A Plain Man

by Mary Ellis

  “That’s normal after a prolonged fever. And yes, you’ve had tons of visitors—young and old, male and female. My guess is one of them was your groom-to-be.” Peggy winked and rolled her cart out the door, onto her next patient. “I’ll be back later.”

  “Wait!” Sarah called. “One more question.”

  Peggy’s expression of irritation lasted only half a second. Then it was replaced by another toothy grin. “One more for our bride to be.”

  “How long have I been...out of it?”

  “A week, Sarah. You’ve been here seven days. My guess is your doctor will release you in a day or two to finish recuperating at home. Your mother said she could care for you better there.”

  “Thank you, Peggy.”

  Sarah settled back against the pillows as the nurse slipped away, leaving her alone in a room designed for two. No one slept in the other bed. Sheets were tucked tightly beneath the mattress. Maybe patients didn’t want to share space with someone with an Egyptian ailment. Gazing around the room, she saw a bathroom, two green vinyl lounge chairs, and a wooden dresser. A potted plant and a vase of flowers, balloons, and a stuffed teddy bear covered the entire surface. Sarah also noticed her navy cardigan sweater hanging in the closet. With her inventory complete, Sarah closed her eyes to piece together events in her mind. She remembered getting a horrible headache along with chills and body aches. Then her stomach churned with nausea with even the thinnest chicken broth. Sarah recalled vomiting into a pail next to the bed. Her arms and legs had turned numb and then, nothing else. Seven days of her life gone. It seemed like yesterday she’d come home from preaching and collapsed in the hammock.

  Just as she drifted to sleep, the hospital intercom announced visiting hours had begun. Within minutes, her mother bustled into the room with Rebekah behind her. One was carrying a foil covered plate, the other a soft-sided cooler.

  Elizabeth stopped short, causing Rebekah to collide into her backside. “Praise the Lord. You’re awake!”

  “I’ve been awake before, haven’t I?” asked Sarah.

  “Jah, for a few minutes at a time, but you didn’t answer a single question I asked. When you talked, you didn’t make a lick of sense. I figured you were still dreaming, but I prayed each night that you weren’t permanently addle-brained.” Mamm pulled a green chair to her bedside and plopped down.

  Sarah choked back laughter, which still caused her pain. “Am I making sense now?” she asked.

  “So far, so good.” Elizabeth wiggled her brows.

  “Hello, schwester.” Rebekah approached the bed cautiously. “How are you feeling?”

  “By all reports, much better than I had been.” Sarah lifted one hand from beneath the blanket to reach for her sister. “I’m very glad to see you.”

  Bursting into tears, Rebekah threw herself prostrate across the bed. “I’m so sorry I made trouble for you and Adam. I’m ashamed of how mean I’ve acted. If you get well, I promise to be kind and sweet until the day I die.” Sobs wracked Rebekah’s thin frame while the covers under her face grew damp.

  Sarah stroked her sister’s head, knocking her kapp askew. “You’re only sixteen. That’s a long time to stay sweet. I would settle for most of the time. After all, I haven’t set a very good example for you.” She hugged with every bit of strength she could muster.

  After another minute, Rebekah lifted her wet, streaky face. “Don’t make excuses for me. I’ve been a horrible person, but I aim to change.” She planted a sticky kiss on Sarah’s cheek.

  “All right, sit down, dochder,” said Mamm. “We have only a limited time before the next group comes up. Let’s not spend it crying.”

  “What have you brought me?” Sarah pointed at her mamm’s lap. “I’m a tad hungry.”

  “The cookies are for the nurses. I’ve been bribing them so they take extra good care of you.” Elizabeth unzipped the cooler and set two containers on the rolling table. “But I brought blueberry yogurt and sliced peaches for you, two of your favorites.” She clucked her tongue. “The fruit served on hospital trays looks like colored mush.”

  “Danki, Mamm. You’re the best.”

  Elizabeth rose to her feet and planted a kiss in the same spot that Rebekah had. “Get well. We miss you so much at home. Our prayers have been answered.” Then Mamm grabbed Rebekah’s arm and dragged her out the door.

