“No he isn’t.”
“Well, he’s acting so agitated, the doc said he’s sure it’s a reaction to the medicine. I told him he doesn’t know my son, but he dismissed what I said.”
~*~
“Daed, I’ll get the doctor!”
“Get…your mamm…”
Deborah ran through the cornfield, but soon got lost in the maze. Which way was home? Then she realized she left her boppli, Roman, by the creek. What if he drowned? She spun around the cornfield, its long stalks falling in on her.
Then loud banging could be heard. Was it someone already making her daed’s pine casket? Or was it for Roman?
I need to get my daed help! I need to get to Roman!
More pounding….
Deborah sat up with a start. Her nightgown clung to her body as sweat streamed down her face. She forced herself to breathe deeply, letting air out slowly. Ach, a nightmare!
She turned to Jeb, but he was gone. What time was it? Granny turned around to see her alarm clock on her nightstand. Nine o’clock. What kind of bishop’s wife slept in so late?
She heard talking in her kitchen, and shame filled her. Why didn’t Jeb wake her up? Granny slid out of bed, and took the pitcher of water she always had filled on her dresser, and quickly took a sponge bath and dressed. But as she did this daily routine, she realized her hands were still shaking. Well, she’d have to take her calming herbs she grew, for good reason.
When Granny entered the kitchen, she was doubly embarrassed to see Ella, Zach, Ruth, and Luke. She had slept in the last time they came over. The blush rising on her cheeks would be undeniable. How embarrassing.
Ella and Ruth got up from the table and embraced her.
“I haven’t slept in like this since the last time you came.”
“Ach, Granny. We understand. So much going on with the workers here,” Ruth said as she rubbed Granny’s back. “But take a look.”
They led her to the front porch and her eyes widened. “Workers here today, too? No wonder I heard pounding in my dream.” She looked around the yard. “I don’t see many buggies.”
“Joe made two trips, picking them all up.” Ella shielded her eyes from the morning sun. “We counted twenty workers at least. The Baptist church van holds a lot of people.”
The heat on Granny’s face now seeped into her heart. How she loved being Amish. Such generosity. Such community. She noticed there were workers from their old Gmay, along with their new. Melvin was up on top of the roof, and Granny thought of how much she missed Fannie, now that she was in a different church district. And now Ella and Ruth were here, most likely to tell her they’re moving to New York.
“So, how was New York?” she asked as she walked over to the coffeepot. “Will you be making your new home there?”
Ruth gasped. “We can’t leave with Roman laid up.”
Jeb ran his fingers through his gray hair. “It’s what we’ve been talking about. These young folk feel they need to take care of us. Forgo moving to New York for a while and stay here and make rockers.”
Granny felt tears sting her eyes. “That’s so sweet. But we have other workers. We’ll be fine.”
“What other workers?” Luke asked. “Not for the rocker shop.”
“Clark makes fine rockers, and yesterday a crew fulfilled all the orders for the week.” Granny put the coffee to her lips and took a sip. “And I wrote to Nathan.”
Jeb tapped his fingers on the table. “Was that necessary?”
“Jah,” Granny said. “He was Roman’s partner, and said he might come back…” She looked across the table at Ella and Ruth, who were both grinning. “What’s wrong?”
Ella chuckled. “Ach, you don’t fool us. You’re the matchmaker, like Emma. Ruth and I read your Jane Austen book in New York. You’re so much like her.”
“Jane Austen?” Granny asked.
“Nee, Emma!” Ruth said, joining in on the laughter that spread around the table.
Granny sat up as straight as a board. “We need a skilled rocker maker. It’s our livelihood.”
“Calm down, Deborah. Don’t get your dander up.” Jeb put a hand on her shoulder. “Luke’s a skilled carpenter, having been trained by his father-in-law. He’s offered to help run the place until Roman’s back to work.”
Granny’s eyes narrowed. “Ruth, you didn’t like New York?”
“I did, but with a boppli coming, we decided to wait.” She turned to Ella and Zach. “We’re so sorry. Hope you find someone else to split the land.”
Zach took Ella’s hand. “The settlement in East Otto is real friendly. They know of other Amish families moving in over from Cherry Creek. Said we could buy half the land.”
