Hannah's Journey

by Anna Schmidt

  Levi waited but she had his full attention. He had never met a woman whose outward demeanor was so gentle, even submissive and at the same time, her eyes reflected an inner strength and certainty that she would not back down.

  “About the time he began to have problems within the community he began wearing an old hat he found once. A fedora, I believe it’s called. That hat was not on its usual peg this morning.”

  “So, the boy went out and wore his hat,” Levi said, resisting the patronizing smile he felt about to reveal.

  “That’s true,” she said, “but he had also taken a jar of coins that he’s been saving for months now, adding to it almost weekly after taking on odd jobs for others in the community.”

  Levi flashed back to his own packing the day he decided to run away. He, too, had taken money carefully squirreled away for months as he planned his escape. “Still, neither of those items ties my circus to his plan. He could have just…left.”

  She smiled and it was unsettling how that simple act changed everything about her. Suddenly, she looked younger and more vulnerable and at the same time, so very sure of herself. “Caleb would never leave without a plan,” she said. “From the time he was four or five, Caleb has planned his days. Then it was that he would spend the morning at play and then have the noon meal with his grandfather before spending the afternoon helping out at his uncle’s carpentry shop. Once he entered school he would write out a daily schedule, leaving it for me so that I would not worry.”

  “Am I to assume there was no schedule this morning?”

  “No. Just this.” She produced a lined piece of paper from the pocket of her apron and handed it to him. In a large childish script the note read,

  Ma,

  Don’t worry. I’m fine and I know this is all a part of God’s plan the way you always said. I’ll write once I get settled and I’ll send you half my wages by way of General Delivery. Please don’t cry, okay? It’s all going to be all right.

  Love, Caleb

  “There’s not one word here that indicates…”

  “He plans to send me part of his wages, Mr. Harmon. That means he plans to get a job. When we were on the circus grounds yesterday, I took note of a posted advertisement for a stable worker. My son has been around horses his entire life.”

  Once again, Levi found it difficult to suppress a smile. “I believe that posting was for someone to muck out the elephant quarters,” he said and saw that this was news she had not considered.

  “Oh. Well, Caleb also saw that posting although he tried hard to steer me in the opposite direction and frankly, it did not occur to me that there might be a connection until I arrived at the grounds before coming here and saw the sign lying in the sawdust where the tent had been.”

  “And on that slimmest of evidence you have assumed that your son is on the circus train that left town last night?”

  She nodded. She waited.

  Levi ran one hand through his hair and heaved a sigh of frustration. “Mrs. Goodloe, please be reasonable. I have a business to run, several hundred employees who depend upon me, not to mention the hundreds of customers waiting along the way because they have purchased tickets for a performance tonight or tomorrow or the following day.”

  She said nothing but kept her eyes—a startling and unexpected shade of forget-me-not blue, he realized—focused squarely on him.

  “Tell you what I’ll do,” he said without the slightest idea of how he might extricate himself from the situation. He stalled for time by pulling out his pocket watch, glancing at the time and then snapping the embossed silver cover shut and slipping it back into the pocket of his vest. “I am leaving at seven this evening for my home and summer headquarters in Wisconsin. Tomorrow, I will meet up with the circus train and make the remainder of the journey with them. If your boy is on that train I will find him.”

  “Thank you,” she said, her head slightly bowed so that for one moment he was unclear whether or not her gratitude was directed at him or to God. She lifted her gaze to his and touched the sleeve of his suit jacket. “You are a good man, Mr. Harmon.”

  “There’s one thing more, Mrs. Goodloe.”

  Anything, her eyes exclaimed.

  “I expect you to come with me.”

  Chapter Two

  “You can’t…that is…why…I could not possibly.…”

  “Those are my terms, Mrs. Goodloe. Assuming you are correct and your son is traveling with my circus, then it is my duty to find the boy and return him to you. However, as I mentioned, I have a business to run and other people who must be considered. Once the boy is found it would only be right for you to take charge of him from that point forward.”

  Without her being aware of moving, Hannah suddenly realized that Levi Harmon had escorted her back into the foyer where his servant stood by the door. “Hans, please make sure that Mrs. Goodloe has all of the information she needs to meet us at the railway station tonight.” He turned back to Hannah then and took her hand between both of his. “I wouldn’t worry, Mrs. Goodloe. The likelihood is that by the time you are reunited with your son he will be more than happy to come home, and any concerns you might have about his wanderlust will have been cured.”

  “Shall I call for your car to take Mrs. Goodloe home?” Hans asked.

  “I…” Hannah searched for her voice which seemed to have been permanently silenced by her shock at the recent turn of events.

  “Mrs. Goodloe and her people do not travel by motorized vehicle,” Levi explained. “Unless, of course, the situation is an unusual one.” His eyes met hers just before he entered the room off the foyer and closed the door.

  The man called Hans seemed every bit as nonplussed as Hannah was. “I believe we have a bicycle,” he said. “Would that be all right?”

  “Thank you, Mr. Hans, but I walked here and I can walk back.” Squaring her shoulders and forcing herself not to so much as glance at the closed door where Levi Harmon was, she marched to the open front door.