  Sarah had ten minutes to sample sliced peaches from the Beachy orchard before Caleb and Eli crept into her room. Both displayed matching expressions of shock.

  Eli stared at her for a long minute. “Your mamm said you were back to normal, but we had to see for ourselves.”

  “Sit, both of you,” she said. For the next ten minutes Sarah answered questions that would be repeated many times before the ordeal concluded. Her father kept twirling his hat between his fingers while her brother patted her shoulder as though she were Shep, his pet dog.

  Before their allotment of visitation ended, her father stood and cleared his throat. “Sarah, you probably owe your life to your bruder and Adam. I thought you just had a case of the flu. Lots of sleep, your mother’s chicken soup, plenty of honey tea, and you would soon be back to normal. But I was wrong.” Daed met her gaze with eyes ringed with dark shadows. “You could have suffered permanent paralysis or gone into a coma. You might even have died. The doctor said you were the worst cast of West Nile he’d seen in years. I’m sorry for not listening to Caleb sooner.” Eli turned to his son. “I’m sorry for not giving your opinion the respect it deserved.”

  Caleb put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right. No one could have foreseen this.”

  “God took pity on us all.” Her father cupped her chin, his fingers cool to the touch.

  “I’m okay, so please don’t punish yourselves. Instead let’s eat some of Mamm’s cookies. My nurses have already had plenty if I’ve been here a week.”

  Caleb peeled back the foil. “You go ahead and eat every last one. You’re skinnier than a walking stick. We need to leave so Adam can have the remainder of visiting hours. That man has worn out the lobby carpeting.”

  Sarah scrunched her face with the comparison to a green, beady-eyed bug. After both men kissed her forehead and left, she began to eat. However, the plate of cookies was far from empty when Adam sprang into her room.

  “I thought your family would never stop jaw-boning!” Adam said on the way to her bedside.

  “Sounds like you missed me. I’ve never received so much attention before in my life.” Sarah brushed crumbs from her faded gown.

  “I missed you more than I thought possible.” Adam glanced over his shoulder before kissing her firmly on the lips.

  “Wow, you taste like peppermints.”

  “You taste like heaven.”

  Blushing, she chose not to ask how he would know. “My nurse said my doctor will soon release me. I can’t believe they let me stay this long without insurance.”

  Adam settled on the edge of her bed. “Don’t worry about the bills. Neighbors and district members have been stopping by your house to donate money. Your daed probably collected enough to build the Sarah Beachy Troyer hospital wing.”

  “That sounds prideful, so we’ll let the new wing remain unnamed.” She gripped his hand tightly. “Hope you didn’t think I was faking illness to postpone our wedding. I would marry you right now, if I had already been baptized.”

  “That never crossed my mind.” Adam caressed her cheek with one finger. “Since we have a little house and you’ve got an in with the preacher, we’ll be ready whenever you’re strong enough.”

  “You’re a patient man, Adam Troyer.” Sarah’s breath hitched in her chest.

  “It’s been a long time coming.”

  17

  O that day when freed from sinning,

  I shall see Thy lovely face

  A decidedly cooler breeze hit Caleb’s face as he left the Troyer outbuilding. According to the calendar, it was autumn, and he was glad to see the end of a long, humid summer. He glance
d around the yard where people clustered after preaching. He needed a place to hide until lunch was set out. Then he would grab a sandwich and something to drink and go home. Caleb wasn’t fond of socializing these days. The less time he spent with district members the better off they all were.

  “Do you plan to block the doorway all afternoon, Cal Beachy?”

  Feeling a sharp pain between his shoulder blades, he pivoted to greet his former fiancée face-to-face. “Excuse me, Josie.” Caleb stepped to the side to open the passageway.

  Surprisingly, she followed him, looking as tender and beautiful as ever. “How is your schwester?” Josie asked.

  “Gut, I’ll tell her you asked. Sarah gets stronger every day. She intends to come to the next service. Daed holds private classes so she can join the church with the rest of us in November.” Caleb clamped his teeth together. A one or two word response would have been sufficient.

  “Maybe I’ll drop by later this afternoon. It depends on how things go.”

