by Sicily Yoder
But why?
Ben was taught to never question God, but he did today. Although he felt guilty about his selfish feelings, they still were lingering within his cloudy mind.
Earl sighed, got down from the buggy, secured the horses and turned to face Ben. “Elijah was bringing our twins home. Renee needs her schwesters. You know it, Gott knows it, but the Englisch don’t know it.” Earl‘s eyes deepened, his nostril flaring. “How can they know it? They have broken homes, avoid nightly devotions to God, complain about sitting through short church services in cushion-backed pews, and enjoy way too much television.”
Ben nodded and tilted his chin up. “I’ll stand firm for Elijah.”
Earl gave a nod. “Our whole community will, and we will be there to support Elijah, even if he’s sent to jail.”
Ben stepped back and shook his finger mid-air, tears streaming down his face. “I want my great-granddaughters back home.”
Earl smiled. “Rachael is their next kind that’s not involved in the kidnapping. I’m sure she’ll get them.”
Ben’s throat shook and stiff bumps of fear needling his body, the hair standing up on his back under his blue shirt. “Rachael doesn’t know about the girls.”
Earl nervously blinked. “I know that.” A frown washed over his face. “I guess we’ll have to tell her.” He shook his head. “It won’t be easy, but life never is easy, especially when you’re on the narrow road.” Earl patted his bruder’s right shoulder and smiled, his eyes lightening up. “If it was easy, everyone would be saved.”
Ben’s eyes closed as the chilly March wind splashed against his face. It was enough to have his granddaughters in a van with a clown and Elijah in jail for hiring the clown. Add in the secret that they’d hidden from Rachael for years, and it was more than his heart could take. He fell over the buggy and took his last breath on earth.
******
Rachael Zook plucked the white dandelions from the half-cold ground and refused to blow her hot breath against them. If only her second best-friend was here: Jeremiah Troyer. But he had cheated on her and broken her heart. He’d lived a pack of lies. Her ocean-rinsed baby blues stared at the white seeds and reminisced about the past, happier times before the secret was revealed. Jeremiah had held her and brushed her air on the same ground that she now sat cross-legged on. He’d sung songs from The Ausbund with her as the bright yellow dandelions swayed in the spring wind. He’d admired her as she’d blown the white pearls of old seeds from the dandelions all around. And he’d turned the bottom of the dandelion tips upside down, gently peeled the ends up and watched them curl up like beautiful curls of bouquets as they floated atop the nearby pond. And he had promised.
That he loved her.
He hadn’t.
But she still loved him.
Closing her blue eyes shut, she inhaled a deep breath and hurried the air to the white dandelion. As the little white seeds flickered around her face, some falling against her hot neck, she grimaced and vowed to never fall in love again.
Never. And she meant it.
Suddenly, Rachael could hear her grossmammi’s voice yelling behind her. Rachael sighed, hesitantly opened her eyes, and wished that she could be left alone. But Grossmammi’s tone sounded urgent and almost terrified. Rachael stood up and saw Grossmammi running as fast as she could through the open field, her kapp strings flowing all around her head. “Slow down or you will fall!”
It seemed like forever before Rachael reached Grossmammi, and when she did reach her, she was out almost out of breath. The elderly woman’s heart was beating at a record pace through her white apron-covered chest. The fire department radio was loosely dangling in the grey-haired woman’s right hand. “Ms. Zook has gone out on the farm to look for her granddaughter. She’s supposed to click back in.” A male voice, whom Rachael knew was Gary, the EMS, Fire, and Police Department dispatcher, was waiting for Grossmammi to get her, but why?
Deep down, ever since a first responder didn’t come home from fighting a fire, the fear of her daed and Grossdaedi not coming home had been in the back of their minds. “Has Grossdaedi or Daed been hurt?” Rachael bit her bottom lip, her eyes trembling. This couldn’t happen to their family. Daed and Grossdaedi were the toughest men she knew. And they were extremely close to God. God would protect them. “Well?”
Grossmammi shoved the radio to Rachael’s face. “Talk to them. I was told to never touch the radio.”
“But—” Rachael’s hesitation was quickly overcome as Grossmammi clicked her right thumb on the latch on the radio. Rachael grimaced and shivered before mustering up a sentence. “This is Rachael Zook. Do you need to speak to me?”
The dispatcher came back on the radio. “We need you down at headquarters. Please come by yourself. It is urgent, but I can’t tell you over the radio.”
