by Jan Drexler
When she reached the corner of the buckwheat field, where the path sloped down toward the river and the mint fields, a movement at the corner of her eye made her duck down, crouching next to a fence post. She saw it again. A policeman was ahead of her, moving slowly toward a shed at the edge of the mint field.
The light from the setting sun was fading, and the scene in front of her became less distinct in the faltering light, but as she watched, she saw more men heading toward the shed with slow, stealthy steps. In the quiet, loud voices rose from the shed, and then a gunshot punctuated the dusky air.
Judith clung to the fence post as the scene in front of her exploded in gunfire and shouts. She couldn’t distinguish one policeman from another with their uniforms, and she didn’t see Guy anywhere.
Then silence fell again. Two men emerged from the confusion, supporting a handcuffed man between them. Once they’d gone by, Judith ran toward the shed.
When she saw Guy lying on the ground with two men standing over him, she started toward him, but a policeman caught her, holding her back.
“Let me go.” Judith tried to pull out of his grasp. “I have to see him.”
One of the men standing near Guy waved her over and the policeman let her go. “Do you live around here? Do you know where we can take him to get some help?”
Judith’s hands trembled as she saw Guy lying motionless. She knelt next to him, afraid to touch him. “Was he shot? Is he hurt?”
“Nope. Not shot. He probably broke an eardrum when Hoover fired his weapon.” As the man turned Guy over, a policeman shone a flashlight on him. Guy squinted his eyes against the bright beam.
“Judith?” His voice was loud, like he was shouting at her from a long distance. Blood trickled from his right ear.
“Can you hear me?”
“What?” He pointed at his ear.
“We’ll take him to the house.” Judith stood. “Was anyone else hurt? I heard a lot of gunshots.”
The man helped Guy stand. “No injuries. Your boyfriend pulled off his part of the deal perfectly. Frank Hoover is in custody, and he’ll be put away for a long time.”
When they reached the house, Verna was waiting for them. Her eyes widened when she saw Guy being supported by the two Englischers.
“He can’t hear anything,” Judith said, “but otherwise he isn’t hurt.”
“What has happened? We saw the policemen come, but I couldn’t leave David to find out why they were here.”
“Everything is fine, ma’am. Guy helped us capture a dangerous fugitive, but that man is in custody now and we’ll be leaving. Do you want us to call a doctor with our car radio?”
Verna shook her head. “We’ll take care of him.” She took Guy’s arm, and he put it around her, giving her a hug.
“We’ll be on our way, in that case.” The second man touched the brim of his hat in a kind of salute, then shook Guy’s hand. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
Guy nodded, still looking a bit dazed.
When the men left, Judith and Verna helped Guy into the front room and the soft chair in the corner. Judith explained to David and Verna what she knew about Frank Hoover and the arrest, but she left the details of Guy’s involvement to him. Verna gave Guy a wet towel to clean away the blood that still trickled from his ear.
“You won’t be able to hear well for a few days,” Verna said in a loud voice, making sure Guy could see her mouth as she over-enunciated the words, “but the hearing should come back in your left ear. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Guy nodded, leaning back in the chair. He looked at Judith. “I told you not to come. I told you it was going to be dangerous.”
“I stayed out of the way until it was over.” She spoke loudly, like Verna had, and he nodded to show that he had heard her.
“I’m glad you’re here now, though.” He took her hand and squeezed it.
David sighed. “That’s a good way for the evening to end.”
* * *
Over the next two days, Guy slowly regained the hearing in his left ear.
When the doctor came to visit David, he examined Guy at Verna’s insistence. Sitting at the kitchen table, Guy tilted his head, wincing as the doctor inserted something into the sore right ear.
“Whew.” Doctor Bradley gave a low whistle. “You blew out that eardrum. Have you had any bleeding?”
Verna hovered over Guy. “He had some the first night after it happened, but I haven’t seen any since then.”
After looking in his other ear, the doctor sat in front of Guy and pressed his stethoscope against Guy’s chest. “Any other problems? Coughing? Trouble breathing?”
Guy shook his head. “Why?”
“I’m trying to figure out what you did to end up with your ear looking like that.”
“Someone fired a gun next to my head.” Guy had told Verna and David part of the story, that he was present when the police arrested a fugitive, but he hadn’t wanted to tell them everything until both he and David were better.
Doctor Bradley stowed his instruments back in his black bag. “I’m afraid the damage to this ear might be permanent, but the other one should be right as rain soon enough.” He snapped his fingers next to Guy’s right ear and then his left. “Can you hear all right out of your left ear?”
“It’s a lot better today than it was yesterday.”
“Take it easy while the right ear heals. And no swimming, either, or ducking your head underwater. Not until it heals completely.”
Verna twisted her fingers together. “How is David doing, do you think?”
The doctor smiled at her. “You are one of the best nurses I’ve seen. The threat of pneumonia has cleared up, and the broken bones are mending. Now the hard part starts.”
Guy took Verna’s hand as her eyes widened, and he grinned at the doctor. “You mean that the hard part will be keeping him in bed now that he’s feeling better, right?”