Granny noticed that Ella didn’t waver on moving to New York. “Must be a nice place.”
Ella nodded. “So much farmland. It makes me sad for everyone here in Smicksburg.”
“Why?” Jeb asked.
“Because most Amish families in New York farm. So few in Smicksburg do now.”
Jeb exhaled loudly. “It’s why our boys moved. Land out west.” He stroked Granny’s hand. “But Smicksburg’s our home…”
Granny feared at times that they’d have to move to Ohio or Montana if Roman ever decided to join his brothers. But here was Jeb, knowing her heart and calming her. How blessed she was to have a husband to walk by her side as a leaning post. A loud knock on the door jolted Granny.
Joe looked through the screen. “Jeb, I need to make that trip now, so I’ll be back to drive the men home.” He shifted. “Deborah, Marge wanted me to tell you she’ll be coming tonight, just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“Suzy’s dog dies. Real nice of that Amish girl to stay with her…”
“Which Amish girl?” Granny asked.
“Oh, what’s her name? Latvia?”
Granny’s brows furrowed. “Lavina. She’s been at Suzy’s?”
“Jah, I mean, yes. She stayed overnight. Like I said, real nice of her to do that.”
Granny put her head down, and clasped her hand.
“What’s wrong, Granny?” Ella asked.
“Don’t you see? Lavina’s the one for Nathan.” Granny ignored Jeb groaning next to her, and the girls laughing, calling her Emma again.
~*~
Colleen sat next to Emma Miller, ripping one-inch strips of material for a rag rug. The comfort this dear woman gave only made her draw towards being Amish stronger. But would it be wise to raise Aurora Amish? Only have her go to eighth grade?
“Emma, if you’re Amish, can you do distance education?”
Emma pursed her lips. “I don’t know what that is, really.”
“Well, I know you don’t use the Internet, but there are courses to take when you’re older. Everything’s done by mail. Is it allowed?”
“Well, we’re always learning. Books teach us a lot. I learned to crochet from a book. Is that what you mean?”
Colleen didn’t want to be rude, but how could she ask an Amish person if they felt an eighth grade education was enough? “What if an Amish person wanted to learn how to be a chef? Could they go to school?”
Emma snickered. “Why would you do that? An Amish mamm teaches her dochder how to cook and bake.” Emma smiled warmly. “Colleen, we get all the education we really need in eight years. If someone has a hobby, like birding, we can take a course to learn more about birds. Iva likes to learn about herbs, and is taking special classes from our local herbalist. And here you are, learning to make rugs from me. No, the Amish aren’t against learning.”
Colleen grinned. “Thank you. It’s been on my mind…” She avoided Emma’s warm brown eyes and stared at the baby quilt hanging on the wall. But the same feeling of déjà vu swept over her. She was in a crib with a quilt with red kittens embroidered on each square, and the walls were blue. Her eyes darted through the window into the main house. Blue and plain like Emma’s house.
“What is it?” Emma put her hand on Colleen’s knee
Colleen shook her head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I told Granny and Janice. I keep having memories or it’s my imagination. I don’t know, but since I’ve moved near the Amish, I feel like I’ve lived here before.”
“Beside memories, is anything else peculiar?”
“Well, I can understand Pennsylvania Dutch more and more. Maybe it’s a gift or something, but I never had a lesson. It’s almost like it’s a second language.” She took in a deep breath. “My mom’s crazy. Maybe it’s hereditary.”
Emma reached for both of Colleen’s hands. “And what else do you remember?”
A car horn honked outside. “Clark is here. I need to go. Will we meet next Thursday?”
Emma squeezed her hands. “I’m taking a train trip to New York to help watch my kinner. They get an earlier frost, so their harvest time’s upon them soon. But I’ll be back down here mid-September. Iva and Marie will run the store.” She got up and went to the other end of the store. “Here’s the iron-on pattern for the kittens on the quilt. Do you embroider?”
“I can do a straight stitch and satin. French knots confuse me still.”
“Well, just read the directions on the back. Iron the pattern on and it’ll show up on the squares.” She hit her forehead. “Almost forgot.” Emma ran through the door, into her living room.
