by Risner, Fay
Peter relaxed once they were in the seat. He dangled the lines over the horse's back and let Mike walk. Peter looked like he wouldn't mind if this ride lasted all night. Tootie felt uneasy about taking Jim's buggy, but what else could she do? Maybe she could talk Peter into turning around soon and taking the buggy back before Jim noticed it was gone. “Where we going?”
“Just around the Bender Creek Road,” Peter said.
Tootie suddenly felt jittery. She didn't think it was proper to be on Lover's Lane with Peter, but she didn't have a choice now. She should have ask Peter before they started. Too late. She was along for the ride now.
She'd read about teenage dating in her All You Need To Know About Amish Customs book. She racked her brain for what was written in the book. It finally came to her what she should say as they turned onto Bender Creek Road. “Peter, I mean to stick to the no touching policy on this date.”
“No touching? Oh, you mean a Hands Off Courtship.” Peter chuckled heartedly. “It is a little late to ask for that between the two of us, ain't so?”
“Holy Buckets!” Tootie exploded and felt a tight lurch in her stomach. Peter and the real Dolly must have been closer than she realized. Now what was she going to do?
“Young lady, that is no way to talk. Scripture says, Now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication out of your mouth.
You know if it had not been for my responsibility to Sara I would have followed you when you moved away. I wanted to marry you.” Peter pulled the buggy over to the side of the road and stopped. He twisted in the seat and took her hand. “We need to talk. I want you to know I did not want to let you go all those years ago. I checked with your brother as often as I could without getting caught to see if you were all right after you left. When I found out you married, it was no use anymore. I had to quit.”
“I see,” Tootie said quietly.
“I can tell you do not really see. You were not around when I was wishing things could have been different. Oh, I loved Sara, but I loved you more, Dolly.” Peter leaned over and pressed a light, very gentle kiss on Tootie's cheek. It was such a tender kiss she couldn't ignore it. “Now do you see?”
The gesture was so sweet it brought tears to Tootie's eyes and a load of quilt to her insides. She shouldn't have let this mess go as long as she did. Peter needed to know she wasn't his Dolly. She was just a fill in even though she wished she was the real deal. “I'm beginning to,” she whispered as she wiped tears rolling down her cheeks with her fingertips. “Now that you've told me don't you think we better go back to your place. We've been gone long enough.”
Peter's gaze didn't budge from her face as he took her hand in his. “Jah, but only after you make me a promise.”
“I'll try. What is it?” Tootie asked.
“You will come back here with me again soon. I've spent a lot of time traveling on this road by myself over the years with just the memory of you to keep me company. Now that I have the real thing, I want you to come here with me again,” Peter said.
“It's a date for sure,” Tootie agreed solicitously. “You know as late as it's getting maybe you should take me to the Lapp house.”
“Jah, I can do that. This is all I will make you promise for now, but we have to talk again soon. We have had too many years go by. We can not let what is between us go unsaid or not acted upon.” Peter flicked the lines and turned the buggy around in the road.
The pale light from the gas lamp lit up the Lapp's living room window. Tootie sighed. Someone must be waiting up for her. She tried to steel herself for the chewing out Nora and Hal were going to give her for taking off with Peter. Worse yet, Jim was really going to be mad about them using his old buggy without asking.
Tootie let Peter help her down. They climbed the porch steps and entered the house. Her family stared at the door, wondering who would be coming through it.
Tootie opened the door. “Hello.”
“Where have you been?” Nora barked.
Tootie shrugged, “We went for a ride.”
“My buggy all in one piece?” Jim snapped.
With an offended sniffle, Tootie said, “Yes, it is, and so are we. Thanks for asking.” She patted Peter's arm. “Peter needs a ride home now.”
“I'll take him,” Jim said begrudgingly.
Tootie excused softly to Jim, “Peter thought the buggy was one he used to own.”
Jim went over to stand at the door by Peter, ready to leave.
Hal said, “Wait, Dad. Noah, go along with Grandpa in case Peter gives him trouble. You will make sure Dawdi finds his way back home. See if you can find your father on the way. Tell him and Cooner Jonah that all is well. They can come home.”