“That’s right.” Doctor Bradley shrugged on his worn overcoat. “He shouldn’t get chilled, and he needs to remain quiet. He needs fresh air and sunshine, though, so when you can, open up the windows and move his bed so he can catch the afternoon light. In a few weeks, once the bones are mostly healed, we’ll see about letting him sit outside.”
After the doctor left, Verna wiped her eyes. “I’ve been so worried, but I didn’t want to let David see.”
“He’s been pretty sick.”
She shook her head. “You’re the one I’ve been worried about.”
“Now that David’s feeling better, and I am, too, I’ll tell you both what has been going on.”
Facing up to the way he had treated David and Verna was one of the hardest things Guy had ever done. The three of them gathered in the front room as the afternoon waned, and he told them every detail of what had happened since the work day two weeks before.
“I should have realized that you have been my family more than Frank Hoover ever was.”
Verna squeezed his hand. “What is done is done and past. You never need to question our forgiveness, and we hope you will forgive us.”
Guy looked from Verna to David. “What do I need to forgive you for?”
David cleared his throat. “We should have spent more time looking into your situation. There must have been a way to claim that your father abandoned his rights, even if he never signed them away. We should have pursued any way we could to adopt you.”
“Don’t call that man my father.” Guy forced the words out through clenched teeth. “I hope he never gets out of jail.”
“Guy.” The one word brought Guy’s eyes up to meet David’s. “You must forgive him. Don’t harbor that hatred. Frank Hoover is a man who has done unspeakable things, but if you can’t forgive him the way you have been forgiven, then you will never be able to move toward your future.”
The vi
sion of Frank kicking his mother had replayed itself in Guy’s mind over and over. The last couple of nights, ever since that distant memory had come back, he had even dreamed that he attacked Frank, saving his mother. How could he ever forgive that man?
“Don’t forgive me, then,” Guy said, staring at the floor. “Frank Hoover doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”
“None of us do.” David spoke so quietly that Guy had to lean close.
“But you forgave me.”
“Of course we did, because we love you. But I’ve also been forgiven by God for my sins because of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I couldn’t truly forgive you unless I understood how vast my own sin is and how I’ve been forgiven.”
Guy shook his head. “You don’t have any sins. Someone like Frank does, but not you.”
“We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
“That’s from the Good Book, isn’t it?”
“From Romans. Do you know what it means?”
Guy rubbed the side of his nose as he leaned his elbows on his knees. “I guess it means we’re all sinners? But that can’t be true.”
“There was only one sinless man in all of history.”
“Jesus.”
“Ja, that’s right. Every other man and woman is a sinner and needs to be forgiven. We are weak mortals, subject to committing sin knowingly and unknowingly.”
“Then where is there hope?” Guy held his head in his hands. “We might as well all live like Frank, taking whatever we want.”
Even as he said it, Guy felt a wrench in his heart. That wasn’t the answer. That wasn’t the way David lived.
“There is hope.” Verna’s words were soft but fervent.
David nodded. “There is hope in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for our sins, so we could be forgiven. We take on His righteousness when He lives in us.”
Guy swallowed. “So, if God forgives me...”
“When you belong to God, He looks at you and sees the sacrifice of Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. All of them. You no longer need to fear the penalty for your sins.”
The penalty for his sins was much worse than what Frank Hoover was facing here on Earth. The orphanage made sure every child went to Sunday School, and Guy had heard of the destruction waiting for sinners. His knees trembled.
“How do I...” Guy swallowed. “I mean, what do I need to do?”
“Ask God to forgive you. Believe in what He has told you in His Word.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s everything.”
“And then what?”
“Then you belong to God. You are His.”
Guy couldn’t stop the prickling behind his eyes. He could belong to God. As bad as he was, as much as he had shrugged away everything David, Verna and the Sunday School teachers had tried to tell him about God, he could belong.
He felt the sudden urge to be alone. “Do you mind?” He stood, on his way to his room. “I need to...” What? Pray?
“Of course you do,” David said. “Spend time talking with God. He will lead you in the way you should go.”
* * *
“Story.” Eli patted his bed, his way of telling Judith to sit with him. “Story.”
“Only a short one.” Judith sat, catching both of Eli’s hands in her own. She leaned down to kiss his soft cheek. Her stories always helped him go to sleep faster. “What should the story be about?”
Eli’s eyes lit up. “Horses.”
Judith told him a story about Summer running in the meadow, looking for a kitten to play with. By the time Summer went to the barn for her supper, Eli’s eyes had closed.
Sitting for a minute to make sure he was asleep, Judith let her mind and her gaze drift to the Mast farm. She had a good view from Eli’s window, as the large white barn was lit with the golden beams of the setting sun. The scene was calm and peaceful on this Thursday evening, but Monday’s events played through her mind once more. She hadn’t seen Guy since that night, but he had sent word through Matthew that he was better today and would be over for his Deitsch lesson tonight.
