Amish Country Arson (4 page)

Noah looked at Daniel, and Daniel shook his
head no. “We have not. If we had, we would have told Daed.”

“
Gute,” Elton Bontrager said. “If you
ever hear anything let your father know. Such a deed by a young
person would be cause for bragging, especially by one that is
drinking. Others would know about this. We do not want more fires.
If Jonah had not woke up when he did, the house would have caught
fire. Some of their family may have perished. We hear of that
happening all the time.”

Daniel said, “There is a party in the timber
on Bender Creek road a week from Friday night. That is the place
such bragging might happen.”

The bishop perked up. “Would you boys be
willing to go to this party and listen to the talk?” He glanced at
John and saw his frown. “Of course, that is if your father is
willing to let you.”

“
Noah and Daniel stay away from such
parties. They are level headed. I am proud of them for knowing
their faith and family are more important than joining in evil
English ways. I think getting involved with a group that has one or
more arsonists is dangerous,” John stated.

“
What if Daniel and I took Biscuit for
a practice run Friday night before we start coon hunting?” We could
use that for an excuse. We just happened to walk in on the party
and hang out for a while,” Noah said.

All at the table watched John as he wrestled
with his decision. “Sure enough, I think this could be dangerous.
Against my better judgment, if you do not stay long and will be
very careful to not let on why you are really at the party I will
say jah.”

Elton stared into his cup. His head jerked
back, and he narrowed his eyes at Redbird. She grinned at him and
clapped her hands.

“
Was ist letz, Elton?” John
asked.

“
I am ferhoodled. My coffee cup is
empty, and I know I did not drink all of it,” Elton said, grinning
at Redbird.

“
Redbird, shame on you,” Daniel
scolded.

Redbird stuck her tongue out at Daniel and
leaned back against Elton for protection from her brother. That
caused everyone to laugh.

“
What's so funny” Hal asked as she
entered the kitchen with Jane right behind her.

“
Elton has a mystery. His cup went dry,
and he did not empty the cup himself.” John chuckled as he pointed
at Redbird.

“
Well, the rest of you won't find it so
funny when you're the one holding that child. She does that to me
all the time. Dad, you better check your cup. Beth copies whatever
her sister does. She may have drank yours dry,” Hal
warned.

Beth had Jim's cup to her mouth. He took it
from her and looked in the cup. “I rescued a swallow or two.” Jim
smiled at her as he teased, “You get your own cup, girl.”

Beth pouted and held her hands out to take
the cup. “Mine, mine.”

“
Aunt Tootie, could you please bring us
more coffee.” Hal tossed the basket in the mud room, before she sit
next to Elton. “Get a cup of milk for Redbird and Beth so they
won't bother the coffee cups, and you two join us. You need to take
a break, too.”

Elton mentioned, “Have you heard there is a
new family bought the farm next to Moses and Stella Strutt?”

“
What happened to Amos Boxholder?” John
asked.

“
He moved into a grossdawdi house
William built for him by his house. William cannot handle farming
both farms so they had to sell Amos's farm,” Elton explained. “Jane
and I visited with the new couple yesterday. I wanted to give them
directions to next Sunday's service at Luke Yoder's
farm.

“
How many in the family?” Hal
asked.

“
Enoch Bruner and his wife, Wanda, and
the wife's sister, Gladys Kraybill. The sister lives in the old
grossdawdi house next to the house that belonged to Amos's parents
years ago. We did not see her. Wanda Bruner said she was not
feeling well,” Elton said.

“
I'll introduce myself to them on
Sunday so they know where to come if they need medical help,” Hal
said. She focused on Noah and Daniel across from her. “Have you
seen the mess your dog made of my flowers at the end of the porch?
I know it's about time to pull them and clean the bed, but I wanted
to enjoy the flowers as long as I could before they
froze.”

Noah looked puzzled. “Was ist letz with the
flowers?”

“
Biscuit uprooted some of them. The
rest he covered with dirt and mashed the plants over,” Hal said
testily. “Go see for yourselves.”

