“You could fix it, Sam. Won’t you fix it?”
The doubt clamped around his chest like a vice. Was he doing the right thing?
Rose gave Sam a reassuring nod. “Sam is doing what is best.”
Sam squared his shoulders. Rose was right. Wally was so eager, but in the end he’d find nothing but pain and heartache, just like before. Sam had to be strong for both of them. “I’m not going to fix your leg. You’ve grown out of it. It wouldn’t fit even if I wanted it to—and I don’t.”
Wally’s brows inched together. “Don’t you want me to walk again? Or do you want me to stay a cripple all my life?”
“You are not a cripple, with or without crutches. You’ve been hurt enough, and I can’t stand to see you in pain. And I won’t. Miss Stutzman has been ordered not to allow you to play softball. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
“She can’t stop me, and neither can you.”
Sam had never yelled at Wally, but he let him have it now. “You will do as I say or I will pull you out of school, and I won’t even care what the school board has to say about it.”
Surely Wally had never given such a nasty look to even his worst enemy. “I hate you. I hate you as much as you hate me.”
That knocked the wind right out of him. “I want what’s best for you. That doesn’t mean I hate you.”
Wally shook his head. “That doesn’t mean you love me either.” He turned around and hobbled back the way he had come. “I’m not your problem anymore,” Wally threw back over his shoulder. “I’m talking to Mamm.”
“Don’t bother Mamm. She’s not feeling well today.”
“I bother Mamm just by being alive, so it won’t matter much.”
Sam jogged to catch up with him, grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him to a stop. “Don’t you ever say that about yourself again.”
The muscles of Wally’s jaw pulsed under his skin. “The truth hurts, Sam. It always has.” He jerked away, and Sam didn’t try to stop him.
“I brought cupcakes,” Rose called after him.
Wally didn’t turn back or even slow his steps. None of the Sensenigs were all that excited about Rose’s cupcakes anymore.
Dear Sam,
I have gute news. My granddaughter thought you were Vernon Schmucker!
Well, that’s not the gute news, and I apologize if being mistaken for Vernon hurts your feelings. The gute news is that we are coming to your district’s gmay on Sunday. Keep a sharp eye out for us and I will introduce you to her after the fellowship supper.
And please break up with Rose Mast by then. It would not be right to have two girlfriends.
Much love,
Anna Helmuth
Chapter Twenty-One
It was obvious Wally and Reuben were planning something. They’d had their heads together all day, whispering and scheming as if they were plotting a mutiny or something equally forbidden.
Elsie found it hard to swallow past the lump in her throat. They were going to force her to make a decision. She could see it in their eyes. But the only choice she felt good about would get her fired, as sure as rain fell in June in Wisconsin.
She rang the bell, and the children popped out of their seats like horseflies off an agitated horse, ready to go home as quickly as possible. Reuben and Wally stood at the back of the classroom and eyed Elsie as if preparing for an attack. It was so unfair. She wasn’t the enemy, but up until now, she had been fighting Sam’s battles.
The classroom finally cleared out as the children put on their coats and hats and filed down the stairs and out the door. Elsie straightened some papers on her desk, avoiding the inevitable. If the boys wanted her cooperation, they’d have to come to her.
After staring at her for a good minute, Wally cleared his throat. “Miss Stutzman?”
She looked up and flashed a smile. Wally had practically dragged Reuben back into his friendship by the scruff of the neck. Reuben craved acceptance, and he soaked up every bit of attention like a sponge. It had only been the work of two or three days for Wally to talk Reuben over to his way of thinking. Reuben stopped trying to take the other kids’ money, and he and Wally had appointed themselves guardians of the playground. It hadn’t hurt that Maizy had returned to school and had decided to make Reuben her project as well as Wally. Nobody could withstand Maizy’s affection, not even Reuben. Wally had come so far since August, especially since Christmastime. She was proud of him, even if she was going to lose her job over this insecure, awkward, aggravatingly lovable boy. “Did you two have something you wanted to talk to me about?”
