The Bridge of Peace

by Cindy Woodsmall

  Elsie shifted in her chair. “But what about his arm? The other kids will tease him.”

  Lennie set the pencil down and smoothed her fingertips across the table. “I was certainly harassed about my birthmark. I still am some days. And I won’t lie. It’ll hurt him. I’ll do what I can to stop the mockery. If the adults make too big a deal out of trying to control the children on the topic, we’ll make things worse for him. But the best thing for Ivan is already taking place—his Daed believes in him.”

  Elsie blinked, looking guilt-ridden. “I … I didn’t mean to not believe in—”

  “Oh no.” Lennie glanced to Grey, looking baffled. “That’s not what I meant. Ivan is Grey’s shadow on the weekends; that’s so good for him. When he sees his Daed able to do stuff, I imagine he sees himself as able to do it.”

  “Oh, I get what you mean. So can you test him?” Elsie asked.

  “Of course. I mean, it’s not anything official like the public schools do, but it’ll let us know what we’d like to know. Why don’t you bring him by the house Saturday around eight and let him stay with me for a couple of hours? Jonathan and I are heading for Hope Crossing around ten.”

  Grey laced his fingers and popped his knuckles. “I missed working today, and Ephraim’s really behind, so after I drop Ivan off with you, I’ll go to the cabinetry shop. Can you and Jonathan bring him by there before leaving Dry Lake?”

  “Sure.”

  “We’ll be glad to pay you for your time,” Elsie offered.

  Lennie bit her bottom lip, hiding a smile as she kept her eyes focused on her desk for a moment. “Because your husband is my brother’s friend, he pays quite regularly as it is. But now that you mention it, I do have something I’d like at the top of the list this year.”

  Elsie turned to him, a slight smile in place as she silently looked to understand. She stayed so secluded from his life she had no idea what Lena meant.

  “She means the spring rounds Allen and I do at our house, his house, and Lena’s house.”

  “Oh, ya.”

  Lennie pushed back from her desk, drawing the meeting to a close. “Wooden planters under the windows.… I do believe this will be the third year in a row I’ve requested them.”

  Grey tipped his hat as he stood. “I’ll make sure they get done in time for your spring planting of flowers. And we’ll have Ivan at your place around eight. Thanks, Lennie.”

  “Anytime.”

  Grey folded the chairs. “Oh, there’s a school board meeting Tuesday night, and the board would like you to be there.”

  Lennie opened a drawer and pulled out a set of keys. “Ya, I figured as much. Dump one dead cat in the ground …”

  Her sarcasm caught Grey off guard, and he laughed loudly.

  Lennie walked from behind her desk. Grey set the chairs against the wall, and he and Lennie followed Elsie outside.

  “I could use a minute to share a school incident privately before that school board meeting begins.”

  Since wives were encouraged to attend the board meetings, Lennie’s request had him curious.

  “Now’s as good a time as any.” Grey turned to his wife. “Would you wait for me for just a few minutes?”

  “Denki, Lena.”

  “Gern gschehne.”

  When Elsie walked off, Lennie turned to him. “I didn’t want to undermine her confidence concerning this school. The cat wasn’t just dead, Grey. Its neck had been slashed, and it probably died a slow death as its blood drained onto my floor. Someone had placed it in my chair.”

  “What?” It seemed wrong that while some parents lodged complaints, she had to deal with difficult scholars and then defend every action to the board—and made hardly any money in the process.

  “Ya.” She went up the three steps to the door of the school and put a key inside what appeared to be a new lock. The whole mount rattled, and she had to pull and push the door several times to get the bolt to line up with the strike plate.

  “Any idea who?”

  “I just can’t imagine anyone who’s that angry with me or with the community—past or current schoolboys included.”

  “Anyone giving you a hard time in class?”

  She finally got the door locked. “Well, ya. Peter Bender has times of being disrespectful and mulish toward assignments, but I don’t believe he’d do such a thing.”

  “Because he’s not capable, or because you don’t want to believe he’s capable?”