Colleen followed, knowing Clark was patiently waiting. Emma had a pile of white material stacked on the side of her sewing machine. A trestle sewing machine…Colleen was sure she’d seen it before…maybe at an antique shop.
“You’ll need quilt squares. Here, take ten. Straight stitch goes fast and you’ll have those kittens done when I get back. Then I can help you make a quilt.”
Colleen stared into Emma’s beautiful Amber-brown eyes, and for a split second, thought she saw someone else…
~*~
Fannie let Melvin help her out of the buggy. “I won’t break. Only pregnant.”
Melvin’s green eyes went through her. “Jah, and it’s my boppli you’re carrying.” He took off his straw hat to fan his face. “I’ll be in the rocker shop if you need anything.”
Fannie chewed on her bottom lip. She was proving to be a disappointment to Melvin, and the weight he carried on his shoulders since marrying her was obvious. How she wanted a marriage like Granny’s, so she relished this day together with her. The wisdom found from this other mamm of hers had helped in the past.
The squeaking of the screen door was soon heard and Granny stood on the porch. “Ach, we have time together, just the two of us.”
Fannie ran up the steps into Granny’s arm. “I’m so glad.”
After a warm embrace, Granny took her by the shoulders. “What’s wrong? You don’t seem glad…”
“I, ah…had a fight with Melvin.”
Granny led her over to her porch swing on the far-side of the porch. Two stainless steel bowls filled with peas sat on the floor. “Can you help me with my peas while we talk?”
Fannie nodded. “Sure.”
“With Lizzie tied up with Roman, we’re mighty busy bringing the harvest in. But so blessed to have our Gmay’s support. Almost every ear of corn is picked and put in the corncrib.”
“Your sheep will eat goot, jah?” Fannie asked.
“Jah, because they’ll birth in spring and nature tells them they need to eat…”
Fannie took a few peas from the bowl, opened the pod and let the peas fall back into the bowl. She threw the pod into a bucket Granny had in front of them so she could feed them to her pig later. “I know what you’re thinking. Melvin, too. But I just don’t have much of an appetite.”
Granny threw pods into the bucket. “Fannie, we’ve been through a lot together. I deserve a better answer than that.”
“What?”
“You can be honest with a true friend.”
Fannie remembered Granny catching her at Punxsy-Mart looking at glamour magazines, comparing herself to their perfect bodies. Then Suzy showed them on the computer how their bodies were changed to look perfect. It was a long road they traveled together, but she seemed to have gone in a circle, being right back where she started. “Okay, sometimes I still battle in my mind, as my middle starts to grow, that I’m fat. Then I tell myself it’s my boppli growing in there. But I look at my knees and ankles and I see my mamm’s legs…fat.”
“It’s water retention,” Granny chided. “And I told you that.”
“But what if it doesn’t go away? This has been my latest fear. Why do so many women get fat after having a boppli, and say they can never take the weight off?”
“Fear. There’s that word again. Fannie, God has not given you a spirit to fear, but a sound mind. Are you looking back into the scriptures we went over this past winter?”
“Jah, I am. But…” Fannie was too embarrassed to tell Granny…
“Tell me.”
“Melvin. He’s handsome and thin. I still can’t believe he married me. What if I’m not attractive if I can’t get rid of this ‘boppli fat’? I got pregnant on our wedding night, so I’m bound to be pregnant again soon after I deliver. Supposing I’m always pregnant and Melvin gets tired of looking at a cow?”
Granny tapped her foot against the floor to move the swing. “You need to give Melvin more credit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Melvin isn’t a vain man, only caring about temporal things. He looks at you and sees kinner that will bring joy.”
Fannie slid her finger down the side of a peapod. Where each pea grew was a bump. She was carrying Melvin’s seed…and had a bump now. It was natural. “It’s natural to gain weight while pregnant, but is it natural for a man to love a fat woman?”
Granny sighed. “You’re having irrational fears again. No amount of talking will make these fears go away. You need faith.”
“Faith?”