  “I’ll tell her.” Caleb touched his hat brim and stepped to the left.

  “What did you think of the sermons this morning?” Josie rejoined his side.

  Caleb thought for a moment. “The Book of Peter provides good reasons why we should behave as Jesus instructed. It’s not just rules for the sake of rules.”

  “Ah, you were paying attention to your father.”

  His head snapped around. “Of course I was paying attention. My desire to be Christian hasn’t changed.” Just because we’re no longer together. Caleb met her luminous green eyes, feeling a pain sharper than her poke to his back.

  Josie smiled. “I saw you came to the membership class too. Front row—that must have lifted a few eyebrows.”

  “It was the only seat left when I arrived.”

  “So you plan to take the kneeling vow and get baptized, jah?” She was studying him carefully.

  “I’m willing to go through all of it. I’m trying to make this work.”

  “Trying?” Josie repeated his word with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yes. I’m trying to change. Where is this conversation headed?”

  She ignored his question. “Either you’re Amish or you’re not. The same is true of being a Christian. We don’t try, we just are. Sometimes we fall short, but it doesn’t mean we look for a new religion.”

  “I’m willing to see if a cupful of water makes me feel any different. I want this baptism to work.” The muscles in his gut tightened, giving him indigestion without eating a bite.

  “What do you think the water is supposed to do?”

  He stared at his boots for half a minute, composing his answer. “The water is supposed to wash sins away. Then I can begin anew.” The admission somehow embarrassed him, as though he was revealing every doubt and skepticism he had inside.

  “Do you think a cupful will be adequate? It might be like trying to rid your dog of skunk spray with a single cup of tomato juice. Believe me, when our spaniel tangled with a skunk last summer, we went through three or four big cans.” Josie smiled as though her analogy would somehow amuse him. Or that everything between them was back to normal.

  “Do you think it will be enough, knowing my history?” Caleb didn’t mask his irritation.

  “Nope, not for you, not by a long shot.” She meant it to be funny, but at the look of chagrin on Caleb’s face her grin faded, replaced by the look of pity.

  “Are you trying to hurt me because we broke up? Somehow make me suffer for wasting a valuable summer of your life? I assure you, I’m sorrier about us than anything else in life.”

  His heartfelt admission had little effect on her. “Nope, I’m just trying to figure you out. I might have a solution.”

  He stared, confused. “I’ve done all I can.”

  “No, you haven’t. On the inside you’re still an Englischer.” Josie thumped her chest with a fist. “You might have given up your driver’s license and stopped using fancy power tools, but you haven’t surrendered to God.”

  For several moments, they just stared at each other. Caleb hoped her tirade was done so he could sprint to his buggy.

  But his green-eyed tormentor had more to say. “Since you still think like an Englischer, why not get baptized like one? Wash yourself clean of your past their way. Angela Wilson invited me to her baptism a couple years ago. It was a very nice service. Afterward the congregation threw a potluck picnic for everyone who got dunked in the lake by the preacher.”

  “Dunked in a lake?” Caleb rolled his eyes skyward where two red-tailed hawks circled on warm air currents. “That might have worked for the Wilsons, but it’s not our way. I’m serious about becoming fully Amish.”

  “You could do this first and then take the kneeling vow with us during fall communion. You can start with a fresh slate.” Josie’s face glowed with enthusiasm.

  Her earnestness was hard to bear. She still cared about him, even though he’d treated her poorly. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but your suggestion amounts to getting baptized twice. Once should be sufficient.”

  Josie nodded. “Of course it is. But Mrs. Wilson said lots of Englisch Christians get baptized twice, when they start to take their faith seriously.”

  “Again, you’re talking about Englischers. We’re Amish.”

  Her eyes turned very shiny. “I know what we are, but you have special circumstances.”

  Caleb realized she was on the verge of tears. “Do you think my father or the other ministerial brethren would consider me a special case?”

  The sag of her shoulders betrayed her answer. “Maybe not, but this is what you need. Maybe the elders wouldn’t have to know.”

  Tentatively he reached for her. “Your idea sounds gut, and I’m grateful for it. But I must tell my daed. I don’t want to keep any more secrets.”

