Dark Crossings

by Marta Perry

  Ruby reluctantly entered the building. Isaac gave silent thanks for one hurdle overcome as he followed her.

  Inside, the school was much the same as the one he’d attended in his youth. The floor was plain wood planking, worn but clean. One window had a broken pane covered with cardboard. It would need fixing before the snow started. On the ceiling above it had a water stain that proved the roof had leaked at one time. Had it been repaired? As a new parent in the district, he would do his share to see that the building was kept in good condition.

  A large blackboard covered the top two-thirds of the front wall. Below it hung numerous pictures drawn by childish hands. Squarely at the front sat a large, boxlike wooden desk covered with books and papers. Four rows of wooden children’s desks faced it. If every desk was filled, the school had twenty-three students. Tall windows on both sides of the room let in light, revealing the young woman adding wood to the firebox of a cast-iron stove.

  His daughter’s new teacher was small in stature. He doubted the top of her head would come to his chin. Her brown hair was neatly tucked beneath a black prayer kapp, and the dress she wore was dark blue. A white apron was tied snugly around her tiny waist and reached the bottom of her hem.

  She didn’t glance up from her task. “I need the blackboard cleaned.”

  After closing the firebox door, she looked up with a bright smile that instantly vanished. She took a step back. “Oh.”

  Isaac removed his hat. “Guder mariye. I am Isaac Bowman.”

  “Good morning to you, too. I…I thought you were one of my students.”

  He indicated Ruby hiding behind him. “This is my daughter, Ruby. I’ve come to enroll her in school.”

  “I wasn’t aware I was getting a new student.”

  “I wrote to my cousin, John Miller, the president of your school board. He told me it wouldn’t be a problem. We didn’t expect to arrive until next month, but we were able to get away sooner.”

  “I see.” She looked flustered, and Isaac had to wonder why. It was rare for Amish children to change schools, but it did happen.

  “There is a school board meeting a week from Friday night,” she said. “Perhaps John planned to inform me then.”

  Isaac stepped forward and withdrew a thick envelope from his pocket. She took another step back, as if afraid of him. His size often intimidated people; he was used to it. He extended the papers. “These are Ruby’s records from her old school outside of Shipshewana, Indiana.”

  The young woman seemed to recover herself and took the folder from him. “I am Lena Troyer, the schoolteacher here, as I’m sure you have guessed.” She managed a tentative smile for his daughter. “What grade are you in, Ruby?”

  She held up four fingers.

  Lena’s smile brightened. The sparkle in her green eyes triggered a burst of interest that caught him by surprise. She was a very pretty woman, and single.

  He forced that fleeting notion from his mind and thought of his wife. Ada Mae had been kind and loving as well as pretty. Her death lay heavy on his conscience. He had no business showing interest in another woman.

  Lena said, “Fourth grade? That’s excellent, Ruby. That means I’ll have two boys and two girls in your class now. I’ll look at your records later, but can you tell me what subjects you enjoy?”

  Isaac said, “Ruby doesn’t speak. She hasn’t spoken since her mother died three years ago.”

  Lena’s eyes darkened with sympathy. “How sad for both of you.”

  She dropped to her knees, bringing her to Ruby’s level. “I’m sorry to hear your mother has gone to heaven. I know you must miss her terribly. My mother has gone to heaven, too. I know she is happy with God, but I miss her every day.”

  Ruby tipped her head to the side as if surprised by her teacher’s admission.

  Lena Troyer understood his daughter’s grief. Isaac studied her with growing respect.

  Rising to her feet, Lena said, “You’re in luck, Ruby. Today we’re having a field trip. We are going into the woods to collect nuts from the shagbark hickory trees. Does that sound like fun?”

  To Isaac’s amazement, Ruby nodded vigorously. He glanced at her new shoes and hoped she wouldn’t have to walk far.

  Lena folded her arms tightly across her middle as she faced him. “Ruby will be fine with us. I’ll make sure the children understand that she doesn’t speak and that she isn’t to be treated differently because of it. She will be making friends in no time. I’ll be happy to give you a report of her progress in a few days.”

  “I will stay today and see for myself how she does.”

  Lena pondered his statement and then nodded. “That will be fine. Excuse me, I must go and ring the bell.”

  He moved to the back of the room and sat down on a wooden bench. Ruby sat beside him. The door opened and the boys walked in together and took their seats on one side of the room. Next, groups of girls filed in. Their giggling stopped when they spotted him. They walked meekly to their desks, casting frequent looks in his direction. Lena went to the front of the room. “Good morning, children.”

  “Good morning, Lena,” they replied in unison.

  Lena’s age might be closer to twenty-five than twenty, Isaac decided as he studied her openly. He had to wonder how much longer she would remain a teacher, since only unmarried Amish women held the position. Surely, those pretty green eyes hadn’t gone unnoticed by the single men in her community. If they had, it was a shame.

