An Uncommon Grace

by Serena B. Miller

  As she looked around the room it occurred to her what an odd mishmash of objects were here—as though a crazy person had decided to go through very ancient Dumpsters. There were old movie posters on the wall, a red plastic radio on a table, quilts with oddly shaped pieces stitched together every which way flung over the bed. A box of old photograph albums lay on the floor. She had glanced at them a few days earlier, and they were of people she had never seen and who bore no resemblance to her family. Some even wore Civil War uniforms, but to her knowledge, none of her ancestors had ever fought in it.

  Brushing that thought aside, she picked up a squatty little clock and blew the dust off. Beneath the clock was a small Navajo-type rug. Against the wall were boxes so stuffed with old magazines and comic books that some of the boxes had given way and were now spilling their contents out onto the floor. And then there were the creel baskets, old ones, at least a dozen of them, hanging on the wall.

  It was a little too much to take this late at night. Finally tired enough to sleep, she gave a great yawn and headed back down to the couch. She would deal with this another time.

  chapter FIFTEEN

  Levi awoke the next morning and prepared himself for another day of making a living from the land. He missed his stepfather’s help. Last night had taken a toll on him. Four hours of sleep was simply not enough. Even though he was young, the heaviness of his heart this morning made his body feel old.

  He dreaded going to the house for breakfast and having to face Zillah, but there was no way around it. Someone would come looking for him if he didn’t appear. His aunt was probably already dishing breakfast out onto the table.

  He hated that things had become so complicated. The simple life that so many Englisch people seemed to think the Amish lived was exceedingly hard to maintain.

  After milking their two cows and doing all the other morning chores, he stomped the dirt off his feet and entered the kitchen. The scene he walked into was a pleasant one. Daniel was curled up asleep on his little pillow in the middle of his mother’s bed, Rose was frying potatoes and sausage, and Zillah was setting out the peanut-butter-honey spread, but the big surprise was that Maam was up and standing at the dry sink, slicing bread. She grimaced when she placed a plate on the table, but she gave him a brave smile before seating herself at the table.

  “Good morning, my son,” she said. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Very well.” He looked Zillah straight in the eyes as he answered. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing he had been up half the night.

  “Are you sure you slept well?” Zillah asked innocently. “I thought I saw your light burning for quite a while last night. I thought you must be reading.”

  “I had nothing to read,” he replied.

  His mother glanced between them.

  “Henry is bringing the children this morning,” she said brightly. “Rose will be returning home with him.”

  “I will be glad to see the children again,” he said, “but sorry to see you go, Rose.”

  “I will miss both of you.” She pulled the cast-iron skillet from the woodstove and scraped the fried potatoes into a blue bowl. “But I am missing my Kinner as well. Besides, now that your mother is feeling better, it is time I leave. I would not want to cause problems in your church by remaining here too long.”

  “With the children here to help me,” his mother said, “I should be fine.”

  “With me here, you mean,” Zillah reminded her.

  “Oh, I am sure you will be able to go back to your home soon. Albert and Jesse are good workers. Even little Sarah will be a help.”

  So—his mother did not want her here, either. That was interesting. It was probably why his mother was trying so hard to pretend to be stronger than she was. Had she known about Zillah’s late-night visit to his room?

  His uncle Henry wasted no time coming for his wife. Levi heard the buggy just as they were lifting their heads from prayer.

  The children burst through the door, and all became chaos for a short time until they got settled. At four, Sarah was determined to climb into her mother’s lap, still swollen from the surgery.

  “Come here to me, Liebe.” Levi lifted Sarah into his own arms. “I have missed you and your brothers. Did you obey your cousin?”

  “We did,” Albert said. “But it is better to be here. I was worried about the chores.”

  Levi laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Of course you were, little farmer!”

  “I saw a bird on their farm that I have never seen before,” Jesse informed him.

  “If you draw and color a picture of it, perhaps I can name it for you,” Levi suggested.

  “Hello, Henry,” Rose said from across the room.

  “It is good to see you again, wife,” Henry said.

  Levi knew that if his aunt and uncle were Englisch, they would probably hug or kiss one another, but he noticed that their eyes lit up when they saw each other. It was good to see a husband and wife still in love.

  “Will you soon be ready to go?” Henry asked.

  Rose looked around. “I should feed the children first.”

  “Our daughter has already fed all of us well,” Henry said proudly. “She is nearly as good a cook as her mother, but not quite as good I think—not yet.”

  “And our son-in-law?”

  “Staying at the Haus with us, helping feed both our livestock and his.”

  “And our other Kinner?”

  “Healthy but probably already missing their cousins. They played and worked well together.”

  “It is a shame,” Rose said, shaking her head, “that they will not see each other again so easily.”

  “It’s your own fault,” Zillah said archly. “My father says you should not have left our church.”

  There was a pained silence around the table.

  “It was not a decision quickly or easily made,” Henry said, calmly and firmly. “You should not speak your mind on something you know little about.”

  “Boys,” Rose said, “your beds are freshly made up for you, and Sarah—you will be sleeping with Zillah.”

