A Dream for Hannah (8 page)

With her eyes on the window and the moon’s glow soon bright in the sky, Hannah drifted off to sleep.

At breakfast the next morning, her mom brought up the subject. “I wonder what Shep was barking about last night.”

“I heard it too,” her dad said. “It was probably one of the cows running around. The barking came from the barn.”

“Was one out?” Kathy asked.

“I saw nothing while doing the chores,” Roy said. “They are all accounted for. Did you see anything missing, Isaac?”

Isaac shook his head sleepily, apparently unwilling to make words this early in the morning.

“That’s strange.” Kathy glanced at Hannah. “Did you see anything? You’re often up later than the others.”

“I heard Shep barking,” Hannah said and kept any emotion out of her voice. She had seen nothing, but they would not take it lightly if they knew who she thought it might have been.

Kathy glanced at her again. “Did you hear anything else?”

“Some noises on the side of the house,” she said in the same tone of voice. “Then a bong and a ping.”

“Well, that could be anything,” Kathy said.

“That was probably a limb of that old tree brushing against the side of the house,” Roy added. “I need to cut that limb off before it falls onto the house.”

Hannah almost said, “No, don’t cut it down,” but caught herself in time.

“You had better not cut it yet, at least not right away,” Kathy said. “The children like to climb around on the thing.”

Hannah took a deep breath of relief and then said quickly, “Yes, it’s real good to climb up on the roof with. Isaac still likes to use it.”

Isaac didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know,” Roy said. “You shouldn’t be climbing around on the roof anyway. The limb could be a danger to the house during one of those wind storms. I think it needs to go.”

“Whatever you think,” Kathy acquiesced quickly.

Hannah said nothing. She figured there was no use, and besides her dad wouldn’t get to the project right away. Perhaps Peter would come before that. Then she remembered and reversed her thinking.
I don’t want him to come. I don’t want him to come.
Those two trains of thought could sure confuse a person.

The next night the moon rose a little sooner and lit up the yard with its glow. Hannah stood by the window, unable to leave her post. The two thoughts in her mind chased each other around.
He’s not coming,
she told herself.
It’s much too light. If he does come and Shep chases him, Dad might catch him. I wonder if he likes me enough to come anyway.
The thought caught her fancy.
What if he wants to see me so much that he comes charging across the yard even if the moon is shining? What if he chases Shep away? Does he like me that much? Wouldn’t that be something?

Finally she knew that if he did come, she would climb out the window with him. There couldn’t be that much harm in doing so.

With one last look around and no sign of Peter, Hannah closed the window and pulled down the spring-loaded shade. She got ready for bed and then put the shade back up for one last look around. There was no sign of anyone, but she could almost imagine there was. Peter was that wonderful. He would come soon, drop from the branch, and knock on her window, and they would go for a ride together in his nice sports car.

Hannah looked at the moon for a long time and studied the dark ridges that ran at crazy angles across the surface. Its soft glow seemed to agree with her. The world was right, and Peter would come soon—because he was Peter.

The moon rose later each night, and eventually Hannah no longer spent as much time by the window.

Today Kathy had both girls helping with peaches. The heat of the wood oven, carrying the heavy jars back and forth, and pealing the endless supply of peaches made for a very long day. There had been little time to think of other things.

Hannah hadn’t forgotten Peter completely and paused tonight for a moment by the window. Her body and mind were equally weary as she looked out over the dark barnyard. At the memory of his words, faint pleasantness filled her, and then sleepiness overcame her. She climbed into bed and fell quickly into a deep, exhausted sleep.

A mile away, a blue MGC, with its six-cylinder engine, purred slowly along the dirt road.

“Why don’t you go faster?” the passenger asked the driver.

“I’m not ready to get there yet,” Peter told his cousin Lester.

“Scared, aren’t you?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then what am I along for?”

“I already told you. You need to feed the dog while I see the girl.”

“So what keeps the dog from feeding on me?”

“Look, I’ve been feeding this dog every other night for almost a week now—ever since he chased me off. Please. He’s not a vicious dog, just noisy.”

“So you’re trying to see this girl, right?”

“Yes.”

“What’s so important about her? I mean, there are plenty of English girls in town to see—like a certain girl I know of.” Lester looked at Peter slyly. “Not everything is a secret, you know.”

“This one is Amish. Now, we’ve already talked about it. Would you hush?”

“Well, there are plenty of Amish girls in town too.
Rumspringa
doesn’t leave them behind, you know.”

Peter paused for effect. “This one is different, okay?”

