Amish Country Arson (17 page)

“
It'll seem lonesome for all of us when
you're gone,” Hal said. “We count the days until your next visit.
You will be able to come back next summer, won't you,
Mom?”

“
We should be able to if our health
holds up. I know Jim will be eager to come, and I sure enjoyed
being here,” Nora said.

Nora and Hal looked at Aunt Tootie who was
quietly staring into her coffee cup to avoid the conversation.

“
How about you, Aunt Tootie?” Hal
asked.

Aunt Tootie looked pensive. “I hate to say
this, but I'm not sure. Let's wait and see how I feel in the
spring. I don't know if I can take another summer like this one.
What with someone trying to burn your barn and hurt you, your mean
rooster attacking me, that goat trying to eat my clothes right off
of me and a skunk sleeping next door to me. I think it will take a
good long time for me to get over this stay.”

“
I'm so sorry, Aunt Tootie. I hope you
recover by the time Mom and Dad are ready to return,” Hal consoled.
“Listen, I hear a buggy coming in. Emma and Adam must be
here.”

As they waited for the company to come
inside, they heard them walk up the steps and Emma say, “Turn loose
of my apron. Get away from us, Goat. Go back to the barn.”

Aunt Tootie grumbled softly to Nora, “See
this is what I was trying to tell you. The animals around here are
too friendly.”

“
Oh, nah! Gano is taking over where Tom
Turkey left off. She has become the official Lapp company greeter,”
Hal said as she left to help Emma and Adam in the house.

All the talking woke up Redbird and Beth from
their nap. As soon as they saw Adam standing in the living room,
they popped up from the quilt and ran to grab him around the leg.
Both little girls squeezed Adam so tightly, he couldn't move.

Redbird smiled up at him. “My Adam.”

“
My Adam,” Beth said
argumentatively.

Redbird shoved at her.

Adam's face turned stern as he put one
forefinger over the other and rubbed it at both of them. The girls
lowered their eyes and pouted.

Adam picked them both up and smiled at them.
That earned him a hug from each.

Emma watched, thinking what a good father
Adam would make, but she teased, “I sure see how I rate around here
when Adam is with me.”

Aunt Tootie rushed to her and hugged her.
“Don't worry, dear. The rest of us are happy to see you.”

Emma laughed. “Now I feel better.”

The women took on the task of fixing a large
supper that Jim, Nora and Aunt Tootie would remember. Hal and Emma
found it hard to stay cheerful, but they managed. Hal's mind
wandered to how lonesome she'd be after tomorrow morning when her
family left for home. Emma got a heart sinking feeling every time
she thought about how much she'd miss her school house until the
new one was built.

Supper went well. At devotion, John read the
bible, concentrating on Matthew in chapter five and verse forty
four. Emma had the feeling her father aimed the reading at her.

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you,” John read.
“Let us pray now.” Everyone bowed their heads as John prayed for
the soul of the arsonist and his awakening to the destruction he'd
done before others were harmed. John added the Plain children
needed guidance and understanding while they tried to deal with
this latest act of evil.

By the time devotions were over, Redbird and
Beth's heads were nodding. Hal said it was time the two sleepy
heads were in bed, and Emma offered to help her put them there.

While they undressed the girls, Hal said, “I
think tonight went pretty well, ain't so?”

“
Jah. I've tried very hard not to think
about how sad I feel about the school,” Emma said.

“
I know what you mean. I'd very easily
break into tears before my parents and Aunt Tootie have even taken
off if I gave their going much thought.” Hal gave a mournful sigh
as she put the nightgown over Beth's head.

Emma slipped Redbird's arms into her
nightgown and laid her on the pillow. She kissed the girls on the
cheek. “Go to sleep, little redbird and sweet Beth.” Emma's soft
voice was all it took for the girls to close their eyes and doze
off. Emma turned to Hal and folded her arms over her chest. “Maybe
what you need is some happy news to concentrate on.”

“
Was ist los?”

“
What is up is how would you like to
know you are going to be a mammi?”

