An Amish Gift (6 page)

She heard her name being called and opened her eyes to see Mattie on the front steps, smiling.

“A nice surprise. Please come and meet my family.” Mattie waved her over and met Jennie halfway, leading her to the flower bed. The children stood up as their mother and her guest approached.

“This is Mrs. Davis.” Mattie pointed to the children as she said their names, starting with the oldest. “Joshua, Becky, and Aaron.”

Jennie thought she had never seen such adorable, well-mannered children. As they were introduced, they looked her directly in the eyes with some obvious curiosity, smiled politely, and nodded. The boys wore dark pants with suspenders and dark blue short-sleeved shirts. Their blond hair showed beneath straw hats with flat brims and a black band, smaller versions of what their father wore. Becky, like the other girl Jennie had seen walking to the house, wore a replica of what her mother had on, a white head covering and a long dress, minus the apron. The girl had the same pulled-back hairstyle, down to the neatly twisted side pieces.

“I’m glad to meet you,” Jennie said. “I live nearby, so we’re neighbors. Well, in the same neighborhood.”

“Do you live on a farm?” Joshua asked. He had an accent like his mother’s, Jennie noted.

“No, not a farm. Just a house. My husband runs a bicycle shop.”

The little girl’s eyes lit up. “We know how to ride tricycles. Do you want to see?”

Mattie frowned. “We do not put on such shows.”

Becky turned at once to her mother, looking abashed.

Jennie didn’t understand what had just transpired but sensed she had somehow caused the discord. “Perhaps I’ll come by one day when you’re on your tricycle, and I’ll see you riding.”

They were interrupted by the arrival of Mattie’s husband and the boy, who did turn out to be their oldest son, Peter. Further introductions were made. Abraham had a beard but no mustache, and his hair was in the long bowl cut Jennie
had seen on other Amish men, with bangs across the forehead.

“You and your family are in Bert Howland’s house, yes? My wife tells me you walk here with your dog. You didn’t bring him today?” Abraham asked, setting down several empty buckets.

In her haste to get away, Jennie realized she hadn’t thought to bring Scout. “No, but he would be delighted to come by anytime. He loves meeting new people.”

Abraham let out a piercing whistle, and from behind the barn, a large dark brown dog appeared, racing across the grass until he reached them. Abraham made a clicking sound, and the dog immediately sat down, panting but otherwise immobile. “This is Hunter.”

Jennie laughed. “I can’t imagine my dog being half as obedient as that. He would no more come when I whistled or sit like that than he would fly to the moon.”

“He spends time with me, and I teach him. It’s not hard,” Abraham said with a smile.

“Can you teach me to do that with my children?” Jennie said it without thinking, then froze, afraid she had gone too far.

Both Mattie and Abraham laughed. “If only it were that easy, yes?” Mattie said.

Relieved, Jennie turned to Peter, who had been standing quietly. He was tall, and slightly darker than his parents in skin tone and hair, but his eyes were identical to his mother’s.

“Do you work with your father on the farm after school?” she asked.

“I’m finished with school.” His words held no trace of his
parents’ accents. “We’re done in our regular school after eighth grade. Then we have some regular meetings until we’re fourteen, but it’s more about our work and what we do with our time. I’m sixteen. And yes, I help on the farm.”

“One day this will be his farm, and I will help him,” Abraham added.

Peter didn’t say anything, and Jennie wondered if she saw something in his eyes that didn’t look happy. She admonished herself to stop reading into things about which she knew nothing.

“Well, I don’t mean to interrupt your day. I just wanted some fresh air, really.”

“I am about to go into the vegetable garden. If you have time, I will show it to you,” Mattie said.

Jennie brightened. “I’d love that. Maybe I could learn how to plant a few vegetables myself. I’ve always wanted to.”

She said good-bye to the men. As they turned away, she heard Abraham say something to his son in another language, and Peter responded in kind.

“Does your family normally speak in”—she hesitated—“is it German?”

“It is our language, called Pennsylvania Dutch. You would say a dialect of German. Our Bible and songbook are in German, though.”

“And you all speak English as well. Wow.”

She followed Mattie around to the back of the house. They passed another large white barn, and Jennie saw through its open doors that it was, for the most part, dedicated to the
horses, with multiple stalls and a wide-open area where two horses were nuzzling; a walled-off section acted as a garage for two closed buggies and a smaller, open one.

When they reached the garden, Jennie’s eyes widened. “This is huge. Do you do all this yourself?”

“My older daughter, Sarah, and the little ones help.”

“What are you growing?”

They walked up and down the neat rows, Mattie pointing as she spoke. “Many things are done for the season, and the garden is cleaned out. Over there are lettuce and string beans. We grow many herbs. Here we have parsley, dill, mint, and some watercress. Here is where we had cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash. Oh yes, peas and eggplant. We grow about twenty-five different things.”

“It’s beautiful. I’d love to watch when you plant something, maybe learn how to do it.”

Mattie smiled. “I would be very glad to show you.”

Jennie looked around at the barn and fields beyond. “It’s so lovely here. Peaceful.”

“Thank you.”

“I wish …” Jennie fell silent. Mattie looked at her, kindness in her eyes, but said nothing. “Time to get going.” Jennie straightened up as if bracing for the return home. “I’m so glad I got to see your family.”

“This was just a few of them. You must meet the rest. They are busy with chores. We do a lot of cleaning on Saturday because tomorrow we go to worship.”

Jennie nodded as they went toward the road. “I can fit all of
my family into one quick introduction. But I hope you’ll meet them soon.”

“It will be good to have a chance.”