  Hans scurried to open the iron gate for her. “It’s simply Hans, ma’am,” he said.

  Hannah paused and looked at him. “You have no last name?”

  “Winters,” he managed, “but…”

  “Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Winters.”

  “Mr. Harmon’s private car will be attached to the train leaving for Atlanta at 7:02 this evening, ma’am. You really only need to pack a single valise. Everything you may need will be provided. Mr. Harmon is extraordinarily good to his guests.” His voice was almost pleading for her to not think too badly of his employer.

  “Thank you, Mr. Winters.” She shook his hand. “It was my pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She started down the drive and, although she refused to look back, she was suddenly certain that Hans Winters was not the only one watching her go.

  By the time she reached the edge of the celery fields with their cottages in the background, it was midafternoon. The five-mile walk had given her ample time to consider the possibilities before her—and to pray for guidance in choosing correctly.

  Instead of stopping at her small bungalow, she went straight to her father-in-law’s bakery. As she had suspected, he was still there—as was his eldest daughter Pleasant, who had helped him run the business since the death of her mother. Hannah frowned. She had hoped to find Gunther Goodloe alone. Pleasant was the anti thesis of her name. A spinster, she seemed always to look on the dark side of any situation. Hannah could only imagine how she might react to the idea that Hannah needed to travel—by train—to find Caleb.

  Hannah took a deep, steadying breath, closed her eyes for a moment to gather her wits, then opened the door to the bakery.

  “We’re closed,” Pleasant barked without looking up from her sweeping.

  “Hello, Pleasant. Is Gunther in the back?”

  “Where else would he be?”

  Hannah saw this for the rhetorical question it was and inched past her sister-in-law. Her father-in-law was a short and stocky man with a ful
l gray beard that only highlighted his lack of hair. “Good day to you,” Hannah called out over the clang of pans that Gunther was scrubbing. She took a towel from a peg near the back door of the shop, and began drying one of the pans he’d left to drain on the sideboard.

  “The boy took off, did he?”

  Hannah nodded.

  “Any idea where he went?”

  “Yes.” She inhaled deeply and then told her father-in-law her suspicions.

  “The circus? Well, he wouldn’t be the first.” He shook the water from his large hands and then wiped them on a towel that had once been a flour sack. “Do you want me to go down there and fetch him home?”

  “You can’t. The circus company left before dawn.”

  Gunther raised his bushy eyebrows but said nothing.

  “I went to see Mr. Levi Harmon,” she admitted.

  “Why would you do such a thing on your own, Hannah? Why wouldn’t you have come to me—or the bishop—right away and let us handle this?”

  “Because Caleb is my son.”

  “Nevertheless…”

  “It’s done,” she interrupted, “and now we must decide what to do next.”

  “What did Harmon have to say? He can’t have been any too pleased to have you accusing him of harboring a runaway.”

  “I didn’t accuse him of anything. I simply asked for his help in bringing Caleb home. He leaves this evening and plans to meet up with the company tomorrow and travel the rest of the way back to Wisconsin with them.”

  “So if Caleb is with the company, he’ll send him back?”

  Hannah swallowed. “He’s agreed to look for Caleb.”

  “And if he finds him?” Gunther looked at her with suspicion.

  There was no use beating about the bush. She met his gaze. “He expects me to come with him and bring Caleb home myself.”

  “You cannot travel alone, child.” The older man ran his hand over the length of his gray beard.

  Hannah held her breath. He was not saying she shouldn’t go.

  “I think this is a matter for the bishop to decide,” he said finally. He took down his hat from the peg by the side door. “Pleasant? Hannah and I will be back shortly.”

  Pleasant cast one curious glance at Hannah and then returned to her sweeping. “I’ll be here,” she said.

  They found Bishop Troyer at home and Hannah stood quietly by the front door while Gunther explained the situation. The two men discussed the matter in low tones that made it difficult for Hannah to hear. Twice the bishop glanced directly at her, shook his head and returned to the discussion. I should have simply agreed to go with him, she thought and then immediately prayed for forgiveness in even thinking such a thing. But this is my son—my only child and I…

  “Hannah? The bishop would like a word with you.”

  Her legs felt like wood as she crossed the room and took a seat on the hard straight-backed chair opposite Bishop Troyer. She folded her hands in her lap more to steady them than to appear pious and kept her eyes lowered, lest he see her fear.

  “This is indeed an unusual circumstance, Mrs. Goodloe, but at the core of it all is the undeniable fact that a boy—one of our own—is missing. And although you may be right in surmising that he has run away with the circus, we must be sure.”

  Hope tugged at her heart and she risked a glance at the kindly face of the bishop. His brow was furrowed but he was not frowning, just concentrating, she realized. He was trying to work out a solution that would serve the purpose of finding Caleb and bringing him home without going too far afield from the traditions that governed their community.

  “It seems to me that Mr. Harmon’s offer is a kind and generous one.”

  “Oh, he is a good man, Bishop, I’m certain of that,” Hannah blurted.

  This time there was no mistaking the frown that crossed both the bishop’s face and her father-in-law’s. Gunther cleared his throat and when she glanced at him, he shook his head as if warning her to remain silent.