Hal digested that out of the blue admission
and squealed. “You're serious?”

“
Jah, one of the reasons the school
house burning bothers me is this will be my last year of teaching.
I will always remember the arsonist's awful act as part of my last
year.” Emma bit her lower lip to keep from crying.

“
Oh, but keep thinking about what you
have to look forward to now. I'll bet Adam is excited about your
news,” Hal said.

“
Ach, jah!” Emma gave Hal a wide
smile.

Hal hugged her. “I am so happy for you.
Fudge! I'm even happier for John and me. Wait until he hears we are
going to be grandparents. Are you going to tell him or can I?”

“
You can if you want to,” offered Emma
hesitantly.

“
I might have to, or I'll burst waiting
for you to find a quiet moment to talk to him,” Hal
said.

“
All recht, you tell Daed.”

“
Well, since we're confessing, I
haven't told anyone not even John yet, but you're going to be a big
sister again.” The words rushed from Hal's mouth, and she waited
for a reaction from Emma.

“
Our children will grow up together. I
think that is a voonderball gute thing. Turn about is only fair. Do
I get to tell Adam your news?”

“
Jah, that would be gute,” Hal
said.

Emma put her hand to her cheeks, and her eyes
sparkled. “I just thought of something. You can be the midwife to
deliver you grandchild into the world.”

Hal slowly shook her head. “Emma, I'm not
sure I want that responsibility. Maybe we better ask Rachel
Kitzmiller to help with you.”

“
Nah, it has to be you. It would be my
luck Rachel would go to town the day I need her. If you recall,
that is what she did to you,” Emma said stubbornly.

“
All recht, young lady, but turn about
is only fair. If I help you, you have to be my midwife,” Hal shot
back.

Emma frowned a second before she broke into a
smile. “All recht. I will do it.”

The next morning was a lonely start to the
day after Hal's parents and aunt left for home. Redbird and Beth
wandered from room to room, calling for their grandparents and
aunt. Hal tried to explain Dawdi, Mammi and Aendi went to their
home far away, but the little girls weren't buying it.

Hal was ready for a diversion by the time
Margaret Yoder, Roseanna Nisely and Martha Briskey all drove in at
the same time. They came to help cook molasses at Sugar Camp.

Hal met them on the porch.

“
You ready to go while it
is still cool. I believe the day will warm up from the way it
feels,” Margaret said.

“
All I have left to load is
our lunch basket, a quilt and the water cooler in the buggy and the
girls, of course,” Hal said.

Margaret opened the screen door and scooped
up Redbird. “We can help carry. I caught me a girl.” She tickled
Redbird's belly as she carried the giggling girl to Hal's
buggy.

“
Jah, it will be a gute,
warm, fall day,” Martha agreed, taking a deep breath of fresh air
as she placed Beth beside Redbird. “The vat will make us hot enough
without added heat from the sun.”

Roseanna followed Hal to the kitchen and
picked up the dish towel covered wicker basket full of sandwiches,
bags of chips and a covered cake pan.

Hal chattered as they headed for the buggy.
“I'm not only ready I'm excited. I didn't get involved when Emma
was in charge. I know this is something that has passed down from
generation to generation in the Plain community. I want to learn
all about molasses making so I can do it from now on. When they are
a little older, I'll pass on how to make molasses to my little
girls.” She tossed two quilts in the buggy to sit on at Sugar Camp
and placed a two gallon cooler of water in next. “I've been waiting
all summer for the cane to get ready to harvest.”

Hal drove down the lane and across the hay
field. They passed the cane field which was now rows of stubbles
and green piles of cane. The day before, Noah and Daniel stripped
the canes of their leaves by cutting swiftly along each side of the
stalks. Next the boys removed the head of seeds and cut the five to
eleven foot stalks off close to the ground.

As the women drove by, Noah and Daniel
placed arm loads of cane on a hay wagon to bring to Sugar Camp. Hal
stuck her hand out the open window and waved. “I'd never seen
sorghum cane growing before I saw this field. I think it looks much
like corn without the ears.”

