The Believer (The Shakers 2)

by Ann H. Gabhart

  She opened her eyes and said, "You must find a creek and wash the smell of smoke off you and your clothes. Then we will find the road and walk into the night. Father said the road went straight through the Shaker village. We can't get lost if we stay on it"

  Hours later when even the moon had sunk in the west, leaving only the stars to light the way, and Hannah was leaning against her half asleep, Elizabeth allowed them to stop. They went into the woods beside the road and pushed up a pile of the newly fallen leaves for their bed. And then they slept even as the sky began to lighten in the east.

  After the morning meal on Monday, Brother Issachar caught Ethan on the path heading out to the fields to help with the harvest of the seed corn. "Elder Joseph has given permission for you to come with me today," Brother Issachar said.

  "Do you have a log you wish me to help haul into the village?" Ethan was glad Brother Issachar had sought him out, glad to feel the same comfort between them as they talked. He had feared a division between them the day before, even though Ethan signing the Covenant should surely be reason for them to draw closer as brothers and not be a reason for separation.

  "Nay. The sisters have a load of spices, potions, and baskets, and the brethren have brooms ready to be taken to White Oak Springs. The man who runs the resort there says the people from the North who come for the healing power of the springs enjoy carrying back the work of our hands with them when they leave"

  Ethan fell in beside Brother Issachar and tried not to let his eagerness for this first trading trip show on his face or in his voice. "Do the springs really have healing power?"

  "Nay, I think not. While our Eternal Father grants special gifts and powers to those he chooses, I don't believe he has placed such healing power in the springs coming up out of the earth. But some who think the water holds special power are healed by their own thoughts of healing. Or perhaps they weren't so ill as they thought." Brother Issachar smiled and punched Ethan with his elbow. "Better yet, it could be our own Shaker potions that make them well"

  Ethan laughed. "That could be. It certainly sounds more reasonable than the water. The potions stand us in good stead here in the village"

  "That they do. Along with right living. Look at an old man like me nearly sixty and still able to labor and do my part. With a little help from my younger brothers" Brother Issachar smiled again. He seemed to be in a particularly good mood on this Monday morning.

  Ethan had long suspected Brother Issachar enjoyed the trading trips out into the world, although many of the Shaker brethren claimed not to like being away from the fellowship of the Society. But then as Brother Martin said, Brother Issachar was a little different. Even so, he was still a Shaker. So it could be with Ethan. He could take a few peeks at the world without desiring to become part of it.

  One of Brother Martin's most oft-repeated warnings was how curiosity could lead a boy into trouble. As it had Ethan many times when he first came to live with the Shakers. He had made his confessions to Brother Martin and paid the price for that trouble. Not with any kind of punishments from Brother Martin, but from the guilt he felt in his own heart for doing wrong. There had even been times when he'd felt so pulled toward anger at one of his brothers, he worried that the seed of the man who claimed to be his father was sprouting meanness in him.

  He'd once confessed that worry to Brother Issachar, for Ethan had never told anyone but him about how the man who'd stolen him from Preacher Joe claimed to be his father. He trusted Brother Issachar not to hold that truth as a black mark on Ethan's soul, and he did not. Instead, he assured Ethan that his father's meanness would not sprout inside him.

  'A man has many seeds within him. It is the seeds that are watered that grow. We know not what happened to your father that caused the wrong seeds to grow within him. Perhaps it was simply meanness as you say. Perhaps he was treated cruelly himself as a child. Either way, he wasn't in your life long enough to water any of those wrong seeds within you. You were treated with kindness and love by your Preacher Joe and his wife. You have been nurtured in peace here among the Believers. If those cruel seeds were ever within you, they've surely been crowded out by the growth of the good seeds:'

  It was something Ethan liked to imagine. The good seeds growing in him. The Shakers worked hard to produce good seeds for their crops and their gardens. They cast out the seed from the varieties of plants that didn't thrive in their soil and kept the seed from the plants that produced abundantly. That was what he wanted to do. Cast out the bad seeds within him and cultivate the good seeds so that he could better live the simple life of a Believer. It was a gift to be simple. To take joy in the shaping of a piece of wood into an axe handle or a bowl. To know that the work of one's hands would be used for the good of all the brethren and sisters.

