The Path to Piney Meadows

by Gail Sattler

  The leftovers in Ted’s fridge would keep him fed better than anything he could ever cook. Here, he was just as alone, but one day he could look back and consider this an adventure. “You go to Seattle. I don’t mind staying here. In fact, I’ve already dug into your library, and you have lots of good books I haven’t read yet. I’m unemployed now, so I don’t have to rush to get back to Minneapolis after Christmas. Have fun.”

  “I will call you when I can so we may talk about the job. I must hurry to move my car and get back so I can get on this plane. Thank you again. Merry Christmas, Chad.”

  “Merry Christmas, Ted, and again, congratulations.”

  After he hung up, Chad rested his fists on his hips and looked around the kitchen. When he’d gotten up for work this morning, never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined this.

  The fridge certainly held enough food, and there were enough books that he wouldn’t be bored. He could also check out Ted’s guitar. They had the same taste in books; possibly they had similar tastes in music.

  Just as Chad looked down the hall toward the den, the phone rang again.

  “Ted’s house,” he answered, expecting it to be Ted again.

  But it wasn’t Ted’s voice.

  “This is Anna, I am Ted’s secretary. He has called me to say that you are staying at his house until after Christmas. Rather than eating leftovers from Ted’s fridge, I would like to invite you to join my family for Christmas dinner tomorrow. Do not be shy. It will be our pleasure to have you here.”

  One thing no one had ever called him was shy. Since the Mennonite leftovers were so good, he could only imagine what a Mennonite Christmas dinner fresh out of the oven with all the trimmings would be like.

  “That sounds great. It would be an honor to come. Thank you for your hospitality. Just give me directions, and I’ll be there. I just need to go find a pen and paper.”

  Anna giggled. “You do not need a pen and paper. We are next door. Please come at three o’clock. I will see you tomorrow.”

  3

  Anna Janzen inhaled deeply to calm her nerves, telling herself to stop her hands from shaking or else she would spill the oft mooss before their guest arrived.

  Beside her, her mama and Sarah, her sesta, worked diligently preparing the Christmas meal, making sure they would have enough food for their unexpected guest, in addition to her papa and David, her brooda. As if they wouldn’t. Even though everyone knew they would have enough food to feed double her family, her mama still insisted on preparing an extra dish at the last minute.

  At the thought of their visitor, Anna didn’t know whether to be more nervous or more excited. Ted had told her that this man, Mr. Chad Jones, was from the cities.

  Except for Miranda and those Ted invited to Piney Meadows to visit the furniture plant, she’d never actually spoken to anyone from the cities. She’d only been outside Piney Meadows once, when Miranda borrowed Ted’s car and they had gone to deliver curtains and jars of fruit to their friend Theresa and her husband, Evan, who had moved to the cities.

  That day, upon their arrival, all Theresa and Evan had talked about was the baby that was on the way and nothing about what it was like to move from Piney Meadows and live in the cities.

  Even though Sarah and Miranda had become close friends, Miranda had always avoided talking about her life before she’d come here, even with Sarah. The hours Anna had spent in the car with Miranda and Sarah had been no different.

  When Ted’s clients visited the furniture factory, they only talked about business before she escorted them to their meetings with Ted.

  All her life she’d been taught that even though there were some God-fearing people there, mostly the cities were full of sin and wrongdoing. As a child, she had believed this because her parents and pastor and the elders of the church would never preach a mistruth. As an adult, she had learned their words to be true because every time Ted returned from a business trip, he became extremely quiet, retreating into his office with the door closed and saying little for days until he regained his bearings.

  Yet many people had left Piney Meadows to live in the cities, and she needed to know why. It couldn’t be as bad as her parents told her or no one would leave Piney Meadows. Most of all, Miranda had come from the cities. Even though Miranda never fit in with their community, Miranda was a wonderful woman who loved God. When Ted phoned from the Minneapolis airport, during their short conversation, he told her he’d asked Miranda to marry him—of course, everyone knew he would. When they packed up the stage after the last performance, all had been surprised Ted had not asked for Miranda’s hand in marriage. Instead, he proposed after they all had left, making Anna the first to know. She could hardly wait until after Christmas dinner to tell everyone it was now official.

  Anna smiled and sighed, recalling Ted’s short version of the evening. Perhaps it hadn’t been the most romantic proposal, but it was from his heart.

  One day, the same would happen to her.

  Anna’s smiled dropped.

  The same would never happen to her here in Piney Meadows. Even though arranged marriages were no longer a strict part of their culture, parents still helped select mates for their children. Her parents had made it very clear they expected her to wed William. While he was a dear friend, she was fond of him only in a brotherly way and could not imagine life wedded to William.

  Worse, she couldn’t imagine being with William every day as his workmate, then going home with him as his wife.

  One day, just like in the books she read, she would have a career and meet a handsome young man, fall in love, and live happily ever after.

  This would never happen if she stayed in Piney Meadows.

