A Dream for Hannah (Hannah's Heart 1)

by Jerry S. Eicher

  “What are you talking about?” Roy asked.

  Kathy said, “I think she was hoping it was a boy coming to see her.”

  “Who would do something like that?” Roy asked. “It’s not even Friday night. Besides…I wouldn’t let the boy who sneaks around into the house. She will do it the proper way—not with lights in the windows.”

  Hannah nodded, for reasons she couldn’t quite understand, close to tears. A few slid down her cheeks, and she put down her spoon to wipe them away.

  “Now, look what you’ve done,” Kathy said. “You’ve broken her heart.”

  “It needs to be broken from ideas like that.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Kathy said. “It’s not that anyone would actually come. I’m sure Hannah wouldn’t allow it. It’s the wish that a boy might care so much that he’d want to come.”

  Roy looked skeptical.

  “I wouldn’t want it to actually happen either,” Kathy assured him. “It’s just the wish, I guess, that counts.”

  “Did you want me to come around to your window when I was dating you?” Roy asked.

  “Well, you never thought of doing something like that,” she said as she began clearing the table now that breakfast was over. Hannah got to her feet to help.

  “That’s not what I asked,” he replied, waiting for an answer.

  Kathy finally came over and gave him a hug. “You did just fine.”

  Roy grinned but shook his head. “I still don’t think it’s proper…or in order.”

  “I know that,” she said, “and I’m sure Hannah knows it too.” Kathy gathered up a stack of dirty dishes and headed for the kitchen sink. “Girls just have dreams sometimes.”

  Hannah felt stabs of guilt at her mother’s words of confidence. Would she really go out with Peter or did she just want him to come to the window?

  Her beloved poem had somehow awakened her to love, and she couldn’t turn back now. Love was now her dream. And Peter was the object of that dream. He was a good boy, and she trusted him.

  Hannah didn’t have to wait long to find the answer to what she would do if Peter did come, for it was the very next evening a soft rapping sounded on her windowpane. Hannah had just come into her room, slipped off her shoes, and stretched out on the bed, weary to the bone from another hard day of housework. It felt so absolutely divine to rest, and so at first she didn’t notice the noise on the windowpane.

  The taps were repeated, this time more insistently. She sat upright and swung her feet onto the floor. Her eyes went to the window where a shadowy figure crouched in front of the pane, his hand poised to knock again.

  She felt a scream form deep within her, but no sound came out. The shadow moved and waved a hand. Hannah stood, her fear now mixing with excitement as she stared, undecided, at the window. The figure reached into a pocket and produced a long silver item. It used the other hand to cover the end, then a small flash of light appeared directed at the person’s face. To her astonishment she saw the dimply lit face of Peter. She drew a sharp breath as her heart pounded. Peter had come to her window. In a flash, her decision was made, and she rushed to the window to raise the sash.

  “Hi,” Peter whispered and then moved away from the window to wait. “Come quick. You still want your ride?”

  “You came,” she said.

  “Of course,” he said. “I said I would, didn’t I? It just took a little while.”

  “But I told you not to come,” Hannah said, now rethinking her decision. With Peter actually in front of her and the dark of night outside, she wasn’t so sure of what she should do.

  He ignored her comment but said, “I worked hard on this—now don’t go spoiling it.”

  “How was that?” she asked.

  “That dog of yours has been a great nuisance. I spent the last few evenings becoming friends with him.”

  “You went to all that trouble?” She found herself impressed. This was the Peter she knew, the Peter who cared for her.

  “I wanted to see you,” he whispered in the darkness.

  “You did? Really?” she asked.

  “Yes. Now come…or can I come in?”

  “No,” she said instinctively. That would not do at all. “We can talk here.”

  “It’s pretty uncomfortable on this roof. It would be nicer inside.”

  She felt the emotion deep inside. What should I do? What if my parents walk in?

  “Come on,” he coaxed, “I won’t stay long.”

  Hannah made no movement away from the window, and Peter made no attempt to force his way in.

  “I went to all this work to see you. At least let me inside,” he said.

  Shep took it upon himself at that moment to bark.

  “Oh, no,” Peter said, “the dog.”

  “It’s nothing,” she said. “I can tell by his bark. It sounds friendly.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you go for a ride, then, in my car?”

  “Where?” she asked.

  “I’ll take you downtown for a drive. We can just climb down the tree and follow the fencerow down to the road. We won’t see anybody, and I’ll have you back in no time. No one will ever know.”

  There was a pause as Hannah thought about it. The darkness made things look so much different than in the daytime. Why she wouldn’t go baffled her at the moment. While trying to decide, she was very conscious that Peter was there, in the dark, his eyes on her face.

  What harm could it do? For another moment she searched for reasons not to go and found only her parents’ disapproval.

  “I’ll go,” Hannah said.

  Shep barked again, sharper this time. “Maybe you can get the dog to quiet down?” Peter asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered back into the darkness.

  Peter reached for her hand to help her out the window. At his touch Hannah became more confident. Even more, she felt wanted.