“Jah. Jeb’s helping me with my fear of aging. I imagine him dead and not being able to go on. Feelings of loss overtake me. He reminded me of the proverb, Faith is a bridge over which we can cross all the unknown waters of tomorrow… You need to just keep walking over these troubled waters, knowing the Lord is with you, holding your hand.”
Fannie leaned her head on Granny’s. “And you’ll be with me too, jah?”
“As long as the Lord gives me breath.”
~*~
The Baptist church van pulled up to Granny’s porch, and she looked again at the pendulum clock. Seven o’clock, and Jeb still wasn’t home. He never missed dinner, especially when they had guests. Fannie and Melvin sat patiently chit-chatting but in the end, they had to eat without Jeb. Was he hurt?
She forced a smile at Fannie and soon the girl’s arms were around her. “Jeb’s the bishop now. Most likely he’s visiting someone in need of counsel.”
Granny put her hand on her chest, indigestion creeping up. “I’m sure you’re right.” She turned to point at the bowls of sherbet. “Can you take the tray out? I’ll grab the iced tea.”
Fannie nodded, and then kissed Granny on the cheek. “Remember, don’t fear. Like you told me…”
“Faith…I know. I need to live out what I’m always telling you.” She grabbed the cups and pitcher and met the women out on the porch. “So nice of you to pick everyone up, Janice.”
“Half of us were over at Suzy’s anyhow. So we left from there.”
Suzy was bent over her little dog, stroking her black-and-white-furred head. “Almost lost her last night, but I sure do know who my friends are.” Through tears that pooled in her eyes, Suzy looked around at each member of the circle. “What would I do without yinz?”
“We’re knit-picks,” Janice beamed. “We knit and pick each other up.”
“Well, let’s get to knitting then,” Suzy quipped. “How many know a purl from a knit for sure now?”
All heads nodded.
“Good!” Suzy clasped her hands in front of her. “You don’t
know how knowing that lifts my spirits.”
“Why?” Marge asked. “Is knitting that important?”
Suzy’s eyes grew round. “Absolutely. It’s my gift, and I like to pass it along.”
Janice chuckled. “Jerry says I have the gift of gab. I could just kill him sometimes…”
Granny put her hand over the ever increasing heartburn making its way up her throat. “Janice, you shouldn’t talk like that.”
“I’m just kidding,” Janice said. She turned to Suzy. “Can you show me how to cast off? I made a scarf, but can’t get it off the needle.”
Granny leaned toward Janice. “You shouldn’t kid like that, then.”
Janice’s head spun around. “Deborah, what’s wrong with you? It was a joke, like I said. No one’s going to find Jerry murdered in his bed…at least not this week.” She looked up and laughed.
Granny took a deep breath. “I think all us women need to say encouraging things to our husbands. Be happy they’re here for us. Words can tear us down.”
Janice put down her knitting needles. “You think I tear Jerry down?”
Granny looked evenly at Janice. “Being a goot preacher is hard work.”
Janice slouched back in her chair. “Whatever…”
Fannie looked up from her knitting. “Jeb didn’t come home for dinner. Granny’s upset.”
“Has nothing to do with it,” Granny said steadily. “Since Jeb’s been made a bishop, the weight around his neck has pulled him low. Jerry’s a preacher and must feel the same way.”
Janice’s eyes softened. “I’m sure you’re right. I do tease Jerry a lot. But I am frustrated. He’s never home. I call the church his wife.”
Granny gawked. “Out loud? In front of Jerry?”
“Yes…”
“I say the same to Joe about his stupid turkeys,” Marge blurted. “I named the bunnies, because that’s normal, but he’s got names for those turkeys and it’s driving me nuts.”
Colleen let out a chuckle. “So funny the differences between us. We English say things fast, don’t we, Granny?”
“I’d say so…”
Suzy stood in the middle of the circle. “I made this pattern for mittens. I’ll pass it around and if anyone thinks they can do it, let me know.”
Smicksburg Tales 1,2 & 3 (Amish Knitting Circle, Amish Friends Knitting Circle & Amish Knit Lit Cirlce ~ Complete Series: 888 pages for Granny Weaver Lovers and 30+ Amish Recipes Page 44