Rachael nodded and quickly said, “Sure, I’ll be right there!”
Grossmammi titled her chin and whispered, “Take the radio with you, and hide it in the buggy. We don’t want your grossdaedi to be embarrassed by your actions.”
“Sure, I am leaving now!” Rachael blurted and started sprinting through the field before realizing that she needed to slow down and not panic. Grossmammi needed help back to the haus. She turned and eyed Grossmammi walking right behind her, her eyes lightened and her face turning a light peach. She was her normal, calm grossmammi now. The radio must have scared the daylights out of her. Maybe it was because they had thought it was a close call.
“Thank you, Gott, for blessing us today,” Rachael grabbed Grossmammi’s left hand and sent the prayer up quickly as they walked hand-in-hand across the same field that she’d kissed Jeremiah Troyer and Elijah Yoder in. Just to think that she wanted to leave her close-knit familye to get a life that she’d thought was missing made her feel terrible. She snuggled against Grossmammi’s chest as they made their way to the back of the haus and whispered, “There is not man out there like a first responder. I promise to never fall in love again with anyone that doesn’t have a radio!”
Grossmammi laughed, “I heard that Elijah had planned on becoming a fireman after he rejoined the church.”
Rachael’s face blushed, “Maybe that’s why Grossdaedi liked him so much; he knew he was destined to save lives.”
~CHAPTER THIRTEEN~
Bobby wiggled his toes and looked down at the iPad and saw that John 3:16 said that if you believed in Christ, you could live forever.
Forever.
That one word was a tremendously powerful word. He didn’t know of anything that lasted forever nowadays. The ozone was being chipped away by the latest hair care products, and the sun wasn’t guaranteed to come out every week. Bobby chuckled at himself, and Henry glanced over at him and shown a soft smile.
“Bobby Boy, you’re in deep reflection again, aren’t you?” Henry said warmly as he shoved the bad of teriyaki beef jerky toward him. “Go ahead and get some fuel for the road. It’s your favorite!” A blast of chilly wind entered through the partly-open driver’s window and feathered his grey hair as he added, “Maybe we can get the ice-cream shipped to your house. You’re rich; you can afford it next-day-air!”
The truck hit a pot hole, and the traveling pair bounced atop the bucket seats. The smell of sweet-spiced meat tempted Bobby’s palate, so he reached and grabbed a couple of large pieces of the beef jerky. It was chewier than normal but good jerky. Bobby had to admit that it wasn’t like the deer jerky that his daed smoked on the farm. Was his daed and older bruders still selling it wholesale by the cases to Dutch Valley? Probably so as the business had always done well with the Lord’s blessings.
Bobby flicked his twinkling blue eyes toward Henry and gave a soft smile before turning his attention back to the iPad. This was the second time that he was reading the Bible from front to back. He enjoyed spending quiet time with the Lord. The more time he spent with God, the more he needed God. It was like God was feeding his constant desire to enrich the relationship between them.
&nb
sp; Suddenly, a trucker came on the CB and said, “I got them off the road. The clown is standing outside the van saying that she gives up; she is turning herself in.” The trucker’s voice rose. “She seen a convoy of angels surround the Indiana Toll Road after you all passed her. Spooked her to death. She is quite shaken!” He paused before adding, “We didn’t save her. God did!”
Henry let out a whopping cheer and flipped a “high five” to Bobby as they always did when they helped save an Amber Alert victim. It was days like this that made them glad to be out on the open road. Henry grabbed the spiral CB cord, clicked the receiver down with his right thumb and said, “We are turning this rig around and heading your way! This famous racecar driver I have by my side is former Old Order Amish and friends with the twins’ biological family.”
Bobby’s brow wrinkled. “We are several exits away!”
“So? Henry asked as he held the CB in his right hand, waiting for a reply.
“Remember? We can’t go into Shipshewana!” Bobby shook his head. What had gotten into Henry? Hadn’t he remembered that they could lose everything if they went into Shipshewana? Everything!
But God.
Bobby’s brow shot up, and his adrenaline pumped. God was everywhere back home in Shipshewana, and Bobby knew that God would bless them to not get caught. “We will pray to not get caught in Shipshewana!”
Henry grinned and slid his eyes to Bobby. “You and I? Really?”
“Yes, we will pray to not get caught. Our manager is miles away on holiday in Hawaii!”