  “Now how could I possibly know the answer to that question?”

  “Fair enough. I’ll check with some of the youth and see if they know anything.” They walked toward his buggy. “Where’s your horse and rig?”

  “I walked. My horse is acting up, and, besides, I love walking in fall and spring whenever I can.”

  He opened the door to his carriage. “Care for a lift? We could drop you off on our way home.”

  “No, but thanks anyway.”

  He got in and hung one arm out the open window. “Install that lock yourself, did you, Lennie?”

  “Oh, be quiet before I strap that lock to the door of your carriage.”

  He took the reins in hand. “Yes, Teacher Lena. But I’ll bring tools one day next week and see if I can adjust that lock to work a little better.” He tapped the reins against the horse’s back and tried to keep a straight face. “Of course it may need an entire new door as well as a frame.”

  “Grey, stop teasing her.” Elsie peered around him, checking on Lennie. He knew Lennie didn’t mind. If she ever did, she’d definitely let him know.

  Lennie put her hands on her hips, mocking offense before breaking into laughter. Grey and Elsie pulled onto the main road.

  Elsie shook her head. “I can’t believe you tease her as you do, but clearly she has no problem speaking her mind.”

  He laughed. “We used to aggravate her to no end just to hear her logic on the matter.”

  “She’s an awfully pretty girl. I … I hate to admit it, but before today I only saw that birthmark. Aside from that one thing, she’s flawless. I doubt if she’s a teacher many more years.”

  “Maybe not.”

  “I’ve never seen eyes that color. I couldn’t stop staring.” Elsie rubbed just below her neck. “I … I didn’t realize she’d spent so much time with Ivan.”

  Grey always invited Elsie to go with them when they visited Allen. “She’s at her brother’s place sometimes when Ivan and I visit.”

  “So when she said she doesn’t think he’s slow, it’s got a real basis to it and not just her being nice.”

  Elsie saw Ivan so negatively. He didn’t understand it, and he certainly didn’t appreciate it. “It has a real basis. And you’re right; Lena would be nice about Ivan, but she’d also be very straightforward.”

  “I … I wish we knew already.”

  It wasn’t like Elsie to be so chatty. Going through the steps today to begin to find the truth had her talking and even hopeful, and for the first time in years, Grey began to feel optimistic about their marriage.

  Fourteen

  Lena rode beside Ivan as Jonathan brought the rig to a halt in front of Ephraim’s shop. She didn’t think Grey would be worried about his son, but testing him had taken longer than she’d planned on. Jonathan had made it clear he wasn’t pleased that they were running late. A few days ago they’d agreed to leave Dry Lake and head for Hope Crossing at ten. Even so, it wasn’t much past ten thirty.

  Lena opened the door, but before she stepped out, Grey came out the doorway of the shop and walked to them. Ivan jumped down and ran to his Daed. Grey picked him up.

  “We had a very productive couple of hours. He’s a great kid.”

  Grey spoke to his son in Pennsylvania Dutch, asking if he wanted to help him work in the shop. Ivan nodded.

  “How’d he do?” Grey asked in English so Ivan wouldn’t understand.

  “Good. Like everyone, he has strengths and weaknesses. I’d like to discuss it privately, but right now Jonathan is in
a hurry to get to Hope Crossing. Why don’t you and Elsie come by the school next week, and we can talk about my findings in great detail?”

  “I … I sort of expected you to just tell me.”

  “I got the feeling that Elsie is hoping for a somewhat professional opinion, not viewpoints shared over a back fence … or in this case through the open door of a carriage while she’s not around.”

  Grey chuckled. “You’re right about that. Denki, Lennie. We’ll both come to see you one day next week.”

  “You’re welcome. And since I began this on a Saturday and won’t wrap up the report until Monday morning, I should get the best window boxes you can create.” She grabbed Ivan’s straw hat off the carriage seat and held it out to Grey.

  He took it and peered in at Jonathan. “Is she always so picky about how things are handled?”