  Hannah followed Peter across the roof and noticed his carefulness lest he fall. Even on the tree, he climbed slowly and with great caution. But for Hannah the climb down was easy because of her years of practice.

  At the base of the tree, Shep sat waiting and wagging his tail. He then followed the couple as they made their way to the fence. But Hannah turned and ordered him to stay. He sat obediently but offered a whimper of protest.

  Hannah then followed Peter along the fencerow to where he had parked his car a ways up the road. The blue color of the MGC appeared even darker than in the daytime. She opened the door on the passenger’s side by herself while Peter rushed around to the other side. She was already in when he slid into the driver’s seat.

  “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” he whispered and turned the key.

  The motor purred in the darkness.

  “Don’t drive too fast,” she said, still nervous about her decision.

  “You scared?” he asked, and although she couldn’t see his face, she was sure he was grinning.

  “Maybe, but just don’t drive fast…okay? You said a nice drive.”

  “That it will be,” he replied, laughing. “Let’s go, then. I’ve wanted to do this for such a long time. ”

  As they got farther down the road, he began to speed up again.

  “Not too fast,” she repeated. The speed of the car made her feel more frightened in the darkness.

  “This isn’t fast,” he said. “I could go a lot faster.” But for her, he slowed down a little.

  Hannah noticed he had barely slowed down for the stop signs posted at the last two intersections. Ahead of them the road dipped into a low spot, and the night made the lay of the ground look like a miniature canyon.

  Peter pulled onto a side road and then into a secluded grove of trees, well hidden from the main road. There he turned the motor off and sat back against his seat. Over them the tree branches hung heavy and cast a pall on the ground even in the darkness.

  “Why are we stopping here?” Hannah asked. “You said you were
going downtown.”

  “Just a minute,” he said as he slid over close to her. His hands reached out slowly toward her face. His fingers brushed lightly against her cheeks, and then his face drew closer until his lips touched hers. “You are a sweet girl,” he whispered.

  His sudden nearness overwhelmed Hannah. Under the great silence of the heavens so full of pulsating beacons of starlight, Hannah felt the power of unbidden emotion. Her eyes swept across the stars as her fingers touched his. So this is what love is—this desire to be with him, to touch him. The God who had made the stars must be the very One who made a boy like Peter. Yet, this delight also seemed to be mixed with guilt, she noticed with great astonishment. Is love also like that? Is it always mixed with hesitation?

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  She shook her head, but she knew something was wrong.

  His lips found hers again, and she tried to give in, to forget her mom and dad, her upbringing, the fact that she shouldn’t be out here—and that she had climbed out of a window to be with this boy. Her dream of love rose before her, and a voice told her to enjoy the moment to its fullest now that what she had dreamed about had come to her. But at the same moment, she knew she couldn’t.

  “Something’s wrong,” Peter said when she pulled away. “What is it?”

  “Take me home,” Hannah said into the darkness. “I don’t want this.”

  “Why not? We’re not doing anything wrong.” His fingers found hers in the darkness and caressed them, but she pulled away.

  “Yes, we are,” she told him. “Take me home.”

  “Don’t be like your father, Hannah,” Peter said with disdain in his voice. “Can’t you see what they’re doing to you? They want you to just throw your youth away, pine around in the house, and not have any fun at all.”

  “I thought this was love,” she whispered, perhaps more to herself than to Peter.

  “Well, it is,” he said, laughing. “You don’t have to be scared.”

  Hannah said nothing, and Peter didn’t move from where he sat. But when tears threatened to spill, he must have sensed her distress because he let out a long low breath, started the car, backed up, and returned to the main road. With a flash headlights cut a clear path into the night air.

  As the tears came, Peter said, “Hannah, don’t go crybaby on me! And don’t go telling your folks things. We didn’t do anything wrong. I just kissed you.”

  “Just take me home,” she repeated.

  Nine

  Roy awoke with a start. He sat upright in bed and listened. The house was silent, yet the uneasy feeling he’d experienced on and off all week had returned.

  He got up, got dressed, and walked into the living room. Slowly he walked to the window and looked out. The night was moonless and dark though stars twinkled brightly in the sky. He opened the front door and glanced around. Nothing looked amiss. But according to his instincts, something clearly was amiss.

  He went back to the bedroom and woke Kathy. “Something’s going on. Something’s not right,” he said.

  “Like what?” she asked sleepily. “Is Shep barking again?”

  “No,” he said, “something else. I don’t know what. Would you get up and check the children’s rooms?”

  “Okay,” Kathy muttered as she reached for her housecoat and put it on over her nightclothes.

  As Kathy climbed the stairs, Roy went out to the porch again. He stood there and listened to the low hum of the night sounds and wondered what was wrong. Then, off in the distance, the headlights of a car cut into the night. From the movement of the lights, he was sure the car would pass their house. It was coming fast. Waves of light bounced around on their uneven gravel road. Yet, there was nothing unusual in that. Cars drove this road frequently, and they often drove fast.