  He and Brother Issachar loaded the wagon with the crates of spices and potions. They laid the flat brooms in the wagon bed beside the boxes and filled in the middle with baskets. They covered it all with the heavy cover the sisters had woven especially for the purpose of protecting their baskets from the weather on the way to market.

  Ethan looked up from tying down the cover and asked, "Will we also be going into the town?" He'd been in the town a few times. He found it cluttered, without proper planning for the buildings and roads the way Harmony Hill was built. Still, it was interesting to see the people and the different manner of their dress. Some of them carried the same wild look of the men who had carried him down the river.

  "Yea, the sisters have need of sugar to finish making their apple butter, and Sister Vera has a list of other necessary supplies since we must go for the sugar." Brother Issachar climbed up on the springboard seat. When Ethan climbed up beside him, he handed Ethan the reins for the team of horses that stood patiently in front of the wagon waiting for the men to be ready. "You drive," he said.

  It was a beautiful morning. The air carried that crisp feel of autumn even as the sun warmed their shoulders. Beside the road the maples were yellow and gold with here and there a rose-hued tree that seemed to infuse the morning light with its pink color. The sassafras trees were red as freshly spilled blood while the oaks only showed hints of the dark red that would soon spread through all their leaves. Squirrels chattered at them from the limbs of the oaks where they were gathering their winter provisions.

  The few people they met on the road nodded toward them politely with no show of animosity.

  "The people are accustomed to us here," Brother Issachar said when Ethan noted the friendliness of a man passing on horseback. "They know our intention is to live in peace:"

  "But peace is not always in their hearts,' Ethan said. At times the Shaker traders were set upon by those who wanted nothing but to cause trouble. Brother Henry had even been robbed of his products on a trip to Louisville the year before.

  "We will pray that will not be so on this day. We will pray our trip will be peaceful and profitable:"

  "Do you always pray such prayers when you go out into the world?"

  "Yea. It's only right to do so" Brother Issachar looked over at Ethan. "To pray that the world will do us no harm and that we will likewise do it no harm"

  His words surprised Ethan. "How could we do harm to the world?"

  "With an unkind word, perhaps. Or an unfair price for our products. Doing anything that might cause strife. By not doing the good that we are able to do"

  "But Brother Martin says most in the world don't want the good we can do them. That they reject our ways" Ethan glanced over at Brother Issachar as the horses kept up their steady pace forward. They needed little guidance on the familiar road.

  "There are many ways to do good besides converting those of the world to our ways:" Brother Issachar reached out and caught a maple leaf off a branch that hung out over the road.

  "But is that not what we should do? Encourage those of the world to walk the road of peace with us as Mother Ann teaches:' Ethan stared over at Brother Issachar who had placed the leaf on his knee and was tracing th
e veins running through it. "Brother Martin says the world is a miry pit of sin that swallows up those who don't believe:"

  "Brother Martin has spent much time studying the Believers' tenets' Brother Issachar kept his eyes on the leaf. "That is as it should be since he has long been a teacher of the young brethren. He suffers greatly each time one of them goes to the world:" He suddenly crumpled the leaf in his hand and dropped it on the road.

  "Do you not mourn the loss of our brothers to the world?" One of the brothers two years younger than Ethan had left for the world just the month before. He and Ethan had grown up together as brothers. Ethan had done his best to keep William from leaving, but William's head was set. There was no dissuading him from turning and walking away from his life as a Shaker. Ethan missed him.

  "Yea, but in a different way." Brother Issachar looked off toward the trees for a moment before he went on. "I have seen much of the world in my time. While Elder Joseph would surely take me to task for saying this, the truth cannot be changed simply because we wish it changed. All cannot be Believers:"

  "Brother Martin says more could be if they would choose the path of right living:"

  "So he does;" Brother Issachar said mildly. "It could be he is right. It's the path choosing that is difficult for many."