  Her only chance for happiness was to leave and live in the cities. However, the only people she knew who had moved to the cities were Theresa and Evan, but she couldn’t even write them a letter to ask about their new lives. Her parents would see the mail before she did and ask what they’d said. She also couldn’t ask anyone who would tell her parents about her questions.

  But she could ask this man Ted had welcomed into his home. Mr. Chad Jones.

  As if her thoughts had summoned him, the doorbell rang, loud and clear, sending her heart racing.

  “I will answer the door,” she muttered to her mama and Sarah, who both stood beside the stove.

  “Ach, Sarah and I have everything under control here,” her mama muttered while spooning the juice over the turkey. “This is nearly cooked. See to the door, and stay with our guest and make him comfortable.”

  “Danke shoen, Mutta,” she replied, then turned to scurry from the kitchen through the living room, past her papa and David, who sat talking on the couch. Since they saw her hurrying to the door, neither got up, silently acknowledging that Mr. Jones was technically her boss’s guest and therefore her responsibility.

  At the door, Anna paused, straightening her posture and preparing herself the same as she did when she welcomed Ted’s visitors to his office at the factory, hoping she could hide her nervousness.

  Wrapping her fingers around the doorknob, the thought flashed through her mind that she didn’t know anything about her guest other than his name, Chad Jones, and that he’d become stranded after their Christmas performance at church. Being Christmas Eve, the church had been filled with both guests and her people. On the stage, with the spotlights in her eyes, she hadn’t been able to see the number of people seated in the sanctuary. She’d heard every seat had been filled, with more people standing at the back, crowded together. After the performers had taken their bows to those in attendance, the house lights had come on. As if being onstage hadn’t been bad enough, she’d nearly fainted when she saw the sea of people, most of whom she didn’t know, and she knew almost everyone in the town.

  Mr. Jones had been one in that sea, and now she was about to meet him.

  She didn’t know how she could talk to him in private with her papa and brooda in the living room, but the need to ask about li
ving in the cities burned within her.

  Although, if she talked about the factory as Ted had asked her to do, her papa and brooda would soon become uninterested. Then she could easily move to a more secluded area of the living room and ask the questions she needed to ask.

  Anna pulled the door open, reminding herself to smile.

  As the door opened, she gasped, and stared.

  Perhaps because Ted had spoken of him in a manner similar to the way he spoke of the visitors to the factory, she’d thought he would be an older gentleman. The opposite of what she’d expected, Mr. Jones appeared to be closer to Ted in age, but even that wasn’t so shocking. Before her stood the most handsome man she’d ever seen.

  Unlike the dark-haired men in Piney Meadows, Mr. Jones had blond hair and blue eyes, a strong jaw that contrasted with his fair coloring, and a smile that made her nearly forget to breathe. Unlike the men who worked on the farms, he had a thin build and was quite tall. Wearing an expensive-looking waist-length jacket, and without a hat, he was woefully underdressed for December weather.

  A gust of cold wind brought her to her senses.

  “Come in, Mr. Jones,” she muttered, glad to find her voice, as she backed up to allow him entry.

  He grinned and shook his head as he stomped the snow off his boots. “Please. I’m not Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is my father. I’m Chad.”

  Thoughts of his age caused her to look more closely at his face, drawing her attention to dark circles under his eyes.

  Ted had asked her to make sure Chad was comfortable, because Ted hadn’t been sure he would be able to get a flight back on standby the day after Christmas, so Mr. Jones—Chad—would be staying in Ted’s home for at least another night.

  “Ted has asked me to be sure that you have been comfortable in his home. Did you not sleep well?”

  Chad smiled, but the smile wasn’t as cheerful as his earlier greeting. “I was quite comfortable.” He glanced from side to side then looked out the window at the endless drifts of snow. “But I have to admit that I had trouble sleeping. It sure is quiet here in Piney Meadows. I mean, really quiet. Like . . . nothing is out there. And it’s really dark, too.”

  Anna’s lips tightened as she tried to understand what he meant. “Of course, it is quiet. It is winter. It is only during planting and harvesting seasons that the machinery will start at dawn.” She had no idea what he meant about it being dark. Of course it was dark at night.

  One side of his mouth twitched up, and he ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s not what I meant. In Minneapolis, I live on a main street. The traffic never stops. There’s always something moving. Horns blowing. Sirens. Cars driving by, even in the middle of the night. Planes overhead on their way to and from the airport. There’s constant noise, like the hum of the lights and computers.” He looked up at the light fixture, which made no noise at all. But she knew what he meant. At the office, the fluorescent lights emitted a constant noise, as did the computers. Both she and Ted found it disturbing, but there was nothing they could do about it.

  “There’s always something going on,” he continued. “Not as much as during the day, but there’s always something making noise. Here, there’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  Anna tried to think of the sounds of night. In the summer the crickets chirped most of the night, and the birds began their songs at the break of dawn, but in the winter, he was right—nothing made noise on a winter night.

  He again turned his head to look out the window. “It’s also really dark. No streetlights. No traffic, nothing. All the lights in all the houses are out, and the houses are really far apart. There’s absolutely nothing moving out there. It’s as though the whole town shuts down. Completely.”