  * * *

  LENA STRUGGLED TO KEEP her composure. She was painfully aware of Isaac Bowman’s scrutiny. Her new student’s father was the hunter whose shot she had spoiled the night before last. She hadn’t gotten a good look at his face, but his size and his gravelly voice were unmistakable. Would he be angry if he discovered she was the culprit?

  Of course, he had to be related to the president of the school board. How was that for rotten luck?

  John Miller was a strict, pious man who often chided her for being too lenient with her students. Fortunately, the families of the community supported her teaching methods, but she could easily be replaced with a young woman who met John’s standards if he wished to make trouble for her. Until this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she wanted to keep her job.

  It would be best if Isaac Bowman didn’t learn she was responsible for chasing away his game.

  Turning to the blackboard, she wrote out the date and the arithmetic assignments for each of the classes. All the while, she was acutely aware of Isaac’s gaze. This promised to be a very long day.

  She finished at the blackboard and picked up her Bible. Each day she chose a passage to read. This morning she’d selected Matthew 5. When she finished reading the Sermon on the Mount, the students all rose, clasped their hands together and repeated the Lord’s Prayer in unison. It was the only religious part of the day, for Lena, like all Amish, believed that faith must be taught at home and in church, not at school.

  After everyone took their seats, she said, “Children, we have a new student joining us.”

  She beckoned for Ruby to come forward. Slowly, the girl walked to the front with her eyes downcast. Taking her by the shoulders, Lena gently turned her to face the class. “This is Ruby Bowman. She’s a fourth grader. She and her father have just moved to Mount Hope from Shipshewana, Indiana.”

  Lena knew a moment of envy as she thought about the adventure of traveling to a new place, meeting new people, seeing new things. Her life was so v
ery dull, except for the children she taught. Teaching a mute child would be a challenge. Was she up to it? With God’s help, she would be.

  Directing her attention to the classroom once more, she said, “I want everyone to pay close attention. Ruby is mute. That means she can’t speak.”

  Fannie, a first grader in the front row, whispered, “Can you hear?”

  Ruby nodded.

  Lena said, “I want each of you to think about what it would be like if you couldn’t talk or see or walk. God gives many people such lives, but he expects us to live and work to the best of our ability.”

  A hand went up in the back of the room. Twelve-year-old David said, “My onkel Henry was born deaf, but he learned to talk with his hands.”

  Lena smiled at him, then looked at the girl beside her. “David’s uncle uses sign language. Ruby, do you sign?”

  From the back, Ruby’s father spoke up. “She writes on her erasable board when she has something she wants to say.”

  Lena would rather that he let Ruby answer, but could understand his anxiety at having his daughter in a new school. She was nervous, too, knowing Ruby’s father was watching her every move. She looked over her students. “Does anyone else know someone who lives with special circumstances?”

  Mary, a little blond second grader, said, “My sister Rebecca can’t walk.”

  Some of the children giggled. Mary looked at them with a scowl. Keeping her own grin in check, Lena said, “She’s only six months old, Mary. I’m sure she’ll be walking one day soon.”

  “I hope so,” Mary declared. “She’s really heavy to tote.”

  A number of other children shared their stories about relatives with special needs. When they were through, Lena sent the two oldest boys to bring down a desk for Ruby. She said, “Be sure and take the one closest to the stairs.”

  When that was done, she said, “All right, it’s time to start our wildcrafting morning.”

  Cheers met her announcement. Lena’s cousin, Abigail Baughman, was a wildcrafter. Abby often shared her knowledge of plants with Lena in the circle letters they exchanged. Lena sometimes took her students on wildcrafting trips so that they could learn to identify helpful and harmful plants and mushrooms in the woodlands around their homes. Her students loved the outings. It was a much-anticipated break from their normal schoolwork.

  Lena had the older girls hand out baskets, and soon everyone was ready to go. As they headed for the door, Ruby hung back, staying close to Lena. Taking her hand, Lena smiled and winked.

  Isaac fell into step beside them. “I hope this isn’t a long hike.”

  Surprised by his comment, she said, “You are welcome to wait for us in the school. We’ll be back by noon.”

  He shook his head in silence. When the children crossed the bridge and turned off the road into the dense woods, he spoke again. “I passed a grove of shagbark on the way here. Surely, staying on the road would make easier walking.”

  Lena couldn’t help wondering why he was so concerned about their path. “This is a shortcut to the grove. The children know their way around these woods. It’s not far.”

  After a twenty-minute hike through the dense forest, Lena noticed the trees were thinning. She waited as all the children walked out into a small clearing. The grove of shagbark trees stood on the other side of it. A quick count of her students as they walked past proved she hadn’t lost anyone.

  Suddenly, a flock of crows took flight out of the clearing, cawing and screeching in displeasure. She heard a gasp from several of the students ahead of her.

  The children had stopped walking and were huddled around something on the ground. Unable to see what had upset them, Lena let go of Ruby’s hand and pushed through the ring of students.