  They had delivered their wares to the store at White Oak Springs and were on the way to Harrodsburg before the sun was halfway across the sky. Brother Issachar was telling Ethan of a shady lane not far down the road where they could stop their wagon to eat the midday meal the sisters had packed for their trip when a young woman stepped out of the trees beside the road in front of the horses. She held the end of a rope tied around a black and white dog's neck. The dog barked and jumped forward toward the horses, causing them to shy to the side away from her. She quieted the dog with a word, but didn't move from the road.

  Ethan steadied the horses and looked over at Brother Issachar to see what to do next. Ethan had very little occasion to speak with any of his sisters at Harmony Hill. The sexes were kept separate, using separate doors into the buildings and separate staircases to keep even accidental contact at a minimum. He did sing and labor the worship dances at meeting with his sisters along with all the brethren, and at times there was a passing on the walks with polite greetings as they went about their duties. But Brother Martin had advised Ethan to keep such exchanges to the very minimum. A nod was better than a word. So he really didn't know words to say to his own sisters at Harmony Hill. He certainly knew nothing to say to a female from the world.

  She didn't have that problem. "Are you Shakers?" she asked, looking first at Ethan and then at Brother Issachar.

  "We are," Brother Issachar answered kindly.

  Relief flashed across her face, lifting the evident worry for just a moment before it fell back into the lines of her face. She looked behind her toward the trees and then over her shoulder down the road. When she saw the road empty, she turned back to them and pointed the way they'd come. "Is that the way to the Shaker town? To your town?"

  "Yea,' Brother Issachar said. "Do you seek Harmony Hill?"

  "I have heard the Shakers ..' She hesitated before she went on, changing the words. "I have heard that you will take in orphans. Is that true?"

  "We do not turn away those in need,' Brother Issachar said.

  "You look old to be an orphan;' Ethan blurted out. She had to be nearly as old as he. More woman than girl. She certainly little resembled his Harmony Hill sisters with the wisps of her light brown hair blowing across her dirt-smudged face. Her dress was wrinkled and torn in a few places on the sleeves, with a scattering of sticktights on the bottom of her skirt. Her eyes looked tired as she turned to stare straight at him when he spoke. Then he thought "tired" was not the right word. "Desperate" suited better.

  "So I am, but I have no home;' she said plainly. `And I will be a Shaker if you will take in my brother and sister. I know how to work' She looked toward the woods by the road again and made a motion with her head.

  A youth as tall as Ethan and slim as a reed growing in a pond and a small girl with a cloud of white curly hair came out of the trees to step up beside the woman in the road.

  She said, "This is Hannah and Payton. My name is Elizabeth. Our father was Marlow Duncan:"

  The boy stared at them with misgiving. It was easy to see he didn't have the same eagerness as his sister to find the Shaker village. The little girl leaned against Elizabeth, her weariness showing in every line of her body.

  "How far is it to your town?" the child asked. "We walked much of the night"

  "Will we make it there by dark?" the woman named Elizabeth said. "We are very tired. It's been a hard few days. We buried our father the day before yesterday."

  Brother Issachar frowned. "The day before yesterday? And is there reason for your haste to come to our village?"

  Again the woman glanced over her shoulder down the road, as though fearing something might be overtaking them. She appeared relieved to see nothing there as she looked back at Brother Issachar and said simply, "We have no food"

  "We had apples but we ate them, and Aristotle ate the biscuits," the child with the remarkable hair added. She looked directly at Brother Issachar and then Ethan.

  The color of her eyes was the strangest Ethan had ever seen, like the blue of their Shaker cloth faded by the sun until it was more white than blue. Her direct look made him uneasy, and he shifted his eyes to the boy and then the woman. He thought he should drop his gaze down to his hands or off to the trees, but he did not. Something about her attracted his eye, attracted his curiosity. She looked frightened. Lack of food for a few hours would not be reason for fear. And she looked at him boldly as if she not only resented his curiosity but the fact of her fear.