They reached the front of the house, exchanging good-byes before Mattie went inside. Feeling buoyed by the visit, Jennie was determined to go home and turn things around somehow. Could she get the kids to play a board game? She would make popcorn or drive somewhere to pick up ice cream. They weren’t little anymore, but surely they could come up with something to do that didn’t involve sitting in front of the television or a computer screen. All she knew was that this was going to be a fun-filled Saturday night at her house if it killed her.

The market was busy on this Saturday morning, but far less than it would be in the warmer months, when crowds of tourists came to shop. Jennie meandered up and down the wide aisles, enjoying the sights and colors of the virtual sea of homemade and local goods. She loved the sheer variety of things for sale, from candles, quilts, and baskets to meats, herbs, and funnel cakes. At some point she hoped to be able to buy one of the Amish-made glider rocking chairs. She spent at least twenty minutes examining a selection of preserves and pickled foods, finally deciding to buy sauerkraut to serve with hot dogs later in the week. After paying, she realized she was right near one of her favorite booths and veered in another direction, hoping to resist the lure of fudge and soft pretzels. Getting down to the reason she had come today, she stopped to select potatoes and other ingredients to make a salad for supper.

Some of the vendors behind the stalls were Amish, but many were not. Everyone was friendly, and shopping here made for a much more personal and entertaining experience than at the huge supermarket. This was one aspect of their life in Pennsylvania that was special—having this unusual old marketplace right nearby. Unfortunately, she was the only one in her family who cared. Shep was too consumed with the store even to come by, and when she had dragged the kids with her one Saturday, they had busied themselves on their cell phones and shown no interest at all

On the way to the exit, Jennie passed some wooden mailboxes for sale and thought how nice it would be to replace the old one in front of their house. She had to smile, thinking how very far down on the list that item would fall.

The beautiful weather on the drive home was a welcome distraction from her thoughts, an unusually warm November day allowing her to open the car window and enjoy a pleasant breeze. As she approached the turn onto her street, she was surprised to see her husband and children standing by the side of the road with Abraham Fisher and his son Peter. Shep’s truck was parked, and they were all gathered by the Fishers’ buggy, Willa petting the horse as the men talked, their sons standing a little way off, engrossed in their own conversation. As far as Jennie knew, Shep had never met the Fishers, so she wondered what had brought about this little conference. The cars behind her made her less inclined to stop and interfere, so she drove past with a honk and a wave but saw in the rearview
mirror that only Willa looked up. She wondered if the Fishers had tourists honking at them frequently so had learned to tune it out.

She greeted an excited Scout when she got home, then washed and cut up the newly purchased vegetables. When the rest of her family still hadn’t returned, she reached for her cell phone to text Willa. Shep wasn’t a fan of the cell phone; he always forgot to check his texts and kept his phone on silent, so she rarely bothered to attempt communicating with him that way. Her children never answered a call from her, and Tim, she knew, was likely to ignore any text from her as well. Her daughter was the only one who might bother to reply.

Where are you guys?
she typed.

Fisher farm
, came back the answer.

Apparently, the roadside chat had turned into something more. Jennie was thrilled that Shep might be getting to know Abraham Fisher a bit. That also probably meant her kids were meeting some of Mattie’s children. Tim had shown only disdain toward the Amish so far. She hoped spending a little time with them would show him how wrong he was to judge people that way. Maybe some of their good manners would rub off on him. She almost laughed out loud at the image of her son sweetly obeying because he had seen an Amish child do it.

“If only …” she murmured.

Deciding she couldn’t bear to be left out of the action, she beckoned to Scout to join her, and they set out on foot for the farm. Sure enough, there was Shep’s red truck parked in front. On the far side of the house, she saw Tim and Peter sitting on
the ground, talking comfortably. Fantastic, she thought. She hoped it was all right for Mattie’s boy to have a non-Amish friend; it certainly made her happy to think her son might befriend him. A good influence, for a change.

She caught a glimpse of her husband crossing the open doorway to the barn. When she reached it, she found herself at the end of two long rows of enormous black-and-white cows, all facing away from one another. The smell of the animals was strong, but the barn was noticeably clean. The two men were halfway down the aisle, Abraham pointing out something while Shep studied one of the cows with great intensity.

“Hi there,” she called softly, afraid of scaring the cows. That brought no response, and she realized how silly it was to imagine that her voice had the power to scare these massive animals. She called out again, louder.

Both men looked up. Shep smiled and gestured for her to come over. “Abraham is showing me around,” he said to her. “Look at this system they have for collecting the milk.”

As he explained and gestured, she was struck by how relaxed his face looked, more relaxed than she had seen him since, well, since they’d moved here. He was clearly so engaged by what they were discussing that his problems were momentarily forgotten. Silently, she thanked Abraham for doing what she had been unable to do.

“I saw you all together on the road before. How did that occur?” she asked Shep.

“Turns out Tim knows Peter. They waved, so I wound up stopping, and we all just started to talk.”

A girl of around ten appeared in the doorway, one of the younger daughters, Jennie surmised, and informed her father that dinner was ready. He nodded.

“My Emma,” he informed the Davises as she turned to leave. “You must stay and have dinner with us.” Jennie and Shep protested, but Abraham ignored them. He called out after his daughter. “Our four guests will eat with us.”

“Yes, Papa.” She disappeared.

Jennie felt terrible about inflicting her entire family on Mattie with no warning, but there was nothing to be done. On the other hand, she was curious about having a meal with an Amish family. The three of them went to the house, the boys getting up and brushing themselves off when they saw their parents approach. Willa, it turned out, was already in the kitchen, standing off to one side while the younger children were busy setting out dishes and platters of cold food.