  Josie grasped his hand and moved only inches apart. “Would you be willing to try this for my sake? Because I know that once you forget the past, welcoming God into your heart will be as easy as eating apple pie on the porch.”

  Caleb drew her head to his chest and lowered his chin to her kapp. He could neither speak nor meet her eye. Tears were streaming down his face, unbidden and unmanly, but they felt human. Maybe he’d just taken another step toward becoming a Christian.

  “I love you, Cal Beachy,” she said, her words muffled against his chest.

  “And I love you, Josie Yoder.”

  “Are you willing to get dunked in a lake?”

  “I am, as soon as it can be arranged.” Caleb answered without the slightest hesitation.

  “You will need an Englisch preacher. Should I talk to Angela Wilson tomorrow?” Josie peered up at him.

  “Not quite yet. Let me talk to my old pal, Pete Taylor. I owe him a phone call anyway. If my memory serves, this might be something he can help with.”

  “Then I’ll leave the next step in your hands.”

  “I’m sure I’ll have plenty of questions before all is said and done.” Caleb patted her back and then released her before he squeezed the air from her lungs.

  “If you think of a question take the path around the barn, through the woods, and along the river past the old mill. Then cut in between hayfields and keep walking until you see a white house with porches on three sides. That’s where I’ll be living maybe until Christmas. After that, I’ve got big plans for the rest of my life.” Josie winked and scampered off to find her family.

  Caleb remained where he stood, until he could stop the flood of emotion too long held in check.

  With his new project only a mile away, Caleb beat his father home from work that day. By the time Jack dropped Daed off in their yard Caleb had milked the cows, cleaned the horse stalls, and swept out the barn. Eli stepped from the van laden down with long rolls of blueprints, a bulging briefcase, and his thermos. Caleb sprang to meet him on the walkway. “Here, let me carry some of that.” He greeted his former workmates as Eli handed him the blueprints.

  “Danki. Every project the dr
awings get thicker and more complicated.” Eli shuffled wearily up the flagstone path. “How goes it at the Sidleys’?” No matter how tired he was from his own responsibilities, Eli never failed to inquire about Albert’s family.

  “Gut,” Caleb said. “For now, the house is done, and it looks great. Once we earn enough profits from our current project, Albert will buy a hot water tank. Then Bob can return to hook it up to the propane line.”

  “I’ll check if any scratch-and-dents are available at the builders’ outlet store.” Eli labored up the steps, breathing hard.

  Cal knew his father would do more than check. Without a doubt a serviceable, under-warranty water heater would materialize on the Sidley porch after his next trip to Wooster. “In the meantime,” said Caleb, “Joshua Miller hired us to add on to his dawdi haus. One of his sons wants to marry but doesn’t intend to farm. Joshua said his parents can use help around the clock from the new wife while his son works at the lumberyard.”

  “What kind of addition does Joshua need?” Eli hung his wool coat on a peg.

  “Another two bedrooms, plus a downstairs bathroom equipped to handle a wheelchair. Grossmammi can no longer climb steps.” Caleb emptied out his father’s lunchbox into the sink.

  “That should keep you and Albert busy all winter.”

  “That’s what I figured too, but I need to ask you something unrelated to work.” Caleb waited until he had Daed’s attention. “Can I use your cell phone? It’s important.”

  Eli stopped rummaging around in the refrigerator. “Of course. Let me get it from my briefcase.”

  “Don’t you want to know what the call is about?”

  “Nein. If you say it’s important, that’s good enough for me.” Eli dragged his leather bag to the table and searched until he found it. “It’s time you start charging up your phone, if you haven’t already thrown it in the trash.”

  “I still have it.” Caleb didn’t quite know how to respond. His father had loathed what he’d brought home from Cleveland.

  “Now that you have your own construction business, you’ll need a phone. It’s permissible to use for business. Not to call your customers, because most of them will be Amish, but to order materials, arrange deliveries, and schedule other subcontractors to the jobsite. Besides, construction work can be dangerous. I’d like you to be able to call 911 without running a mile to a neighbor.”