Noah walked over to Peter. He put his hand on the elderly man's rounded shoulder. “Come on, Peter Rogies. It's bedtime for all of us. Time to go home.”
Chapter 14
“That quilting frolic at Jane Bontrager's house is this afternoon,” Hal said as she helped her mother clean off the table after breakfast. “Eldon stopped John down by the road and told him to pass the word on to us.”
“Do they live close?” Tootie asked as she put a glass in the rinse water.
“Jah, they live just down the road,” Hal said. “We can go right after lunch.”
Tootie frowned. “We didn't bring needles and scissors to quilt with.”
“That's all right,” Emma said. “We will give you some of ours to use.”
Nora gazed out the window. “I haven't been to a quilting bee since we were children. We went to them with Mama.”
“I haven't, either,” Tootie said.
Nora turned to her. “You're always telling me you quilt with women in the church basement.”
“Sure I do if you call sewing squares of material together and tacking with different colors of scrap yarn quilting. Hardly the same thing as a good old fashion quilting bee,” Tootie declared.
On the short ride to the Bontrager house, Nora pointed out to Tootie a farmer with eight snorting horses pulling a plow. The jangling harness sounded like music accompanying the farmer's loud shouts to keep moving as the rich gumbo rolled from the gleaming plowshares.
At the Bontrager house, Jane met them at the door. They sat down in empty chairs between the other ladies already working around the quilting frame. Tootie hesitated when she saw the only empty chair left by Stella Strutt, but she didn't have a choice. Sallie Gingerich and Jane were on the other side of Stella. Nora and Hal were seated across from Tootie with Linda Yoder and Margaret Yoder beside them.
As the three women threaded needles, put on their thimbles and started stitching, Linda Yoder asked, “Wonder how Mary Mast is getting along now?”
Hal said, “She's doing fine. She's not far away from delivery. We're praying for a different outcome this time.”
“We will all pray for her,” Sallie Gingerich said in her soft squeaky voice.
“Sure did not help her any when Johnnie had his accident,” Margaret said. “Johnnie must be coming around by now, ain't so?”
“He's doing better, considering how badly his leg was broken,” Hal said.
“Always something bad happening to someone,” Jane Bontrager said. “Did you hear Jonas Bender broke his leg yesterday morning?”
“His son, Mark, came for me. I called an ambulance for him while I stabilized the leg,” Hal said, pulling her needle through the cloth. “He needed surgery on the bone to put a pin in the break.”
“That poor family always has struggles of one thing or another with that farm,” Margaret said.
Jane added, “Elton is organizing a work bee so the men can help the Benders out while Jonas leg is mending.”
Displeased, Stella Strutt yanked her needle through the quilt, puckering the material. “Moses says Jonas Bender never gets in a hurry on a gute day. In any hurry at all. That is why he always has too much left to do by bedtime. His own fault. Really his own fault. He does not get an early start like most
men. Appears to me it is his own fault his farm is struggling when he gets hurt.”
“Perhaps, but we should help Brother Bender in his time of need just the same, ain't so?” Jane said, looking at the other women to take her side.
“Is so,” Linda Yoder agreed.
The others nodded that they agreed.
Tootie looked at the quilt and contemplated, “The farmers around us help each other when one of them is sick or hurt. It's what you do as your Christian duty.”
Stella looked stern down her nose at Tootie. Tootie glanced at Stella then concentrated on her needle and thread.
Changing the subject, Katie Stolfus asked, “Have any of you noticed the sad shape Peter Rogies is in?”
“Yes,” Jane said. “He is failing.”
“I do not know how to talk to the poor man anymore,” Linda Yoder said. “I tried at the last meeting service, and he called me by his late wife's name.”
“Just answer him in such a way that makes him feel all right with himself,” Hal told her. “He has Alzheimer's disease. His family has their hands full trying to keep him calm.”
Stella Strutt grunted. “With the shape the man is in not much any of us can do for him. Not much we can do but leave him alone.”