  “Of course, the town is silent. People are sleeping.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Of course. It’s just that I’m not used to a total shutdown like this. But it was nice. I think I could like it. It was just a little unnerving because I’ve never experienced it before. This is like camping, except in a house. And even quieter.”

  Anna had read books about people in the cities going camping. They would leave their comfortable homes and beds and deliberately sleep in tents, on the ground, then cook their food outside over an open fire instead of in a well-stocked kitchen. She couldn’t imagine something so ridiculous.

  He patted the pocket of his jeans. “Before Ted left I got my spare charger for my phone out of my car. Otherwise, it would have been dangerous.”

  A chill ran through her. “You had to phone someone in the middle of the night? Were you ill?” She didn’t want to think that a man his age needed to be near a phone in case of a medical emergency.

  He grinned. “No, I was fine. I used it for light.”

  “Light?”

  His grin widened and he reached into his pocket. Her breath caught. Chad Jones was truly handsome. He flipped his cell phone open and held it up. It glowed with a dull light, just like Miranda’s had.

  “It’s not much, but in the utter blackness, it sheds a lot of light. Just like at a concert.”

  “Concert?”

  “You know, when everyone holds up their phones and then sways to the music.”

  “I do not know about that.”

  He shrugged his shoulders and returned his phone to his pocket. “It’s not a flashlight, but it worked.” He bent to remove his boots and then set them on the mat beside the door. “I want to thank you for inviting me for Christmas dinner at the last minute. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Nein. There is not. My mama and sesta are in the kitchen, and they have told me to stay here with you to visit.”

  She led him into the living room. Immediately the men in her family stood. “Chad Jones, this is my papa, Peter, and my brooda, David.” The men shook hands to greet each other, then her papa and brooda sat. But Chad did not sit. Instead, he turned and looked at the entrance to the kitchen, toward the echoes of pots and spoons. “My mama and sesta are in the kitchen.”

  She hadn’t meant it as an invitation, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Chad turned and started walking toward the kitchen.

  Anna stared, unable to believe he was going into the kitchen. He was halfway there before she could get her feet to move. She dashed after him, skidding to a halt at his side as he stopped in the doorway.

  Both her mama and Sarah froze at the sight of a man in their kitchen—a man they didn’t know.

  Anna cleared her throat. “Mutta, Sarah, this is Chad Jones, our guest. Chad, this is my mama, Susan, and my sesta, Sarah.”

  Chad smiled brightly. “Ladies,” he said with a slight nod, “I’m pleased to meet you.” He looked toward the open oven door with the turkey sticking out on the rack, ready for her mama to baste it. “That looks heavy. Would you like me to take it out of the oven for you?”

  “Ach, nein,” her mama said, shaking her head. “You are our guest. Please go sit down. We will call everyone when supper is ready.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind. I always lifted the turkey in and out of the oven for my mother. I know how heavy they can be, and that’s the biggest turkey I’ve ever seen.”

  Her mama stepped back, probably out of shock, but Chad seemed to take it as an answer. He stepped forward, slipped her mama’s oven mitts onto his hands, and proceeded to pull the heavy turkey out of the oven, resting it on the stovetop and then closing the oven door.

  He wiped the steam from his forehead with his sleeve. “Wow. Now I know for sure that’s the biggest turkey I’ve ever seen. How many other people are coming?”

  Her mama’s eyebrows knotted. “No one else is coming. Please, go be comfortable in the living room. We will call you when everything is ready.”

  “Sure. Just let me know when you want that turkey back in the oven,” he said, as if he didn’t understand what her mama had clearly said. She would not call him back into her kitchen. She would only call him to the table, when everything was ready to eat.


  Anna glanced toward her mama for instruction, and the sweep of her mama’s hand in the air told her to stay with their guest in the living room, with the men, perhaps to keep him out of the kitchen.

  Anna had never not helped in the kitchen for Christmas dinner. It would be strange, but she would follow her mama’s wishes.

  She directed Chad back into the living room, and this time he sat on the couch with her papa and David.

  Pape smiled brightly. “I welcome you to Piney Meadows. Anna has told me that you came to see our church’s Christmas presentation and have become stranded.”

  Chad smiled back. “Not directly. I actually got lost and this is where I found myself. I must say it was a pleasant surprise. You have a very talented group here.”

  Pape’s smile dropped. “Then God has a reason you are here. Do you know yet what it is?”

  Chad’s eyes widened. “I . . . uh . . .”

  Pape only nodded. “For all things, God has a purpose. If you have only just arrived in our community, let us tell you something of it.”

  Anna sat and listened while Pape told Chad a short version of the history of their town, the crops the farms grew, and a little about the furniture factory, which she suspected Chad already knew—after all, he was technically Ted’s guest.

  She tried not to show that she was practically squirming in her seat. While she naturally wanted to be polite to their guest, she also wanted to ask him many questions about living and working in the cities, which she couldn’t do in front of her family.