The boys headed for the door, and they
weren't gone long. Noah declared, “Biscuit did not do that
digging.”

“
How do you know that?” Jane
asked.

“
Whatever dug was clearing a hole so it
could go under the porch to hide,” Daniel said.

“
What kind of animal does that?” Aunt
Tootie's hand went to her throat. “That end of the porch is close
to where I sleep.”

Noah shrugged. “We do not know yet. We filled
in the hole. Maybe the animal is gone.”

The next morning after kitchen cleanup, Hal
said, “I'm going to rake leaves off the yard and garden into the
road ditch to burn.”

“
Looks like a nice morning to do yard
work.” Nora turned to Aunt Tootie. “You want to watch the girls or
help Hal rake leaves.”

Aunt Tootie said quickly, “I can watch the
girls and start lunch if you aren't done by then.”

Nora winked at Hal. “That's fine, Tootie.
Hal, find me a rake.”

Hal and Nora made the trip to the tool shed.
As they walked by the end of the porch, Hal glanced at her flower
bed. Her marigolds were buried under another pile of dirt. A gaping
hole tunneled under the porch.

“
Oh no, look, Mom. That critter didn't
leave. We need to do something to run him off,” Hal declared. “I'll
ask Dad and John what they think we should do when they get back
from town.”

The women managed to clean the yard in time
to start lunch. As Hal put Nora's rake in the tool shed, she said,
“I don't know how long the men will be gone to Wickenburg after
supplies. We won't wait lunch on them. They can eat when they get
back.”

They were climbing the porch steps when Nora
reached out and took Hal by the arm to stop her. She grinned. “How
about we sit for a few minutes to rest? Tootie said she could start
lunch. Let's hold her to it once.”

“
Sure enough, I'm for that. I'm
bushed,” Hal agreed as they sat on the porch swing.

When Hal finally felt guilty enough to check
on her aunt, Aunt Tootie was bustling around in the kitchen,
preparing the meal. She chattered to the girls, seated on the
floor. They quietly watched her pace back and forth and listened as
if they knew what she was telling them about each recipe.

By the time, lunch was ready, the men and
boys were home. First thing on Hal's mind after the noon prayer was
the animal under the porch. “That animal was digging again last
night. We've got to figure out a way to stop it from destroying my
flower bed. What can we do?”

“
We have a coon trap you could use,”
Noah suggested.

“
Gute, rig it up and see if the animal
will go in it,” Hal said.

Daniel grinned at her. “It is probably a
skunk. I caught a faint whiff of skunk odor yesterday near the
porch.”

“
This isn't funny to me, Daniel. Even
more reason to catch the animal if it's a skunk,” Hal said
urgently.

“
We figure if the skunk goes in that
trap you should be the one to take him out,” Noah told
her.

Hal studied him a long moment. “That's not
fair. You're the hunters in this family.”

“
Coon hunters,” Noah
clarified.

Aunt Tootie swallowed a mouth full of food
and said, “You might try throwing moth balls under the porch.”

Nora looked surprised. “Your vast odd and end
knowledge constantly amazes me, sister. Where did that idea come
from?”

“
Joe Cummings, down the road from me,
did that once to get rid of skunks in his corn crib,” Aunt Tootie
said quickly.

“
Did it work?” Jim asked.

Aunt Tootie shrugged. “I never thought to ask
him.”

Hal smiled at her. “Denki, Aunt Tootie. I can
try the moth balls, but I still want the trap set.”

Daniel said, “Just remember if you catch a
skunk I will not empty it.”

“
You shouldn't tease your Mama Hal,”
scolded Nora.

Noah sided with his brother. “It should be
Mama Hal's job. The skunk is in her flower bed.”

Nora raised an eyebrow at John for help. He
wiggled his fork at her. “Do not look at me that way. I do not like
to smell like skunk.”

“
I won't be crazy about it, either, if
that skunk stinks up my bedroom,” grumbled Aunt Tootie narrowing
her eyes at John.

