Amish Country Arson (7 page)

“You aren't serious about making me empty
that trap,” Hal moaned.

“Jah, that is recht. That was the deal. We
catch the skunk, and you empty the trap,” Daniel said.

“All recht, but I have to find me some
clothes to wear that I can air out and wash,” Hal grumped, shaking
the skirt of her cotton nightgown.

“Come on, Noah. We better get to the barn and
start the generator.” Daniel headed for the door.

“Will you people please hurry up and decide
what you're going to do,” Aunt Tootie whined, standing in the door
way. “This is terrible. I'm getting so sick at my stomach.”

A series of rings in the cupboard interrupted
her tirade. Everyone stared at the cupboard door.

“That has to be my cell phone. I wasn't
expecting a call from anyone,” Hal exclaimed. She fished the phone
out of her nursing bag and flipped the lid. “Hello.” An outburst of
giggling met her ear. “Good morning, Nurse Hal. This is Jean in the
emergency center at the sheriff's office. Sounds like you have an
emergency at your house.” Jean burst into laughter again. “I'm
sorry. I know it isn't funny to you.”

“And you are calling me, why?” Hal asked
dryly. She usually had a sense of humor but not this morning.

“Someone at your house called nine one one. I
couldn't get anyone to talk to me, but I can hear the excitement
going on and recognized your voice. I decided to call your phone,
so you knew we were listening in.”

“I am so sorry we bothered you,” Hal
apologized, blushing.

Jean choked on laughter. “No problem. I'm
just glad it's you and not me that has to empty that trap.”

“Thanks a lot,” Hal said.

“You really shouldn't call nine one one for
evacuating a skunk from a trap,” Jean cautioned seriously.

“Of course not. I'll be sure to deliver your
message to the one that made the call. I'm so sorry we bothered
you.” After she hung up, Hal looked from her mother to her aunt.
“Which one of you called nine one one about the skunk? You got us
in trouble with the emergency center.”

The women looked innocently at each other and
shrugged.

Hal fisted her hands on her hips. “I'm to
tell the caller a skunk in a trap wasn't the kind of emergency the
center handles. Both of you check your phones, please.”

“Hal, my phone is upstairs. I haven't touched
it for a long time,” Nora declared.

Tootie snatched up her phone from the floor
and checked it. “Uh oh!” Tootie eased the phone to her ear.
Quickly, she shut it off. “Someone was laughing on the other
end.”

“Aunt Tootie!” Hal screeched.

“I'm sorry, Hal. I didn't know when the phone
fell it speed dialed itself nine one one,” Aunt Tootie said
sheepishly.

Hal turned to face John. “John, about the
skunk.”

“Oh no, I cannot take care of the skunk. I
have to milk, and the cows will not come in the milk room if I
smell like skunk,” John said.

“Dad?”

“It's daylight now. I have to help John
milk,” Jim said, lining up with John and the boys.

“All of you are cowards. Fine, I will empty
the trap. First, I have to change into some old clothes.”

“You can use a pair of my old trousers and a
shirt,” John offered.

“That's generous of you,” Nora said
dryly.

John shrugged as he grinned at her. He headed
for the barn with Jim following him.

Hal rushed from the room. She came back in a
few minutes in one of John's blue work shirts and black trousers.
She'd put on her oldest black bonnet over her prayer cap to cover
her hair. A black work hanky covered her nose and mouth. A pair of
yellow chore gloves protected her hands. She held up John's
twenty-two rifle. “Wish me luck, ladies.”

“You should find something to throw over the
trap to keep the skunk from pewing you. The stink will get on you
bad enough from just handling the trap and being near that animal,”
Nora said.

“Sure enough. I'll get an old sheet out of
the rag basket.” Hal rushed off and came back carrying a folded
sheet. She leaned the rifle against the wall and unfolded the sheet
just enough to cover the trap. “Now I'm ready. Pray for me.”

Aunt Tootie cried, “We will, dear.”

Hal took a deep breath and walked
outside.

Nora and Aunt Tootie rushed to the clinic
window to watch. Hal threw the sheet over the side of the porch.
She eased over to look down at the trap. With a grim expression,
she looked at her mother and aunt. “I've got the trap covered.”