To her surprise, Reuben spoke first. “It’s been a whole week, and we’re tired of watching everyone else play softball. We want to play.”
Elsie bit her bottom lip. “You can play anytime you want to, Reuben.”
He frowned. “I’m Wally’s best friend. If he can’t play, I won’t play.”
“Wally’s bruder has given me orders,” she said, working hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice. Sam wasn’t trying to be mean. He simply didn’t understand, and she couldn’t be mad at him for believing he was doing what was best for Wally.
Wally riveted his gaze to her face. “I want to play, Miss Stutzman.”
She stood up and came from behind her desk. “Cum,” she said, directing them to the reading corner, where they sat on three chairs that made a little circle. The chairs were small, and Wally and Reuben sat with their knees tucked almost to their chins. Elsie propped her elbows on her knees and leaned her chin in her hand. “Wally, have you talked to Sam about playing softball?”
Wally pressed his lips together and looked away. “He says I can’t play.”
“Denki for telling me the truth.”
Wally leaned back in his chair and balanced on two chair legs. “It wouldn’t do any gute to lie. Rose’s sisters tattle to Rose every day, and Rose tells Sam everything.”
Elsie ignored the little catch in her heart. “Getting caught isn’t the only reason not to lie.”
“I know, but it’s a sore temptation.” A grin played at the corners of his mouth, and Elsie’s heart rebelled and did a flip. She’d seen that mischievous look before from his older bruder. On top of all the trouble Wally had caused her, he was a daily painful reminder of Sam. Ach! The school year couldn’t end soon enough.
“Do you know what will happen if I let you play softball, Wally?”
“Sam will get mad.” Wally glanced at Reuben. “But he’ll just yell at me. He wouldn’t never hit me. I don’t care if he yells.”
Elsie nodded. “He yells at me too.”
Wally furrowed his brow. “I used to hate you. He yelled at you because of me. I’m sorry.”
She waved away his concern even though her heart was heavy. “The yelling doesn’t bother me. Let him yell all he wants.”
“Jah,” Wally said. “You’re puny, but you’re tough. Me and Reuben are the only ones who can hit your fastball.” A smile crept onto his face. “So you’ll let me play softball?”
“Yelling isn’t the only thing Sam could do. He could pull you out of school.”
Wally leaned forward so all four chair legs were touching the floor. “He said he would, but he won’t. He hates it when I’m home all day.”
Wally still thought he was a burden. “You said Sam won’t buy you a new leg. Will you play on your crutches?”
Wally sprouted a lopsided grin. “I’ve got the money to pay for a new leg, and Sam doesn’t even know it.”
Elsie didn’t want to show a lack of faith, but she had to ask. “Where . . . where did you get the money, Wally?”
Wally caught her meaning, but the resentment on his face was soon replaced with a know-it-all smirk. “I sold my Xbox and all my games yesterday to an Englischer. And I made sure he gave me a gute price. It’s enough to get a new leg, and Mamm says she’ll take me to the doctor even if Sam won’t.”
Ach, du lieva. Elsie was momentarily speechless. Wally had sold his precious video games? Th
ey had been his constant companions for four years. How could he possibly bear to give them up? Warmth snaked up her spine. Because he wanted to be normal again. Because he trusted Elsie to help him, and because he had the courage to dream of something better.
Wally had experienced so many disappointments and trials in his life. So many people—teachers, neighbors, mater, bruder—had let him down. She could not, would not be one of them.
“Ach, Wally. I don’t know what to say.”
Wally smiled and nodded at Reuben, anticipating her answer. She’d never been very good at hiding her emotions. “Say yes, even though I know you’re afraid I’ll hit another home run.”
She narrowed her eyes in mock indignation. “I’m not afraid of a pip-squeak like you.”
“Look who’s talking.”
Wally had no idea what he was really asking her to do. He probably couldn’t comprehend that she was in danger of losing her job if she let him play softball. But there was no need to tell him. He had made a huge sacrifice. She would make one too.
Elsie pushed aside the anxiety and gave the boys her brightest smile. “You have my permission to play.”