Jane said, “Des verschtehn ich, but we can keep him in our prayers. God understands even if we do not and will be by Peter's side.”
“Peter needs understanding from all of you,” Tootie said gently as she cut the thread.
“We understand very well. The man has lost his mind,” Stella Strutt bluntly as she brought her needle back up through the material.
“Peter is a kind man that isn't well. You would do good to remember that.” Tootie was vex. She knotted the end of the thread and rammed her needle through the quilt. While Stella glared at her, Tootie busied herself feeling for the needle to retrieve it under the quilt. She made a wide sweep with her hand, found the needle and tugged on it when the needle resisted. Whatever it was caught on gave way, and Tootie stuck the needle back through the quilt bottom and brought it to the top.
Sallie Gingerich said, “Anna Rogies said the birthday party did not go well. Peter grabbed Hal by the arm and was angry with her.”
“Nurse Hal probably stuck her schnuppich nose too close to where it did not belong. Did not belong at all like she has a habit of doing,” Stella said snidely.
“What happened wasn't my niece's fault,” Tootie defended sharply. “You had to be there to understand, and you weren't invited.”
Stella stopped her needle in mid air and got in a staring match with Tootie.
Hal looked from one to the other woman thinking, They are talking about me as if I'm not here.
Jane intervened before things escalated between the two women. “Now we can see Hal is right here, and she is all right. Stella, we know she knows how to take care of herself and is a great help to those in need.”
Tootie settled down and went back to stitching.
Stella was now spoiling for a fight. “Have you cleared the smoke smell from your house yet, Nurse Hal?” She rubbed in.
Margaret worried, “Smoke? Did you have a fire?”
“Nah! Well, just a little one as a result of a cooking mishap,” Hal explained. “Jah, Sister Stella, our house is fine now.”
Stella leaned close to Sallie Gingerich and whispered loudly for all to hear, “It wonders me who is really the oddest one in that family.”
Tootie's head shot up, but Hal shook her head in a let it go warning. Tootie took the hint and went back to stitching energetically. The women managed to keep the rest of the conversations on neutral subjects.
Finally, Hal said they should go home. Jane walked with them to the door. “Nora and Tootie, come back and visit anytime.”
“We will. This was such a treat.” Nora said to the women behind Jane, “We've enjoyed quilting with all of you.”
Hal started to respond likewise when Stella stood up. The quilting frame tilted away from Stella and toppled over. Stella did a nose dive on top of it. Her black dress billowed out over the white quilt as she floundered with her arms and legs treading air. She squalled for help. The women rushed to her. It took several of them to help her onto her feet. When they did, the quilting frame followed her into an upright position.
“That's odd,” Jane said.
Linda Yoder peeked under the frame. “Stella's apron is sewn to the bottom side of the quilt. I need scissors.” Margaret handed her the scissors. Linda squatted down under the frame to cut the threads.
Hal asked, “Are you all right, Stella?”
“I think so, but I could have been hurt because of your dummkopf aunt,” Stella sputtered.
“Me? I wasn't even close when you fell down,” Tootie said innocently.
“Never mind, Aunt Tootie. If Stella isn't hurt, we're leaving,” Hal said as she pushed Tootie toward the door. She turned and whispered to Jane, “I am so sorry to leave you now. Can you calm Stella down?”
“I can manage,” Jane said, her eyes twinkling. “See you soon.”
The buggy ride home started out quietly. Suddenly, Tootie blurted out, “If I said something wrong to that mean old witch I'm sorry. I was just tired of her picking on Peter. Besides, my Pennsylvania Dutch may be bad, but I think she called me a dummy for the second time.”
“It's all right, Aunt Tootie,” Hal said. “Stella says lots of things like that when she's angry. She was really mad, because you sewed her apron to the quilting frame.”
“Me? How do you know she didn't do that to herself?” Did you see how she puckered that pretty quilt when she jerked her needle through the material,” Tootie sputtered.
Nora shrugged. “Might as well let it go. What is done is done I guess.”