  They were gathered around the body of a dead deer. She saw at once that it hadn’t died of natural causes. Its head was missing.

  CHAPTER TWO

  SARAH, ONE OF LENA’S eighth-grade students, broke the stunned silence. “Who would do such a thing?”

  Lena knew the girl wasn’t upset about the death of the deer. Like all her classmates, she lived on a farm where animals were slaughtered for food on a regular basis. It was a part of everyday life. She was appalled at the wanton waste of meat. Only the head of the deer had been taken. The rest of the animal had been left to rot.

  “It must have been a poacher,” David declared, disgust thick in his voice.

  “But why?” Little Fannie clearly didn’t understand.

  Isaac said, “Because the head of a buck with big antlers is worth a lot of money.”

  Lena looked at him in surprise. “Who pays money for such a thing?”

  “Englische who want to hang the heads on their walls,” he answered. Englische or English, was the Amish term for anyone not of their faith.

  Lena crouched to examine the animal. From the size of the deer she feared it was Goliath. When she saw a deep scar across the animal’s shoulder, she knew it wasn’t. It was one of his rivals, a buck she called Snagglehead for his unusually thick antlers that grew downward instead of up. She had sketched him a few times and noticed the scar then.

  David’s younger brother, Reuben, said, “I’ve seen pictures in the hunting magazines of heads for sale, but deer season doesn’t open for another month.”

  Isaac glanced around the woods. “I reckon this fellow didn’t want to wait. We should go on in case he comes back.”

  Fannie asked, “Why would he? The meat’s no good now.”

  He looked at the child. “The man or men who did this are criminals. They may come back to hide the evidence of their crime.”

  David’s and Reuben’s eyes lit with eagerness. “Will the Englische sheriff arrest them?” David asked.

  Isaac shrugged. “Perhaps. The local game warden will surely investigate if he hears of this. We should leave now. It may not be safe.”

  Lena looked at him in disbelief. “You think we are in danger?”

  “I think this is bad Englische business and none of ours.”

  A chill of fright spread through Lena at his tone. She said, “Let’s go back, children. We will save our nut gathering for another day.”

  She took the lead and kept a sharp lookout as they retraced their steps. Before they had gone two dozen yards, a glint of sunlight reflected off something beside the trail. She held up one hand. “Children, wait here.”

  She moved to look more closely at the object. It was a camouflaged box secured to the trunk of a tree. Isaac came to her side. She glanced at him. “Do you know what this is?”

  He stroked his reddish-brown beard with one hand. She noticed for the first time that his eyes were hazel and rimmed with thick lashes. At the moment, they brimmed with worry. He said, “It’s a camera.”

  “Strapped to a tree in the middle of the woods? Why?”

  He bent to examine it. “Hunters use them to photograph wildlife, especially deer. When something walks down this trail it triggers the camera to snap a photograph.”

  “Did it take our pictures?”

  His lips thinned to a narrow line. “I reckon so. Who owns this land?”

  “An Englische fellow named Wilfred Cummings. I can’t see him tramping through the woods to put up a camera. He’s ninety-five if he’s a day. He recently had a stroke and his granddaughter has come to look after him. I do know he would never allow hunting on his property. He’s fond of the deer and doesn’t let anyone hunt them, for my father has asked him
several times.”

  Isaac rose to his feet. “Might be the poacher used this to find where and when the deer are moving. There may be cameras on other game trails.”

  Lena stepped away from the box. She had a bad feeling about this. If the camera had taken their pictures, then the person who killed Snagglehead would know they had seen the body.

  She slanted a quick glance at Isaac. Then again, she could be talking to the poacher right now. It went against her Amish upbringing to suspect any man of wrongdoing, but so many things pointed in that direction.

  She’d seen Isaac with a gun less than half an hour before she’d seen the bright light and heard the shot two nights ago. He knew a lot about poachers and their equipment. He’d even objected to them walking this way, and had tried to get her to stick to the roadway. Was that because he knew what they might find?

  He leaned close and said quietly, “I think it best we don’t mention this to your students. We don’t want them coming back to investigate after school and walking into trouble.”

  A shiver ran up her spine. Suddenly, the woods no longer felt friendly and welcoming, but dark and ominous. She walked quickly back to the children.

  Isaac picked up Ruby and carried her. The child pushed at him to put her down, but he ignored her. Lena noticed he kept scanning the forest around them. He was as uneasy as she was. A sign of guilt…or worry for their safety? He motioned to her with his head. “Come, let us return to school.”

  The normally cheerful children followed him quietly. Did they sense the unease that made the hair on the back of Lena’s neck prickle? She brought up the rear of the group to make sure no one fell behind or wandered off. When they reached the road she felt better, but she didn’t feel completely safe until all her students were back inside the school.

  The children took their seats and waited for her instructions. Isaac put Ruby down and moved to the back of the room. This time he took a spot by the window, where he could look outside and watch the lane leading to the school.