  “Oh, ya. When it comes to her class, she’s pickier and more businesslike than most men could tolerate.”

  She scowled playfully at Jonathan. Grey chuckled as he stepped back. She waved as Jonathan tapped the reins, and the horse started down the driveway.

  Jonathan clicked his tongue, making the horse gain speed quickly. “I’m so ready to be in Hope Crossing.”

  “Believe me, I know.” Feeling a little too cool, Lena fastened her side of the front window. Jonathan used to be patient and didn’t mind plans changing or whiling away the hours on a free Saturday. His new focus on Deborah meant Lena would have to adjust. Clearly in his mind and heart, Lena had been sent to the backseat of the carriage. She and Jonathan were friends. That’s all. But over the years they’d helped each other ward off the loneliness for someone special. All these years, even though he’d dated at will, it’d been their secret how much he cared for Deborah.

  “Hey.” Jonathan nudged her with his elbow. “I didn’t mean to be selfish. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s just happening quicker than I expected.”

  “What?”

  “I went from being someone you hung out with on free weekends to simply an excuse for you to spend time around Deborah without looking like you’re interested in her. I can’t imagine where we’ll be a few months from now. And all that’s good. I’m glad for you. I am. It’s just …”

  Deep concern reflected in his eyes, and he slowed the rig. “You … don’t feel … anything special … toward me, do you?”

  Lena laughed. “Oh, heavens, no.”

  He laughed quietly. “Whew. You scared me, because the last thing I’d ever want is to hurt you. And I happen to know firsthand that a person can care about someone without the other one knowing it.”

  “It’s not like that at all. You’re supposed to know that. But I’m being demoted, and I thought I was ready, but it’s harder than I expected.”

  “Ya, I can see that. Now that I think about it, it’d be that way for me too if you’d found someone before I did. I’ll do better. Just tell me or kick me under the table or something.”

  Lena chuckled. “That I can do. I might even buy steel-toed shoes.”

  “Ouch.” He clicked his tongue, urging the horse to pick up speed again. “And you know Deborah. It’ll probably be another year before she even notices that other men besides Mahlon exist on this planet. We have plenty of time for you to adjust.”

  “Gut.” She reached into the covered basket at her feet. “Care for a piece of peanut brittle?”

  “Store bought?” He shrugged and took the canister. “I’m surprised it’s not homemade, but sure.” He opened the lid. Two five-foot cloth snakes leaped out of the can. He hollered and all but jumped out of his skin. Lena kept her composure and stayed focused looking out the window. “I’ll get you for that, Lena Kauffman.”

  “You can try, Jonathan Stoltzfus.” She pulled a felt hat lined with straw out of the basket. “I have a plan to trick Deborah. You in?”

  “What all did you bring?”

  “After the awful way my week started at school, I needed to self-medicate, so I hired a driver to take me to Philly, and I went to a gag store. I felt so much better afterward. Poorer, but better.”

  “I’ve heard self-medication can be dangerous.”

  “It is … for the other people in my life.” Lena gave her best evil laugh.

  “What happens if after you find someone, he doesn’t approve of the money you’ve spent on gags?”

  “I’ll tell him that I’m very careful with money—giving, spending, and saving. I’ve tended to my Daed’s home, laundry, and meals for half of my life. I help family and friends when they need it, and added to that, I began working full-time before I became a teacher. If I can’t spend a little money on fun items without it being questioned, he needs to keep moving because I’m not interested. Besides, everyone who’s single and works spends a few dollars here and there to enjoy something important to them. If this imaginary fellow doesn’t admit to that, he’s a hypocrite.”

  “Wow. Say you have an opinion?”

  She laughed. “Always. Did you forget?” Her skin tingled from her overreaction. She longed for a husband and was willing to make sacrifices for the right person, but if any man thought he knew better how she should’ve handled her life while waiting for him, she wasn’t interested. Period.