Tootie sniffed haughtily. “You're beginning to sound more Amish every day, Nora,”
“Aendi Tootie,” Emma said, trying not to smile. “We have a saying. Keep your words soft and sweet just in case you have to eat them. I might add, keep your needle in front of you when you sew at a quilting frolic.”
“I'll remember that the next time,” Tootie grumbled. Under her breath, she said to Emma, “Unless I have to be at a quilting bee with that old bat.”
Nora leaned over to Hal. “There will always be a next time for my sister. Maybe not at a quilting bee, but there will be a next time. Sorry, Hal.”
Emma added, “No need to worry, Mammi Nora. I doubt Stella Strutt will let Aendi Tootie sit by her again.”
Hal rolled her eyes toward the buggy roof and kept driving.
Tootie grumped, “Oh, you girls.”
Hal didn't know what Stella Strutt would spread about her sassy English aunt, but this time she was pretty sure Tootie had it coming to her.
When they arrived home, Emma thought it might be a good thing to get Tootie away from Hal and Nora for a while. “Aendi Tootie, come with me to the hen house to watch me gather eggs. I'll show you my hens. I have the best laying flock around here.” She hoped that didn't sound too boastful, but she had to have a good reason to get Tootie out of the house.
“No, Dear, hen houses are smelly and dusty. They make me wheeze,” Tootie said.
“All recht, you do not have to come inside. Stand outside the door and watch,” Emma said.
“Oh, I don't know. There's probably something in here I should be doing,” Tootie stalled, hoping Nora or Hal would come to her rescue. The women didn't seem to be listening.
“I wanted you to see my rooster, Abraham? He's a pretty fellow,” Emma enticed.
“Don't care to get close to a rooster. I got pecked by a mean one once. It hurt,” Tootie complained.
“My rooster will not hurt you. He is not mean,” Emma wheedled.
Tootie kept eyeing Hal and Nora. They didn't say a word in her defense. Finally, Tootie ran out of excuses. “All right, I'll go with you.”
As they crossed the back yard, Tootie fretted, “I'm in trouble with your mother and Nora, aren't I?”
“They wil
l get over it. We have always had to endure Stella Strutt and her strict ideas. Sometimes, it does her gute to be confronted with someone who puts her in her place. Mama Hal would agree with that.”
“I don't think Hallie wanted it to be me putting Stella in her place in front of all those women at the quilting bee of all places,” Tootie worried.
“Probably not, but I will tell you a secret. Usually it is Hallie that gives Stella a hard time. They have never gotten along,” Emma said, giggling.
“Really? That makes me feel a little better,” Tootie said.
Emma pointed to a setting hen, racing across the dusty chicken yard, followed by her brood of fluffy chicks. The hen stopped and scattered the dirt, looking for bugs. When she found some insects, she clucked to her chicks to eat. She spotted the women coming and squawked as she bristled at what looked like danger. Her chicks fled under her and huddled in a pile beneath the protective shelter of her cradling wings.
Emma said, “Stand at the door and watch me gather the eggs. That way you get to see my gute flock.”
“Okay,” Tootie said half heartedly. She focused on the too close for comfort setting hen growling at her.
Inside, a hen cackled her displeasure when Emma stuck her hand under her, looking for an egg. The hen flew off the nest just as Tootie looked to see what the trouble was in the building. The hen sailed at Tootie in the doorway.
“Oh, my!” Tootie slid against the wall in time to get out of the hen's way. Only her head reappeared in the door so she'd be less likely to get assaulted by hens and still watch Emma.
The hen cackled loudly, scaring the other hens on the floor. They raised their heads and joined in a chorus of noisy cackles. They didn't know what they were upset about, but when one of them set off the alarm, they all joined in.
“Ouch!” Tootie felt a sharp pain in the back of her hand. She looked behind her and screamed. In the next breath, she wailed, “Emma, get him away from me.”
Emma hurried to the door. “What is wrong?”
“I shouldn't have come out here. I told you roosters bite. Your big rooster just bit my hand,” Tootie shouted, flattening herself against the building as Tom peered closely at her. “You said your rooster wouldn't hurt me.”