He had been speaking only Deitsch in every conversation they had had lately, and rarely made a mistake. What more could she help him with? She grinned at the thought. It didn’t really matter, when they could spend a quiet hour together.
A figure appeared at the side of the Masts’ house, hurrying toward the lane. Coming to see her.
Judith rose from Eli’s side slowly, but the little boy was sound asleep. She descended the stairs as quickly as she could, then let herself out the back door. Guy had just crossed the road and she met him next to the lilac bush at the corner of the house.
“Matthew said you might be coming tonight.”
He grinned. “You must have been waiting for me. Are you that anxious to see me?”
“The last time we talked, you couldn’t hear me. So, ja, I’m that anxious. How are you feeling?”
“Much better. Great, even.”
Judith let the quiet of the evening settle in around them as she watched Guy’s face. She had never seen him look so calm. So relaxed. As he stared at her, she realized that he was happy. More than happy. A deep peace smoothed over his features and lit his eyes with a glow.
“Do you really think you need more Deitsch lessons?”
He held out a copy of the Ausbund, the book of hymns they used at Sunday meetings. “I thought we could move to High German, so I could follow along with the singing on Sundays.” As she took the book from him, he said, “Let’s sit on the front steps as long as the light lasts.”
He took her hand and led the way around the lilac bush to the seldom-used front porch. Sitting on the steps, they faced the same scene Judith had enjoyed from Eli’s window.
Judith took the book and opened it. “You’ll have to learn to read the old German script. It’s quite different from the letters you’re used to.”
“Ja, ja, ja. I realize that. But to start with, just read one of your favorite hymns to me. We’ll start there.”
“Hmm.” Judith leafed through the pages of the worn volume until she reached number thirty. “Many of the hymns talk about martyrs and their faithfulness, but I’ve always liked this one the best.”
“Why?” Guy scooted closer to her, looking over her shoulder at the book.
Judith pointed at the page. “It’s a hymn of praise in the midst of persecution. There’s an introduction here that explains. ‘This hymn was written by George Blaurock at Claussen in Tyrol with Hans from the Reve, who was burned in the year 1528.’”
“Burned?”
“Our ancestors suffered martyrdom in the old country. Many of them were burned at the stake for their beliefs, and the rest were finally driven out of their homes in Switzerland. They lived in Germany for a time but then came to America.”
Guy’s breath warmed her neck, his head next to hers as she read the first lines of the song, translating it into English as she read.
“Lord God, I will praise Thee from now until my end, that Thou gave me the faith by which I recognized Thee.”
Taking the book from her, Guy ran his finger along the line of the text. “It really says that?”
“Ja, for sure.” They held the book between them as she read the words in German and he repeated them.
Closing the book, Guy laid it on the step. He put his arm around Judith and held her close to him. “I’m glad you chose that hymn to read.”
“Why?”
“That line about how God gives us the faith to recognize Him. It’s what I’ve been feeling, but I didn’t know how to put it into words.”
Judith leaned her head on his shoulder. Across the fields, Verna lit the lamp in the front room, sending a warm glow into the twilight.
Guy went on. “Things have changed since I saw you on Monday. I unde
rstand some things a lot better now.”
“Things about your daed?”
His head nodded, brushing against her Kapp. “Ja, and things about myself.” He took her hand in his, stroking her fingers with his thumb. “I never thought of myself as someone who needed God. I would compare myself to someone else and always think that I wasn’t as bad as that other person.”
Judith waited for him to continue, pulling her lip between her teeth to keep herself from interrupting him. She knew...or she hoped she knew...what he was going to tell her next.
“But David showed me that it doesn’t matter what I’ve done to sin against God, I’m just as much of a sinner as the next man.”
His voice faltered and she turned to look into his face. “Ja, I know that I am, too. But God...”
Guy nodded. “Ja, but God forgives me, anyway. Like that hymn said, He gave me the faith to see Him, and to know Him.”
He drew her close again and she relaxed against his strong shoulder. “I thought you looked different tonight. You’re more confident, but not the way Luke is. He tends to talk himself into his confidence, but you’ve learned to rely on the Lord.”
“I just needed a solid foundation under my feet, I guess. And now that I’ve found it, I don’t have to live in the past. I have the future to look forward to.”
Judith took a deep breath. “Are you still going to leave? Do you think your future might be somewhere out West?”
Guy kissed her Kapp, then leaned his cheek on her head. “Ne. I think my future is right here in my arms.”
They sat together as the twilight faded softly away. Spring peepers sounded from the direction of the river, and a chill crept over the ground and up the porch steps.
“I could sit here all night with you,” Guy said, planting another kiss on her Kapp, “but tomorrow is another work day. I’m going to visit the bishop in the morning to ask about baptism.”
“Tell him that if he will be teaching a class soon, I’d like to join it.”
Guy rose, pulling her up with him. “We could take the instruction together and be baptized on the same day. I’ll tell Bishop we want to do that.”
Judith nodded as he kissed her. Then he started back across the road, whistling a tune as he went. She watched until he disappeared into the dusk and sighed, hugging herself. A future with Guy Hoover sounded like the best future of all.