“
Sure enough,” Margaret
agreed. “Except instead of tassels on top, cane has a seedy head
cluster.”

“
When the canes mature in
four months, it is time to harvest. That is just the start of the
hard work through the whole process to make sorghum molasses,”
Martha said.

“
Molasses sure will be gute
this winter,” Roseanna said.

“
Sure enough,” Hal agreed.
“I used the last of my supply to make two shoo fly pies for supper
last night.”

“
That was dessert for your
family?” Margaret asked.

“
Jah, I gave my parents and
Aunt Tootie their choice of food for supper since it was their last
night with us. Shoo fly pie was Aunt Tootie's pick for dessert. Dad
wanted a raw apple cake. Emma came over to help me so she mixed up
the cake. We had most of the cake left over last night so it is our
lucky day. We'll eat the raw apple cake for dessert
today.”

Martha shook her head sadly. “Emma must be
beside herself about the school house burning.”

“
I know she is,” Margaret
agreed.

Roseanna Nicely nodded. “So are my children.
They cannot understand how someone could burn their school.”

“
Jah, Emma was very upset
that someone was that cruel to her students,” Hal said.

The cane field wasn't far from the small pie
shaped pasture on the back side of John's farm known as Sugar Camp.
The sorghum mill had been built a century ago. It was a long framed
building open on one side. Noah and Daniel had done a good job of
cutting a large supply of wood. They piled it by the building to
fuel the fire under the pans.

Hal parked the buggy in the shade of the
grove of burr oak trees. “My, this is a pretty time of year with
the timbers so full of color.”

Roseanna sighed. “Jah, and watch the leaves
fall like feathers flying in the wind from hens. Will not be long
until the trees will be bare. I never look forward to the signs of
winter.”

The women climbed out of the buggy. Margaret
spread one of the blankets on the ground. Hal placed Redbird on the
blanket, and Martha put Beth beside her. Redbird yawned while Beth
rubbed her eyes.

“
Lay down, girls. Take a
nap,” Hal said.

“
You think they will nap
this time of morning?” Martha asked.

Hal covered the girls up with the other
blanket and walked toward the mill. “Usually they wouldn't, but
they ran from room to room all morning, looking for their
grandparents and aunt. For once, the girls are tired and ready for
a nap which is gute for me. I won't have to watch them while we get
started.”

Along the south of the building was the
fireplace chimney. Attached to the chimney was a brick oven, with
an enormous pan covering the top. Its size was eight feet long and
four feet wide. The pan had four compartments with gates that
opened from one compartment to the next. The pan ran downhill just
enough to keep the cane juice flowing through the pans.

Outside the mill was the machine which
crushed the cane stalks. Sweet green juice ran into a trough which
led to the first pan in the vat.

The machine shredded the stalks by the horse
walking around and around in a circle. His hooves had already
tramped the grass into the dirt. By the end of the day, the horse's
hooves would wear the path down to a deep groove.

Noah drove the wagon, loaded with cane,
close to the crushing machine. He called to Hal, “We have enough
juice in the first pan for you to start cooking.”

“
Denki, we're ready to go,”
Hal replied. “Wait until we empty the pan before you start crushing
again.”

Martha picked up the hoe like tool, leaning
in the corner, to stir the juice. Roseanna went to the creek after
a bucket of water to wash the tools. Margaret and Hal lifted the
mesh off the pan and carried it over to the timber edge to dump off
the cane pieces.

Margaret opened the gate on the pan. She
stirred around the pan as the last of the green liquid swirled into
the next pan. She shut the gate, helped Hal replace the screen and
waved at the boys. “Now start the next batch.”

Hal picked up an arm load of wood to put
under the compartment with the juice in it. Margaret splashed
kerosene on the wood and lit the pile. Soon the pan had flames
licking up out of the bricks and along the sides of the pan.

Smoke billowed around the women as they
stirred, stinging their eyes. Sweat beaded up on their foreheads
and dripped down their faces. Margaret wiped her face with her
apron tail. “Denki to the woman that invented the apron.”