could be more than that? In a couple of days, I leave for Oakland, Maryland. That’s another long, long journey. I’m glad I’m not traveling in the winter. The days have been mild. I’ll be staying with the bishop and his wife.
From there I’m going to Morgantown, W
est Virginia, which is not far from Oakland. Then I’m going to York, which is right close to home. I’m at the halfway point of my trip now and have learned many things.
Things I have learnt so far; I’ve learned a lot about cooking, how to make bread and pies, and how to run a household. I have also learned that I’m not lazy as all my family kept telling me. And I'm learning to view myself as an adult. Also ... I think I might like Malachi. At least I’m curious now. Mamm and Dat had many people over to the house because of Dat being a deacon and Malachi is just another one of those people who spend time at the house in fellowship.
I never liked anybody before in that way, but now I’m starting to think about him all the time. Is that love? Or the beginnings of it?
Amy and Harold liked each other from the time they were young teenagers. Everybody always knew that they would get married and now they’re getting married soon. I’ll be the last child of my family to remain unmarried. That’s okay, though, because I am the youngest and that is to be expected.
If whoever is reading this doesn’t know about the history of my family, Amy and Harold would have got married earlier, but Harold left with his brother to build a community up north. Amy asked him not to go, but Harold went anyway. They wrote to each other and one year later Harold came back. It took another year for Amy to agree to marry him. I asked why she didn’t marry him quickly, and she never gave me a proper answer. I know she was upset that he went away when she didn’t want him to, and I think she was deliberately making him wait longer because of that, maybe to be sure he wouldn't go off again.
In Time for an Amish Christmas Page 13