Henry leaned up and clicked the CB, “Good idea.” He clicked it one more time and said, “We are getting off the next exit. We will circle around and get the twins to take them to their grossmammi, not their mamm. Their mamm was not told that she’d delivered triplets during her C-section.”
The radio went dead. No words. Even the toughest truckers were silenced before an Indiana State Trooper came on the channel. “Now, I am fully aware that Bobby has Amish family, and I am certainly aware that the culture of the Amish is different, and I will try to respect their faith, but the judge needs to decide who gets these girls. Until then, they are going to have to be placed in social services’ custody.”
Henry grimaced and sighed. “You are the law. We’re headed to our destination. Good Luck and many prayers.”
Henry, Bobby, and the loaded fancy racecar were headed east, and soon Shipshewana would be just a memory of the possible triple-decker ice cream at E & S Sales.
******
“Don’t ever touch the fire station radio!” Rachael’s daed’s instructions had been drilled into her since she could understand that the radio was related to the wooden fire truck that she would play with in the front yard.
But she had touched it. And she wanted to touch it again, and it wasn’t because of wanting to be disobedience. It was because it would rest of the hip of a once strong, Godly man.
Elijah Yoder.
Just the sound of his name tickled her belly and made her face blossom a tinged red. Jeremiah had been the center of her world for a long time, but he had cheated on her. Elijah had not.
But he had left the most important person in her life.
Jesus.
Oh, how Rachael hoped that Elijah Yoder could be sitting in one of the backless wooden benches with the other menner during this Sunday services. This Sunday was their turn to have church service, and the Noah Miller’s family on Country Lane was hosting this Sunday service. There were many Noah Millers, but this Noah was married to Miriam and lived on the end of Country Lane. The Amish men didn’t have middle names, which made it a bit confusing at times. The mail carriers would go by the men’s father’s first name to know which man lived.
But Rachael had a middle name: Renee. And she had a long-lost dochder named Renee. A three-year-old sounded like a lot of responsibility. Would Elijah become a gut daed once he rejoined the church? Being a first-responder took a particularly strong, Godly man so Rachael had to think that the job would strengthen his character. Rachael drove the black open buggy on the right side of the road and glanced at the passersby. All had out-of-state license plates. “Tourists with spring fever!” Rachael uttered and wiggled her nose. A nippy breeze lifted her white kapp strings above her chin and formed a white arch before flapping it back down against the front of her neck.
“Grossdaedi, you got your wish!” Rachael’s baby blues twinkled. Grossidaedi’s determination to bring Elijah Yoder back into her life may have paid off. She was anxious to tell Grossdaedi the news. Her daed liked Elijah as much as Grossdaedi did, and the two were great fishing partners. The smell of fresh flowers trickled into the open buggy as Rachael drove along the roadside. Her lips with gratitude, she began to hymn a song from The Ausbund, a song that she used to sing.
With Elijah.
Inhaling a deep breath and enjoying the chilly but beautiful day, Rachael pulled the reins and clicked at the horses. Their coats were fluffy, their eyes happy. Spring was all around, but so were the tourists. A fast car swerved by her and made her jump. “Drive slower, please!” she yelled, but the bright purple-striped sports car of teenagers seemed to not even see her. “On their way to nowhere!” laughed Rachael as she heard a voice come on the radio. The voice was static like the early morning crackling sound of pre-sunrise lightning.
“Rachael Zook, where are you, young lady? This is Elijah. I’m at the fire department, station 20. Come here now.”
Rachael hesitated clicking the button to speak. She felt like she was purposely being disobedient. Her mouth wiggled and curved up to the side, her brow wrinkled. Holding the reins loosely, she juggled the radio and slid her right thumb over the button.
The horses stopped.
A harrowing look swept across her black-bonnet framed face. The horses knew that the radio was Grossidaedi’s radio and not hers. What could she do? Her eyebrows furrowed, and her mind racing as she looked at the still horses, their eyes stern. Quickly, she let go of the button and let the radio drop against the lap of her navy-dresses lap. Wrapping her hands around the reins, she wanted to turn around and go back.
She grabbed the radio and clicked the button and yelled, “Tell Grossdaedi to come get his radio!”
Little did she know, he would not be back on an earthly radio again…
The End of Volume Three.
Table of Contents
~SPECIAL DEDICATION~
~CHAPTER EIGHT~
~CHAPTER NINE~
~CHAPTER TEN~
~CHAPTER ELEVEN~
~CHAPTER TWELVE~
~CHAPTER THIRTEEN~