Hal walked down the steps and along the
porch, She felt for the middle of the live trap and eased the
handle upright to lifted it. The trap felt light. The skunk sure
didn't weigh much.

Now where should she take the trap? Maybe to
the edge of the hay field. She'd shoot the skunk and dump the body
in the gully.

Hal tried not to take more than small gasps
as she hurried along the lane. From the pasture drifted the bleats
of her sheep flock, wanting her attention. This was no time to stop
and inspected the ewes and buck like she usually would.

Somewhere she'd heard or read a skunk has to
brace his feet to pew. She surely didn't have to worry about that
with him off balance until she set the trap down.

When Hal reached the edge of the alfalfa, she
looked around. The day was going to be a nice one. Why did this old
skunk have to ruin it?

Hal eased the trap to the ground. She grabbed
a hand full of sheet and pointed the rifle, ready to whip the sheet
off the trap. She hesitated when she thought about what came next.
This wasn't going to be easy, killing an animal. She'd never killed
a living thing before except for chickens, and she cringed each
time she swung the hatchet toward a chicken neck. She couldn't
possible fire the rifle with the skunk looking at her. Maybe she
could shoot the skunk through the sheet. She wouldn't have to see
him die. She'd wait a few minutes and carry the trap to the gully
to empty it.

That was the best plan Hal could come up
with. She tried to steady the rifle in her trembling hands as she
stuck the barrel close to the sheet. With her eyes closed, Hal
squeezed the trigger. The bullet rented a round hole, with a powder
burn ring, in the sheet. What if she didn't kill the skunk? The
poor animal had to be in pain. She should fire once more. She
closed her eyes and pulled the trigger again.

Noah was washing a cow's bag when he heard
the shot. He stood up and looked at Daniel behind him. “That was a
gun shot close by.”

“I heard it,” Daniel said as he strained to
listen above the hum of the generator.

Another shot!

John and Jim stopped unhooking milkers. John
said, “Maybe we better go see what the shooting is all about.”

“Daniel and me can go see if you want, Daed.
That way you can finish milking,” Noah suggested.

John grimaced. “I do not want you walking up
on hunters chasing deers. You might get shot by accident.”

“John, you go with the boys. I'll milk while
you're gone,” Jim said.

“That might be best,” John agreed. He rushed
outside with the boys behind him.

Nora and Aunt Tootie stood on the edge of the
porch with hands shading their eyes as they stared toward the
pasture lane.

“You women hear shots?” John asked.

“Yes.” Nora pointed. “Hal killed the skunk by
the hay field.

“Oh, that's what it was. We might as well go
back and finish milking,” John said to the boys.

Noah grabbed Daniel's arm as they followed
their father. “Ach, nah!”

Daniel looked confounded. “How could Mama Hal
shoot the skunk? I killed the skunk.”

John stopped and turned to face them. “I
thought you said Hal had to empty the trap.”

“We were just teasing her,” Noah said. “We
did not mean for her to really get rid of the skunk.”

“Jah, I bopped the skunk before we went to
the barn,” Daniel said. “The trap is empty.”

“You boys are going to be in trouble sure
enough. You should have told Hal before she carried that trap off,”
John scolded.

“We thought she would see the trap was
empty,” Noah said.

Daniel puzzled, “How could she not see the
trap was empty?”

Noah and John shrugged.

John said, “I think we better go check on
her.”

Hal laid the rifle on the ground. She'd have
to take the sheet off to open the trap. What if that skunk wasn't
dead? Maybe she missed it. The skunk would pew her.

She'd just throw the trap, skunk and all in
the gully. The boys could go get it later. She picked the trap
up.

“Hal, you all recht?” John asked. He tried
not to smile when he saw the bullet holes in the sheet.

Noah put his hand over his mouth. His eyes
twinkled when he winked at Daniel.

Daniel frowned. He feared in a minute they
wouldn't think this was so funny when Mama Hal was mad at them.

Hal whirled around. Tears streamed down her
face as she set the trap on the ground. “John, now what do I do? I
shot the skunk twice, but I have to figure out how to get him out
of the trap. I don't know if I killed him. The poor thing might be
in pain, suffering because I shot him.”

John put his arms around Hal so she could see
his face. He winked at the boys. “I do not see how you could have
missed at such close range.”

“We can empty the trap for you, Mama Hal,”
Noah said eagerly.