  “I have given my permission for you to take this journey as long as your father-in-law and your sister-in-law, Pleasant, travel with you.”

  Hannah’s heart fell. “But the bakery,” she whispered, knowing there was no one else Gunther would trust with his business.

  “I have some time,” the bishop replied, “as well as some experience in managing a business. I have offered to watch over the store while you are away.”

  She could hardly believe her ears. The bishop’s offer was beyond anything she might have imagined possible. She glanced at Gunther who had offered the bishop a handshake—a contract in their society as binding as any piece of paper.

  “Well, child, we must go. You said the train will leave at seven?”

  Hannah nodded, unable to find words to express her joy and relief.

  “Then come along. You and Pleasant can see to the packing while the bishop and I go over some of the particulars of managing the business for a few days.”

  Levi had spent the rest of the day in his office tending to the mountain of paperwork in preparation for vacating the Florida house for his more modest home in Wisconsin. For the next few weeks he would conduct his business from his private railway car. The Florida staff would see to the closing of his Sarasota residence and the opening of his home in Baraboo. With the exception of Hans who would travel with him, others of his household staff would travel directly to Wisconsin while he and Hans caught up with his company and made the scheduled stops with the circus for performances along the way.

  He’d tried not to think about the Goodloe woman. He was fairly certain that she would not—could not—meet his demand that she travel with him to find her son. It had been ridiculous to even suggest such a thing and yet there had been something about the way she had looked at him as he dismissed her and returned to his office that made him uncertain.

  The boy had run away and perhaps had inherited his wanderlust from his mother. It was intriguing to think that she was the parent with the adventurous streak. Over the years he had spent living the circus life, never once could he recall a female running away to join the troupe. Of course, Mrs. Goodloe was not exactly planning to join the traveling show. She simply wanted to find her son. But would she defy the counsel of her community’s elders to accomplish that? He doubted it.

  And he had no more time to give to the woman’s problem. No doubt the boy had stowed away on the train. No doubt he would be discovered. No doubt that by week’s end he would be back in his own bed. Levi knew that his managers would see to that. Besides, he had other far more serious matters to consider. How was it that when his circus had just completed its most successful season yet in terms of sold-out performances, the numbers did not reflect that? Expenses had risen to be sure but it seemed impossible that the cost of feeding and housing a menagerie of exotic animals and a hundred-plus performers and crew could explain such a disparity in revenue.

  “Your car is waiting, sir,” Hans announced with a meaningful glance at the nineteenth-century, gilded French clock that dominated the narrow marble mantel of the fireplace. The manservant was dressed in traveling clothes and holding Levi’s hat as well as his own.

  Levi gathered the papers he would need and stuffed them into the valise that Hans had brought to him earlier. “I should change,” he muttered irritably and then wondered why. It was unlikely that there would be anyone at the station to see him off. Levi was a generous supporter of many charitable groups throughout this part of Florida, but he was known to be a reclusive man and most people had learned to respect that—even though they openly commented on the paradox that a man known for his extravagant entertainments and lavish lifestyle should be so protective of his personal privacy.

  “Let’s go,” he told Hans as he headed for the door.

  The weather had deteriorated. The air was steamy with humidity and the sky had gone from blue to a steel gray that held the promise of rain. He thought of Hannah Goodloe, imagining her walking back to the small Amish community
east and north of the train station. For reasons he could not fathom, he felt the desire to make certain she arrived home before the rain began. He should have insisted on having his driver take her back. Surely she was there by now. Surely she had taken precautions for the weather.

  At the station his private railway car was attached to the train that regularly made the run from Sarasota to Tampa and then from there to points north. Once the train reached Jonesville on the Florida/Georgia border, his car would be disconnected from the regular train and attached to his circus train. By the time they reached Baraboo, they would have performed in a dozen towns across half a dozen states and it would be June in Wisconsin.

  “All aboard!” the conductor bellowed as Levi strode the length of the hissing and belching train to where his car waited. He passed clusters of passengers that had gathered on the platform to say their goodbyes and board the public cars. Not one of them paid the slightest attention to him but he could not help scanning their faces to see if she had come after all.

  “Ridiculous,” he muttered, but while Hans handed the rail attendant Levi’s valise, Levi looked back, down the length of the now almost deserted platform.

  “Board!” The conductor’s call seemed to echo and exaggerate the fact that she was nowhere in sight.

  “Sir?” Hans stood at his elbow waiting for him to mount the filigreed metal steps to enter his car.

  Levi nodded and climbed aboard but took one last look back. And there, out of the steam and fog, he saw three figures—two women and a bearded man—consulting with the conductor who pointed them in Levi’s direction.

  He felt a strange sense of relief that bordered on victory. She had come after all and apparently with her family’s blessing, assuming her two companions had accompanied her to see her off. “Make sure the guest stateroom is prepared,” he said to Hans as he stepped back onto the platform and walked toward the trio. “Mrs. Goodloe,” he said, removing his hat and smiling broadly.

  “Mr. Harmon, may I introduce my father-in-law, Gunther Goodloe, and my late husband’s sister, Pleasant.”