  “No!” The little girl looked at Zillah in alarm.

  “Now, Sarah,” Rose said, “it is only for a short time.”

  “No, no, no, no!” She began to scream, and her screams woke the baby, who began to howl.

  “Now see what you have done, Sarah,” Zillah said angrily. “You have made Daniel cry.”

  “I’ve never seen Sarah act like this,” Maam said.

  Zillah stomped over to pick up Daniel. Not yet knowing his need to be held in an upright position, she settled into the rocking chair, plopped him down over her knees, and began to pat his back. He vomited all over the bottom of her dress.

  With the exception of dandling other women’s babies at church, Zillah had never had the care of younger siblings—unlike so many girls her age. Instead of taking it in stride, she let out a gasp, handed the baby to Rose, and fled upstairs.

  “This is not going well,” Levi observed.

  “Not well at all,” Rose agreed, grinning slightly.

  “Are you ready to go, wife?” Henry said.

  “I’ll go get my things,” Rose said. “I have already packed.”

  She came back downstairs in a few minutes. To everyone’s surprise, Zillah was directly behind her, clothed in a fresh dress and carrying her own bundle of clothing.

  “I want to go home, too,” Zillah said.

  “Already?” Claire asked.

  “Yes. I want to go. Now.”

  No one said a word of protest.

  “I’ll ride with you and Rose,” Zillah informed Henry.

  Henry looked uncomfortable. “Could you take her, Levi? It’s a long ride home and if I remember right, Bishop Weaver’s place is in the opposite direction.”

  The last thing Levi wanted to do was spend any more time with Zillah—but he could not turn down his uncle’s reasonable request. His uncle’s horse was not young. It
could handle the five-mile distance, but it would be cruel to make it have to go all the way to Bishop Weaver’s and then back. Besides, the fact that Zillah wanted to go home so soon was an enormous blessing. He did not want to give her time to change her mind! For the first time, he was grateful for Daniel’s digestive problems.

  Grace was surprised to find the children all home again and Rose, Levi, and Zillah gone. Claire made no explanation, but she did send the children upstairs to play after Grace had greeted them.

  “Would you like for me to take a look at your incisions?” Grace asked. “I’d feel better if I knew there was no infection. Those bandages have been on there a little longer than they should.”

  “I would like that,” Claire said. “But how much do you charge?”

  “What is it with you people?” Grace grumbled. “Levi was determined to pay me for taking him to Columbus, and now you want to pay me for something as simple as making certain you’re healing properly.” She opened up her medical basket. “I’m not charging anything, okay? Just relax.”

  “But you’re Englisch.”

  “Is that a crime?”

  “No.” Claire looked puzzled. “It is no crime.”

  “Look, I know you don’t go to the doctor unless you absolutely have to. I know it’s an ordeal to hitch up your buggy and go all the way into Millersburg to the hospital. I happen to have the skills to determine if things don’t look right, and I have a car to take you to the hospital if it is necessary. Frankly, Claire, I’m here to make certain your kids aren’t orphaned on my watch—even if I am Englisch.”

  “So who put antifreeze in your oatmeal this morning?” Claire asked.

  Grace looked at her in astonishment. “Where did you hear that?”

  “Levi said it yesterday when I was in a bad mood. He said it is a phrase that the Englisch use. What is antifreeze?”

  “Not something you want to put in your oatmeal.” Levi was quoting her? Maybe Grandma was right. Maybe she did need to stay away from him.

  “I accept your offer, Grace. Thank you. It was embarrassing having a man doctor deliver Daniel. It is much easier being seen by a woman nurse.”

  “Nurse practitioner,” Grace corrected her automatically as she pulled fresh bandages out of the basket Levi had created for her.

  “What did you say?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Let me help you get undressed.”

  After completing her examination and replacing the bandages with fresh ones, Grace snapped off her gloves, pleased with what she had seen.

  “I’m very impressed,” Grace said. “You’re healing better and faster than I had hoped. You seem to be in a lot less pain than what I had expected.”

  “Having my sister here was a great comfort. She took good care of me.”

  “I’m sure she did.” Grace put away her stethoscope. “Now, if you’ll just tell me where the bathroom is, I’ll wash up.”

  “We have no bathroom,” Claire said. “It is not permitted. But you may wash your hands in the dishwater Rose poured before she left.”

  Grace had washed up in more primitive situations, but once again, she was puzzled by yet another religious restriction. How could having or not having running water in a home make a difference to one’s salvation?

  As she dried her hands on a nearby dish towel, she took a good look around the kitchen and noticed something else that was missing besides a sink with faucets.

  “Where is your refrigerator?”

  “They are forbidden.”

  “But I saw propane-powered refrigerators at Lehman’s Hardware once. Grandma said the Amish use them.”

  “Yes, but not Swartzentrubers. Our Ordnung does not permit refrigeration.”

  “How can you feed kids without a refrigerator?”

  “We just always have.”

  No running water. An outdoor privy. No electricity. No refrigeration. How did these people manage to survive? Let alone raise healthy children?