  He ordered himself to look away at the trees, but his eyes stayed pinned on her. He was relieved when Brother Issachar spoke to take her attention from him.

  "We have food enough to share;' Brother Issachar said.

  "We don't want to take your midday meal. We aren't that hungry;" the woman said. "We only wished to be sure we were heading in the right direction"

  "That you are, but it's a good way yet on foot,' Brother Issachar said as he climbed down off the wagon. "My name is Issachar and this is Ethan:" He picked up his packet of food and handed it toward not the woman but the boy. "Here, take this, my children. I can share with Brother Ethan. The sisters always pack an overabundance for us:"

  The boy hesitated but only for a bare second before he took the food. "Thank you," he said.

  "Yes, thank you,' the woman echoed. She looked near tears at Brother Issachar's kindness, but then she mashed her mouth together and blinked them away.

  Brother Issachar smiled at them. "Brother Ethan and I must go get supplies in the town, but if you wish to rest here by the road, we will travel back this way in a few hours. You can ride on our wagon into the village with us then"

  Ethan spoke up again. "Brother Issachar, you should tell them that we do not have dogs in our village:"

  Brother Issachar petted the dog's head, setting the dog's tail to wagging so fiercely that his whole body was shaking. "He seems a fine animal. Aristotle, did you say?" Brother Issachar looked at the little girl. "Quite a name for a dog"

  "Our father named him such," the woman named Elizabeth said as her own hand fell down to stroke the dog's back affectionately. `And we do know the Shakers have no pets. Our father told us as much after he visited your village last year. We were hoping to find someone in need of a good dog on the way, but we've been staying in the trees and haven't met anyone to inquire about a home for him as yet:'

  "We have to stay in the trees so Mr. Linley won't find us;' the little girl said.

  Her sister tightened her hand on the child's shoulder to stop her words.

  "Mr. Linley? Is that who you fear might be coming up the road?" Brother Issachar said mildly as he looked at Elizabeth.

  She looked reluctant to answer. "I do not wish to see him;' she a
dmitted.

  "Have you done him some wrong?" Brother Issachar asked.

  "He might think so:" Elizabeth's voice wasn't much more than a whisper and the boy shifted uneasily on his feet as if he wanted to run away.

  The child spoke up, ignoring her sister's tightening grip on her shoulder. "He has thoughts of wedding my sister without caring what she desires. We only fear him for that reason:"

  "Hannah;' the sister said sharply. "These men aren't interested in our troubles"

  "But, my sister;" Brother Issachar said. "If you become one of us, then your troubles are ours" Suddenly Brother Issachar laughed. "But if it is only matrimony you fear, then the Shaker village is the place for you. There's no problem with matrimony there. Isn't that right, Brother Ethan?"

  Ethan nodded his agreement, but at the same time he wished they hadn't come upon these three on the road. The young woman's eyes seemed to reach into him and demand a response that was unsettling. It was just as Brother Martin had warned him often enough. Each time a man stepped closer to the perfect life of a Believer, the devil pushed some worldly temptation in front of him. At next meeting, Ethan would have to labor a special dance to shake this odd feeling off of him.

  The men took Aristotle with them. The older man, the kind one named Issachar, said he knew a storekeeper who would appreciate a dog with such a fine name. They each told the dog goodbye in their own way. Payton ruffled the dog's ears and scratched his chest before he buried his face in Aristotle's fur to hide the tears in his eyes. Hannah let the dog jump up with his paws on her shoulders and danced a circle with him. Then she gazed deep into his dog eyes without saying a word. It was obvious there was no need of spoken words between the girl and the dog.

  Last, Elizabeth knelt in front of Aristotle. She had to remind herself yet again as tears gathered in behind her eyes that she could not sacrifice herself to a man she could not abide in order to keep a dog. "I am sorry to lose you. You have been a faithful friend to our father and to us, Aristotle. You must be a faithful friend to this new man you go to now."