He shrugged and concentrated on eating.

Hal met Noah's look squarely. “Fine, I give
up. Just set the old trap for me.”

“
We will need two fresh eggs,” Daniel
said.

“
Why?” Hal's voice had an edge to it.
Her hens weren't laying so good at the moment.

“
That is what a skunk likes to eat. The
eggs lure him into the trap,” Noah explained.

After the worship service ended, Bishop
Bontrager announced there was a member meeting. When the children
and Hal's relatives left the house, Elton stated to the members it
was time to give of themselves without sparing as the verse in
Proverbs told them.

The members needed to plan and set the date
for a barn raising frolic to be held in a week and a half. He
informed Emma, as teacher, and the parents that school would be
closed for a few days while the children helped.

Parents should tell their children to show up
at the site of the burnt barn early a week from Monday morning.
Hopefully, the barn rubble cooled off enough by then to be handled.
The students could clear away the rubble, ashes and foundation
blocks that weren't useful anymore.

The men loaded the bench wagon that evening.
Instead of taking it to Rudy Briskey's farm for the next worship
service in two weeks, the next morning Luke Yoder drove the wagon
to the Stolfus farm. The benches would be unloaded to use as tables
and seats for the meals during the barn raising.

The men made plans to order building supplies
in the coming week. Levi Yoder was put in charge of renting a crane
to come out to lift the rafters and walls.

The bishop announced Jonah Stolfus was in
need of enough hay to last him through the winter since all of his
burnt. Anyone with extra hay was to bring bales to the Stolfus farm
as soon as the barn was built.

Rudy Briskey spoke first. “I have plenty of
hay bales and will donate a wagon load.”

Other farmers responded they would share
their hay.

The bishop continued, “The sheriff
investigated the barn fire along with the Wickenburg Fire Chief.
They have reason to think the fire was arson. The sheriff said it
must have been set by someone in our community since the person was
riding a horse.”

Rudy Briskey said in his outspoken way, “Or,
the person wanted to point the finger in our direction to throw
suspicion away from himself.”

“
This the sheriff has to find out,” the
bishop said. “Until he arrests the person, he said we should be
watchful at all times. He expects the arsonist to strike again. No
telling who might be the next target of such an unbalanced person.
This is a dangerous time for Plain people.”

Jonah Stolfus stood up. “I heard some harsh
words about the arsonist at the salebarn and Yoder's Country Store
already. I will be honest with all of you before God. As a
community, our biggest weakness is we do not come together and pray
for the souls of people who cause us trouble. If we could do that,
maybe the light would come to the arsonist that he has done wrong.
I would be the first one to go to the sheriff and say, “Just give
me his hand. I will take him on home. He is one of us. Forgive
without punishing it says in Colossian.”

“
We are supposed to practice what we
preach,” Bishop Bontrager said. “Jonah Stolfus is right. We should
pray God intervenes and helps this man who is so tormented to come
forward and atone for his wrongs. If he could see how much harm his
actions have caused others, maybe he will repent.”

Members nodded their heads and many said
amen.

At the noon fellowship lunch, Jim said to
John, “You know I was thinking we ought to head home this week, but
I've changed my mind. I just have to stay long enough to help build
the barn. Nora can take pictures to show our friends when we get
home.”

John frowned slightly. “Make sure to tell
Nora to stay back far enough that she does not get our faces in her
pictures.” His voice was low. Meant only for Jim.

“
I'm sorry, John. I forgot that,” Jim
said contritely.

John waved his hand at Jim. “That is all
recht. It is hard to remember sometimes the differences between our
beliefs. The Plain community for generations has rebuilt burnt or
destroyed barns. Plain farmers cannot do without a barn for their
livestock, but we can do without praise or pictures for doing what
is recht to help each other.

You were here a year ago when we repaired
barns after the tornado. A barn raising is much the same except it
takes longer. Building can take a week at least in good weather of
dawn to dusk effort depending on the size of the barn and how much
help we have.