  “I’m going to take Grandma into town today to pick up a prescription. Is there anything I can get for you?”

  “Oh no,” Claire said. “You have already been too kind.”

  “Are you sure? Bread? Milk? Eggs? We always seem to be running out of those at our house.”

  “Really? Englisch people run out of milk, bread, and eggs often?” Claire shook her head with pity. “That is sad.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Seldom.” Claire brightened. “Rose made eight fresh loaves of bread yesterday. That will last us several days. I will be well enough to bake my own by then—except women from church will probably continue to come by for a while, so I might not need to.”

  “What about eggs and milk?”

  “We have our two cows, so there is always plenty of fresh cream and milk and butter cooling in the spring Haus. And our chickens are laying well. We can hardly eat all the eggs we get. In fact, perhaps you would like to take some home with you. Elizabeth has always liked it when we have an overflow of eggs. She says that our chickens have nice, healthy, orange yolks instead of the pale yellow yolks of store-bought ones. She says it’s because our chickens scratch in the dirt for bugs instead of being locked in wire cages being fed nothing but chicken feed. I would not know about that. I have never bought eggs from the store.”

  “Could I pick you up some canned stuff, then? Food that doesn’t need refrigeration, like some Campbell’s soups? Rose won’t be here to cook for you. Having a few cans of soup on hand when you’re not feeling well is nice.”

  “That is true, but I still have fifty quart jars of beef vegetable soup remaining from the two hundred quarts that I canned last August using up the leftovers from my garden.”

  The nurse in Grace was finding this conversation extremely interesting. With nutrition like this, no wonder Claire’s incision was healing so well.

  “How many quarts of produce did you can last summer, total?”

  Claire thought for a moment. “Including pears and peaches and cherries from our orchard?”

  “Sure.”

  “And grape juice from our grapes, and tomato juice?”

  “Why not?”

  “Counting all the apple butter, too—a little over fifteen hundred quarts. I think there’s about three hundred left. That should get us through until our garden and orchard can produce again.”

  “What about meat?”

  “We butchered a pig and a steer and many chickens last fall.”

  “How did you preserve that?”

  “I put up four hundred quarts of cooked meat when the winter got cold enough to butcher. Canning meat makes it very tender.” Claire smiled, remembering all the good food she had put up. “That roast beef is handy coming up out of the cellar in the middle of winter. I make noodles and mix it with the beef and gravy and serve it over mashed potatoes. It is appeditlic—delicious. The children love that on a cold day. We smoked most of the pork—sausages, hams, and bacon.”

  Grace was fascinated with the abundance and variety of Claire’s pantry.

  “Potatoes?”

  “Several bushels left in the cellar.”

  “Apples?”

  “Two different varieties in the cellar. Oh, and I have some cabbage and winter squash down there, too.”

  “Don’t you at least have to buy sugar?”

  “Not much. Abraham kept bees. We mainly use honey for sweetener.”

  “Coffee?”

  “Not so much. We mostly drink special teas that I make. Clover blossom and sassafras root are my favorites. They are very healing.”

  “You’re making me hungry, Claire.”

  “I’m sorry. I think we still have some of Rose’s fried potatoes left, and there’s some sliced bread and jam. Oh, I forgot. I made fifty pints of jam. Most of it from elderberries the children and I picked down by the creek. Elderberries keep colds and sore throats away. Did you know that?”

  “No, I did not know that.”

  “I will go get you some—there are several
pints left.” Claire started toward the door.

  “Some other time, Claire.” Grace stopped her. “If you’re sure there’s nothing that you need—and it certainly sounds like you don’t—I’ll go ahead and leave. Grandma was getting herself ready for a doctor’s appointment when I left. I need to run by the grocery store afterward to pick up a few things and I promised her we could stop at Coblentz afterward and pick up some more fancy chocolates for her. It seems like she’s been craving sweets like crazy ever since her surgery.”

  “Chocolate?” Claire’s voice rose.

  “Would you like me to bring you some?”

  Claire’s shy smile said it all.

  “A woman who has been through everything you have should most definitely have some chocolate. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it sooner.”

  “Thank you.”

  Later that day Grace found herself prowling Rodhe’s IGA in Millersburg trying to find something to cook for supper, but she couldn’t get the idea of Claire’s homemade vegetable beef soup out of her mind.

  There had been a time when a can of commercially made soup would have been fine with her. Now the only thing she could think about was wishing she knew how to make her own vegetable soup from scratch, just like Claire.

  What other changes would she end up making if she continued to hang out with the Amish?

  She had a feeling those changes, if they came, would be good ones.

  chapter SIXTEEN

  Considering everything that had happened, Levi found it a little strange that Zillah seemed in such a good mood, chatting pleasantly with him as they traveled the three miles to her house.

  He clucked his tongue, willing his horse to go faster as Zillah talked about the dress material she had purchased for an upcoming wedding in which she would take part. He did not know if she was choosing the subject of weddings deliberately or if the only thing on her mind right now was how good she would look in her new dress.

  With his horse team standing idle, Levi did not want to tarry. He needed to get back into the fields as soon as possible.