  It was when Roy heard the car abruptly slow down that his attention became focused. The tires slid on the gravel by their driveway, and the car came to a complete stop. The passenger door opened, and a girl got out. Roy couldn’t make out who the girl was, nor did he hear any voices. But then he heard the squeal of tires on the gravel road as the car sped off. The taillights dimly lit the shape of the girl the car had left off. Even in the darkness that settled around her, Roy could tell she didn’t move, as if she were frozen to the spot.

  Roy, startled out of his surprise, moved with his first instinct, which was to get Kathy. He opened the front door and called to her.

  She had just come down the stairs, her eyes wide with the news. “She’s not here.”

  “Who isn’t here?” he asked.

  “Hannah.”

  “Look there,” Roy said and pointed with his chin toward the road.

  They stood together and looked at the form out by the road.

  “Where did she come from?” Kathy asked.

  “A car just dropped her off.”

  “It can’t be Hannah, can it? She wouldn’t be out without telling us.”

  “Maybe we ought to go and see,” Roy ventured.

  “But…she wouldn’t do something like this—leave in the night…without telling us.”

  Roy took Kathy by the hand and led her down the steps and slowly out the driveway. They approached the still figure who was standing by the road with her back turned toward them. As they got closer, the unmistakable sounds of sobs became evident.

  “Hannah,” Kathy said when she was close enough to speak, “is that you?”

  The only answer was yet louder cries.

  Kathy walked up quickly, reached for Hannah’s hand, pulled her tightly to herself, and asked, “What are you doing out here?”

  “He just dropped me off.”

  “Who is he?” Kathy asked.

  “Peter,” Hannah sobbed.

  “Why on earth were you with Peter?”

  “He came to my window and offered me a ride.”

  “To your window?” Kathy was horrified.

  Hannah’s only reply was a sob of regret. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Tell me all about it,” Kathy said after giving Hannah a few moments to calm down.

  “Peter said…that he wanted to take me for a ride.”

  “And you went with him?”

  Hannah nodded in the darkness.

  “Didn’t you know that’s wrong?” Kathy asked.

  “Yes, but I couldn’t resist. It seemed like a harmless thing—just take a nice ride, he said, and then he would bring me right back. I thought it would be okay.

  “Have you done this before?” Kathy asked.

  Hannah shook her head.

  “What happened then?”

  “We drove a little, and he parked.”

  “He parked?” Kathy’s voice echoed in the night.

  “He said we would drive through downtown.”

  “What happened then—after you parked?”

  Hannah’s voice was weak. “He leaned over and kissed me—just twice, Mom. Really! I thought I’d enjoyed it…Then I couldn’t. I don’t know why. It was then that I told him to take me home.”

  “Did he bring you home then?”

  “Yes, but he was really mad. He just dropped me off at the end of the lane, making a big fuss. I knew then I could never climb back into my room without you and Dad finding out.”

  “Is that why you’re crying?” Kathy asked.

  “Not just that.” Hannah broke into fresh tears. “Oh, Mom, how can something like this turn out so terrible? I feel just awful inside. He wasn’t nice at all. I thought he was so wonderful.”

  Kathy pulled Hannah to her again and said nothing as the two cried together.

  “We had best go inside,” Roy said, deciding to make his presence known. “We’ll deal with this more in the morning. Right now it’s time to get everyone to bed.”

  As Roy turned to lead them in, he thought he heard something in the distance, and his eyes caught a brilliant flare of light in the distance down the road. Red and yellow lights rose in a cloud of color that looked close. They soon died down an
d were replaced with a low hue that also soon faded.

  Because they had just turned to walk toward the house, neither Hannah nor Kathy heard the noise or saw the lights.

  Roy wondered what he had heard and what could have been the source of the lights. His instincts told him what they were, but he hoped he was wrong.

  “Get Hannah to bed,” he told Kathy when they were inside the house. “We will talk some more about this tomorrow. I need to go check on something.”

  Kathy nodded and headed for the stairs with Hannah in front of her. Pausing with her hand on the door, she asked, “Where are you going?”

  “I’m taking the buggy. Don’t worry.” He turned only for a moment before he pulled on his work shoes.

  “Do be careful,” she said and followed Hannah up the stairs.

  Roy rushed out to the barn, lit the gas lantern he kept there, and called the horse in. He worked quickly and soon drove the buggy out the driveway and onto the main road, the reins tight in his hands.

  Officer Coons, from the Indiana State Police, had also seen the fireball. He quickly pulled his cruiser to the side of the road, made a U-turn, and drove in the direction of the flash. It didn’t take him long to reach his destination and report in. “We have a one-car vehicle accident two miles west of 331 on the County Line Road. Have fire and rescue respond.”

  “Causality report?” the response came back.

  “Unknown at this time,” he said. “Exiting cruiser to examine the scene now. Does not look good.”

  With his flashlight in hand, Officer Coons jumped the ditch and approached the vehicle. Small fires were still burning inside the mangled frame of the car that was wrapped around a tree, but the worst of the fire seemed over. There was no sign of life that he could see.

  He lifted his head as the clip-clop of horse’s hooves approached. Although he was in Amish country, he had expected the sound of sirens, not horse’s hooves at this time of the night. Although the accident likely happened because some lover boy was driving too fast on his way home from his girl’s home, that too was strange. This was the middle of the week.