You might have thought all the doughnuts were free at the bakery. Wally and Reuben leaped to their feet and jumped up and down, hugging each other and yelling like two first graders.
Elsie laughed, even though dread niggled in the pit of her stomach. “Before you get carried away,” she said, “I am going to write Sam a note and tell him what we have decided to do. He’s your bruder, and we must tell him the truth, even though he won’t like it.”
“He won’t like it, but I don’t mind if he yells at me.”
If only that were the only consequence. “Since I’m being so generous, you boys can take down this bulletin board for me while I write the note.”
Reuben groaned. “Aw, I don’t want to be a teacher’s helper. They’ll make fun of me.”
Elsie cocked an eyebrow. “No one will ever know.” She armed each of them with a staple remover and set them to work. Surely they couldn’t mess up removing pictures from the wall.
Elsie settled in to write a long note to Sam, but there really wasn’t much to say. They’d discussed the subject so many times, she couldn’t put much in a letter that he didn’t know already.
Dear Sam,
Wally and I have talked it over, and I have decided to let him play softball during recess. I am sorry that this upsets you, but I cannot go on denying Wally a chance to dream. His happiness is worth losing my job over.
Her heart hurt just writing the words. It was silly to think that Sam felt anything for her but irritation. The sooner she got him out of her thoughts, the better. Maybe going back to Charm wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. She folded the paper in thirds, slipped it into an envelope, and sealed it. “Here, Wally. Please be sure to give it to Sam. We can’t go behind his back.”
Wally nodded and stuffed the envelope into his pocket. “I’ll give it to him as soon as I get home. He doesn’t know I sold my Xbox. He can yell at me for both things at the same time.”
Elsie went back to her desk and straightened and re-straightened some papers. If Sam was going to come over, he’d see that she had her classroom well under control.
The door at the bottom of the stairs opened and slammed shut, and Elsie’s heart tripped all over itself with the thought that it might be Sam. She had to remind herself that he hadn’t read the letter yet. If he was here, he wasn’t here to yell at her about softball. But since there were about twenty other things he could yell at her about, that didn’t give her much comfort.
Footsteps sounded up the stairs, and she saw the straw hat first. As he came into sight, her stomach crashed to the floor. In her agitation, she’d forgotten that Sam wasn’t the last person she wanted to see in her classroom.
Reuben’s fater ascended the stairs, and his face looked like a black-as-pitch storm looming on the horizon—the kind of storm that made mothers gather their children to their bosoms and fathers rush their families to the cellar. There was a gray and terrifying cast to his complexion, as if his cheeks were permanently frostbitten. Alvin Schmucker was the most frightening man Elsie had ever encountered, even though he’d never actually spoken a word to her. She’d seen him hovering around the fringes of the parents on the night they gathered at the school to meet the new teacher six months ago, and she’d had the misfortune of hearing him yell at Reuben one day out in front of Lark Country Store, where she and Mammi had been shopping.
Reuben and Wally fell silent and froze in place, Reuben with the staple remover behind his back as if he’d been caught stealing cookies.
Elsie swallowed hard and stood up, determined to show Alvin Schmucker nothing but strength and self-assurance. Except for the dangerous look in his eye, there was no reason to assume that Alvin was here to pick a fight. At least she could pretend. She gave him a welcome-to-my-classroom smile, which took a great deal of effort, and stepped around her desk to greet him. “Alvin,” she said, pretending she was more than happy to have Reuben’s dat lurking in her classroom.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Miss Stutzman,” Alvin said, removing his hat.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. A man who was on the attack wasn’t apt to start with an apology. “It’s no bother at all. I hope you don’t mind that I kept Reuben after school for a few minutes. He volunteered to help with my bulletin board.”
The lines around Alvin’s mouth hardened like cement. He raised a stiff arm and motioned at Reuben. “Get over here.”
Reuben furtively stuffed the staple remover in his pocket, lowered his eyes, and shuffled to his dat, stopping before he got within an arm’s length. He grasped his wrist with the other hand and stood with his shoulders slumped. He’d never looked so small before, even though he was still a good seven inches taller than Elsie.