Lester looked skeptically in Peter’s direction. The lights of the car cast too little light for Lester to catch a good glimpse of Peter’s face. “How old is this girl?”

“About sixteen, maybe seventeen. About our age. Certainly not older.”

“Have I seen her before?”

“I don’t think so. I never did either till we met in the hospital. They’re not in our district.”

“So what’s this girl like? What’s so special?”

“Would you quit being so nosy?”

“What are you going to do when you get up to her window?”

“That’s my business. Now just be quiet. We’re getting close to their place.”

Lester wasn’t done yet. “I hope she knows what she’s doing. I certainly wouldn’t trust you.”

“That’s what’s so cute about her.” Peter grinned in the darkness. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s got all kinds of stars in her eyes. Look, I’m just going to take her out for a ride. You’ll have to wait around while we go for a spin.”

“I don’t trust you. I do declare!” Lester proclaimed.

“Come on! Would you just be quiet now and get that bag ready to feed the dog with?”

Lester grunted. “You’d better not get into trouble, or I’ll tell on you.”

“I won’t. Besides I’m not doing anything wrong. Sure, she’s only seventeen or so, but what’s her dad going to do if he catches us? Give me a lecture on how it’s a little early for a girl to do
rumspringa?
That’s about all he can do.”

“I wouldn’t put much of anything past you. What’s a certain English girl going to say—the one I saw you with Saturday night?”

“How’s she going to find out? Besides, she doesn’t have to know.”

“I didn’t say she did.”

“Your voice said so. Look, just keep your mouth shut and feed the dog once we get there, okay? I’m tired of all this talk.”

Lester grunted, apparently tired of the harassment, and then asked, “Why are we coming here in the middle of the week? To throw the regular crowd off the scent?”

“Now you’re catching on.” Peter grinned as the headlights of the MGC pierced the darkness along the edge of the dirt road. “Now, here go the lights,” he said softly. “It’s darkness from here on in.” Peter switched off the lights as the car bumped along, its tires crunching on the gravel.

“You’d better not go too far without lights,” Lester told him.

“I’m not. The house is just around that bend.”

The MGC slowly pulled to a halt by the fence line. The two boys opened their car doors and cautiously got out.

“Bring that bag of food,” Peter whispered to Lester.

“Why don’t you carry it?” Lester asked.

“Because you’re feeding the dog and I’m seeing the girl.”

“I’m not going to carry it. I’ll feed the dog, yes, but you can carry the bag.” Lester stuck his hands in his pockets to make the point.

Peter looked at him and then calmly pulled the bag out of the backseat. He took the lead as they crept up the opposite side of the fence line, using the trees and bushes to hide their approach. The night was pitch black, and not a breeze stirred. Off to the left and across the open plowed field, a dog howled. What sounded like a bat squeaked by them in pursuit of an elusive insect. Apparently it missed its prey and swooped closer over the boys’ heads.

“Where’s this dog at?” Lester whispered.

“I’ve always found him by the barn.”

They passed the silhouette of the house but couldn’t see any lights through the bushes.

“Everyone’s in bed,” Lester said, his voice low.

“Good,” Peter agreed.

“What if she’s in bed?”

“That’s even better,” Peter whispered back. “She won’t hear us, and I can wake her at the window. Now, would you be quiet?”

Lester didn’t respond because a root had just caught his foot, and he crashed to the ground, his arms sprawled wide.

“You’ll wake everybody up,” Peter shot in his direction.

“I couldn’t help it. Something tripped me.”

“Shhh.” Peter commanded, holding a finger to his lips.

Their breaths came in short gasps as they hunched over behind the fence. When no lights came on in the house, they continued toward the barn in search of the dog. They crossed the circle driveway and then paused again to listen.

“Okay,” Peter said, “we’ll slowly approach the barn, and when the dog comes out, I will do the talking. Whatever you do, don’t run.”

“What if he doesn’t come out? Maybe he’s in the house.”

“Stop worrying and just be quiet,” Peter said and stepped forward. Lester followed him without much space between them. The red side of the barn loomed up before them. Peter put out his hand to steady himself. The horizontal barn siding squeaked under his hand.

“Quit making noise.” Lester’s voice was tense.

“Where’s that dog?” was Peter’s response, and he ignored Lester’s warning to be silent. A kerosene lamp flickered momentarily in the house and then went out.

Seven

The hour was late, but Sam Knepp tossed in his bed, unable to sleep. Life was passing him by it seemed. He felt like he needed to rush and do something. No doubt the day’s hard fieldwork was on his mind. Farm life was demanding, no question about it. That’s why he needed a wife before he became much older—a good wife, one that would stand him in good stead.