Daniel stared hard at his brother.
“Noah?”

Noah elbowed him and gave a slight shake of
his head. “Come on, Daniel. Mama Hal was brave to do this much. We
will get rid of the skunk for her.”

“Sure enough,” Daniel declared, catching on
to Noah's notion. He picked up the trap with the sheet still
covering it.

Stepping away from John, Hal confessed, “I
was going to dump him in the gully.”

“A gute place to take the skunk,” Noah said.
“Go with me, Daniel.”

John took the rifle from her. “Come on, Hal.
You need to take a bath before breakfast. You do not smell pretty
gute.” He put his arm around her waist and walked down the pasture
lane.

When they passed the tool shed, Biscuit's
frantic barking made Hal remember. “John, we have to go back to get
the skunk. The vet will need the brain to test for rabies so we can
let that poor dog be free again.”

“I did forget. You go on in and take your
bath. I will tell the boys to bring the skunk back here for the
vet,” John told her as he turned to go back down the lane.

He met the boys. “Where did you really throw
the skunk? The vet has to come get the brain for testing.”

“We know,” Noah said. “We threw the skunk
behind the tool shed. I was going to call the vet as soon as we
finished chores.”

“How's Mama Hal?” Daniel asked.

“Very unhappy with herself, but she
remembered we needed the skunk brought back to the house. She sent
me to tell you to fetch it,” John said.

At breakfast, Nora and Aunt Tootie praised
her for her bravery to get rid of the beast that trampled her
flowers and dug holes in her flower bed. Both women darted scalding
looks at Noah and Daniel for being so mean and watched them squirm
for making Hal get rid of the skunk.

That morning while the boys helped fix fence,
Noah said to his father, “I think we better tell Mama Hal we got
rid of the skunk. She might feel better if she knows she did not
shoot the animal.”

“We did not know she was going to take it so
hard when she thought she killed the skunk,” Daniel said.

“You better give this more thought, boys. In
a few days, the scent will be gone. The women will have other
things on their minds, and Hal will forget about the skunk,” Jim
cautioned.

“But, Dawdi, …,” Noah started.

John put a warning hand up. “Jim is recht.
Hal will not like knowing you boys played a mean joke on her. She
is better off thinking she killed the skunk even though it hurts
her.”

“I feel so guilty,” Daniel said.

“Live with it,” John declared.

“We should not lie. God will not like it,”
Daniel persisted.

John thought a moment. “Daniel, what you did
was not a lie. You teased Mama Hal, and she misunderstood. There is
a difference.”

Jim stopped hammering on a staple. “Keep what
you did in mind the next time you want to play a trick on
anyone.”

“We did not plan on playing a trick on Mama
Hal,” Noah declared.

“Maybe she will understand if we explain,”
Daniel said hopefully. “If she had only looked over the porch at
the trap before she threw the sheet on it. She could have seen the
trap was empty.”

“I would not count on Hal seeing this your
way. Not yet,” John warned.

Jim added, “Maybe not ever.”

Tuesday night was cloudy with a chance of
rain. The raw air had a chilled dampness to it, but that didn't
matter. This was the perfect night for a midnight ride if the rider
didn't want to be seen. Mounting the work horse was hard with a
sore leg. Staying on the hard stepping horse was even more
difficult when the throbbing pain increased, but Rudy Briskey's
farm wasn't far away.
What did the pain matter?
It was nothing to suffer pain compared to getting the task at hand
completed.

Rudy Briskey needs to be taught a lesson for
giving Jonah Stolfus all that hay. How was my burning Jonah
Stolfus's barn teaching the man a lesson if Rudy Briskey gives him
hay for the winter? His charity encouraged other farmers to do the
same.

Rudy Briskey had a large cornfield on the
south side his property. With the draft horse at a quiet walk, the
rider moved past the Briskey home. The windows were dark as they
should be that time of night.

Just south of the house, was the cornfield.
The driveway was at the northern end of the field which was good.
Corn shocks loomed out of the darkness in no particular pattern but
easy to get at. The gunny sack slung across the horse's back held
small juice bottles filled with kerosene and a box of matches. All
the supplies needed to teach Rudy Briskey a lesson he wouldn't soon
forget. The rider stopped the horse by the first corn shock just
inside the gate hole.