  Jonathan adjusted his hat. “You are something else. If a man ever questions how you’ve spent your money, I’m leaving the state before you respond, okay?”

  She laughed. “You best take him with you.”

  He chuckled and nodded several times. “So, aside from the various gags you’re going to pull, what’s the plan for Deborah?”

  “She needs a scarecrow as a decoration for the cornfield maze, right?”

  “Ya, I guess.”

  Lena pulled a painted flour sack over her head and flopped the felt hat lined with straw on her head. “Once I’m in my full outfit, you’ll get me set up outside and tell Deborah you made a scarecrow for her. I’ll do the rest after that.”

  Jonathan laughed. “Please remain my friend … because it’s scary to think of you as an enemy.”

  Fifteen

  Sitting in the cabinetry office, Grey shifted in his chair while on the phone with a potential client. For the first time in years, he didn’t feel that work and Ivan were the only hopeful things in his life. Hope. It hung in the fall air itself—light, airy, brisk, colorful, and an indication that something had shifted within the universe.

  “Ya,” he answered the woman’s question for the third time. “I understand you live in Kentucky. If we work out all the details, we’ll stay in your area for a week at a time, coming home on the weekends, until the job is complete.”

  The office door opened, and surprise ran through Grey as his wife stepped inside. “I’ll drop a packet of info in the mail to you tomorrow. If you like what you see, just give us a call back, and we’ll go from there.” As the woman confirmed her address and said good-bye, he stared at his wife. She’d never come to the shop except when church was held here. “Hi.”

  She removed a cloth from a plate. “I … I made some cookies.”

  “Denki.” He took a cookie. “Is Ivan with you?”

  She shook her head.

  He took a bite of the cookie. Pumpkin spice. “Oh, that’s good.”

  She smiled and ran her fingers along the messy desk, looking at the various sets of plans. Piecing together his wife’s actions, he had a suspicion of what was on her mind. She wanted to meet with Lena and get the results concerning Ivan. Grey stole a look at the clock. “School’s not out for more than an hour yet.”

  Elsie didn’t respond. She flipped through the calendar.

  He took another bite of the cookie. “It’s not likely she can step out of the school to talk with us.”

  Elsie kept her attention focused on the desk, but past her stoic nature, he saw disappointment.

  The cookie seemed to lose some of its flavor as he tried to read her. “I guess we could go on and wait there until school is over. It’s been quite a while since I saw her teaching
methods in action anyway.”

  The muscles in Elsie’s throat constricted as if she were swallowing or at least trying to.

  Grey rose. “I … I think she’ll have good news for us.”

  Elsie set the cookies on the desk and pressed her hands down the front of her neatly pressed apron. “I hope you’re right.”

  He motioned for her to leave the office ahead of him. “Excited about being proved wrong?”

  “Grey, that’s just mean.”

  The way he breathed and moved no longer grated on her nerves, or at least not all her nerves, and for that he was very grateful. If that’s all they had for a long while yet, he’d be satisfied, but in a place inside him where no one would ever know what he thought or how he felt, he longed for her to grow a sense of humor.

  He spotted Ephraim. “I’m going out for a bit. I’ll be back in a couple of hours and finish my work.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll be here.”

  He got into the carriage Elsie had driven here, and they headed toward the school. The brilliance of the October sky and the gentle winds refreshed him as he thought about their future. The stiltedness between them still reigned, but his isolation had eased, and he dared to hope where they’d be in a few months or a year from now.

  The schoolhouse looked like a photo—a one-room, white clapboard building surrounded by huge oaks with the leaves changing color, a playground with swings to one side, a turnaround driveway on the other, and a rolling pasture behind it. Had it been almost fifteen years since he’d graduated from that school?

  He stopped on the far side of the lean-to, leaving room for the parents to pick up their children when school let out. He and Elsie got out and rounded the side of the outbuilding and walked toward the schoolhouse. A man’s voice sounded angry, and Grey hurried closer, listening.

  “I’m not doing it, and you can’t make me. You’re just too stupid to accept it.”