Elsie’s throat tightened until she could barely swallow. “Reuben is a wonderful-gute helper in class, and he watches out for the little ones at recess.” Well, not until recently, but Alvin Schmucker didn’t need to know that. What else could she say? Alvin glared at his son as if Reuben had killed someone.
Wally didn’t move a muscle as his gaze flicked from Reuben to Alvin to Elsie. The fear in his eyes gave Elsie more determination to stay calm, even though she thought her heart might claw its way out of her throat.
She took a deep breath to clear the tightness from her chest. “You will be happy to know that Reuben was one of the last children standing at the spelling bee on Monday. His spelling is improving all the time.”
Alvin didn’t acknowledge anything Elsie said, just glared at his son as if they were the only two in the room. She felt as if she were a schoolgirl prattling on and on about nothing of importance. Alvin reached out and set his hat on the nearest desk. It was then that Elsie noticed the roll of toilet paper in his other hand.
Toilet paper from the porta-potty.
Alvin ripped off a single square and waved it in front of Reuben’s face. “I found ten rolls of this under your bed. Where did you get it?”
Reuben seemed to shrink even smaller. “I don’t know,” he mumbled.
“Don’t lie to me,” Alvin said, his voice threateningly soft.
Reuben lifted his head and glanced at Elsie, his eyes flashing with fear and dread and regret. The look took her breath away. He was sorry, truly sorry for stealing her toilet paper—and not sorry because he’d gotten caught. Sorry because he’d had a change of heart. Reuben shuffled his feet. “It was just a joke.”
In a lightning-swift movement, Alvin raised his arm and smacked Reuben hard across the face with the back of his hand.
Elsie gasped as Reuben stumbled backward. Alvin might as well have hit her. The shock of his blow left her dizzy. “Mr. Schmucker,” she said, trembling and stiffening at the same time as she stepped between Alvin and Reuben. “There is no need to hit your son. There is never a need to hit your son.”
Alvin looked ready to hit Re
uben again. Elsie raised her arms to stop him. “He’s a thief,” Alvin growled. “He’ll go straight to hell.”
Elsie was dazed and confused and frightened out of her mind, but she couldn’t let Alvin hurt Reuben—but even if she convinced Alvin to calm down, there was nothing to stop him from taking it out on his son at home. “Reuben is not a thief,” she burst out. “I asked him to take those rolls of toilet paper home because they were piling up in the bathroom and I didn’t have any room to store them here. He was doing me a favor.”
Alvin narrowed his eyes and studied Elsie’s face. “Liars go to hell just as easy as thieves do.”
Reuben laid his hand on Elsie’s shoulder. Her heart was racing so fast, she jumped at his touch. She turned to look at him and willed him to stay silent and go along with her story. “I stole those rolls, Dat,” he said, still with his eyes downcast, still with his shoulders slumped so low, he could have crawled under one of the floorboards. “I was trying to get the teacher in trouble.” He’d changed more than she thought, or perhaps Reuben could see his dat didn’t believe her. Maybe it was better for him to tell the truth.
Alvin stared at Reuben, silently absorbing his confession. Nothing in his expression softened, but he shoved the roll of toilet paper in Elsie’s direction. “You’ll bring it all back tomorrow. Is that clear?”
“Jah. Okay, Dat.”
“And if I ever catch you stealing again, I’ll whip you until you can’t see straight. No boy of mine is going to hell.”
“Okay, Dat.”
Alvin picked up his hat. “Then let’s go on home,” he said, as if angry with Reuben for not being able to figure that out by himself.
Elsie was almost too stunned to speak. “Could . . . could Reuben stay a little longer and help with the bulletin board? It will help him make up for taking the toilet paper.”
Alvin’s scowl could have knocked her over. “He has chores.” He tapped his hat onto his head. “He’ll bring back the toilet paper, and I’ll be the one to mete out punishment for his sins.”
A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill Page 25
