Cousin's Challenge (5 page)

“She wants to become Jolene's friend,” Andrew said. “That seems nice to me. Besides, she's interesting to talk to.”

“Oh, jah, she always has a lot to say.” Freeman reached for a piece of toast and slathered it with apple butter. “Unfortunately, much of what Eunice says is nothing but gossip.”

“You can think whatever you like,” Andrew said, “but the Bible says we aren't to judge others, so I'm giving Eunice the benefit of the doubt.”

As Jolene pedaled her bike toward the schoolhouse, she reflected on some of the things that had been going on with her two students. It had been a busy week since she'd started teaching the children, and she'd made some headway with Sylvia, but as far as she could tell, she'd made none at all with Irvin. He just didn't seem to want to learn.

Last night after Mom had spoken with Aunt Dorcas on the phone, Jolene and Mom had discussed the situation. Mom said that Aunt Dorcas had talked about her days of teaching and said that she'd had a few students who'd been stubborn and didn't want to learn. It took patience, perseverance, and a willingness to keep trying new things. Aunt Dorcas felt certain that eventually Jolene would find something that would spark an interest in Irvin.

I hope Aunt Dorcas is right,
Jolene thought as she turned her bike up the lane leading to the school.
I'll feel like a failure if I can't get through to Irvin.

Jolene parked her bike beside several others and had just stepped into the schoolyard, when she saw some of the boys from Fern's class pointing at a smaller figure huddled on the ground near a clump of bushes. As she drew closer, she realized it was Irvin.

“What's going on?” she asked Kyle Beechy.

He pointed at Irvin. “I asked him a question, and he wouldn't answer, so I poked him a couple of times. What's the matter with that fellow? Is he dumm?”

“No, he's not dumb. He can't hear what you're saying because he's deaf.” Jolene was glad Irvin hadn't learned to read lips yet. The quiver of his jaw and the tears glistening in his eyes let her know that he was quite upset. He didn't need to know that he'd been called dumb.

She reached for Irvin's hand, but he just sat there, shaking his head.
“Come with me into the schoolhouse,”
she signed.

“I don't want to go to school. I want to go home.”

“What'd he say?” Kyle asked.

“He said he doesn't want to go to school.”

Kyle wrinkled his freckled nose. “He'll be even dumber if he don't go to school.” He nudged his younger brother, Elmer. “Ain't that right?”

Elmer bobbed his head. “Jah, That's right. He'll be dumber than dirt.”

The boys who stood nearby laughed. Jolene couldn't hear their laughter, of course, but seeing their open mouths and the way they were holding their sides let her know that they were laughing. It made her angry to see Irvin being treated this way.

“It's not right to make fun of anyone—especially someone with a disability.” She pointed to herself. “I can't hear, either. Does that make me dumm?”

Kyle blinked a couple of times. “You don't have to yell. I'm standin' right here.”

“Sorry.” Jolene hoped her words came out a little quieter this time.

“How come you can talk, but that boy don't say a word?” Kyle asked, pointing at Irvin.

“As you know, I lost my hearing two years ago, but Irvin and his sister were born deaf. If a person is born deaf, it's difficult for them to learn how to speak clearly because they can't hear what they're saying.” Jolene glanced across the schoolyard and spotted Sylvia playing with Arie Smucker by the swings. It appeared that she'd been accepted—at least by one of the scholars. “I'll be teaching Irvin and his sister phonetics, as well as how to read lips,” Jolene said. “Hopefully, they'll be able to talk some, too.”

“He won't learn.” Kyle shook his head. “He's too dumm to learn.”

Jolene clapped her hands in front of Kyle's face. “Stop saying that! Irvin is not dumb!”

Just then Fern rushed up to Jolene, wearing a look of concern. “What's going on here? I could hear you shouting from inside the schoolhouse.”

Hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as she felt, Jolene explained what had happened. She motioned to Kyle and Elmer. “I'll never get through to Irvin if these boys keep making fun of him. Nobody likes to be teased, and I'm afraid if it continues, Irvin will refuse to come to school.”

Fern shook her finger at the boys. “You ought to know better than to tease. I want you both to apologize to Irvin.”

Kyle turned his hands upward. “What for? He won't hear a word I say.”

Jolene compressed her lips to keep from shouting at the insolent boy.

“Jolene can let Irvin know what you say by signing to him,” Fern said.

“What's signing?” Kyle asked.

“It's a way of talking with your hands,” Fern replied.

“Oh, that.” Kyle raised his chin a notch and shook his head. “I still ain't sorry for sayin' he's dumm, and I won't apologize.”

Jolene was stunned. She'd never seen a student so defiant before. Irvin had definitely met his match. “He was teasing Irvin by laughing and poking him, too,” she told Fern.

Fern tapped Kyle's shoulder and squinted her eyes. “You need to apologize to Irvin, and you'd better do it now.”

The seconds ticked by as the boy stared at the ground, making no move to apologize for his behavior.

Jolene ground her teeth together. It was disrespectful for any student to speak to his teacher that way. Seeing the way Irvin had been treated by Kyle made Jolene even more determined to get through to him and see that he received a good education.

Fern took hold of Kyle's arm. “If you won't apologize to Irvin, then you can stay after school for the rest of the week.”

He kicked at a clump of grass with the toe of his boot. “I can't stay after school. I've got chores to do at home.”

“Then apologize to Irvin.”

“Tell him I'm sorry,” Kyle said to Jolene.

Fern nudged Elmer.

“Me, too,” the younger boy said.

Jolene gave a nod then squatted down beside Irvin and signed,
“Kyle and Elmer said to tell you that they're sorry for teasing you.”

“They'll do it again; you'll see!”
Irvin scrambled to his feet and raced into the schoolhouse.

Kyle and Elmer ran across the lawn and joined some of the other boys who sat on the fence.

Fern turned to Jolene. “I'll make sure every one of my scholars knows that they'll be in trouble with me if they tease your students.”

“If they could only communicate with Irvin and Sylvia, things might be better,” Jolene said.

“I think I have an idea.”

“What's that?”

“How would you like to come into my class a few times a week and teach the scholars to sign?” Fern smiled. “I think it would be good if I learned how to sign, too.”

“I'd like that.” As Jolene headed for the schoolhouse, she felt a little better about things.

There was a spring in Lonnie's step as he headed for the pigpen with a bucket of slop. He was in good spirits, and it had nothing to do with feeding and watering smelly pigs.

His injured hand felt much better, and as soon as he was done with his chores, he'd head over to the Yoders' to work for Rueben.

In just one week, Carolyn would be coming. It would be great to see her again, and he had figured out exactly how and when he'd propose. He didn't know what he'd do if she turned him down. He loved her so much, and while she'd never actually said the words, he felt sure that she loved him, too.

By the time Lonnie reached the pigpen, the wind had picked up, scattering fallen leaves all over the yard. If the wind kept blowing, maybe the leaves would blow out of the yard and no one would have to rake them.

Lonnie poured the slop into the trough and watched with disgust as the gluttonous hogs raced for it, grunting noisily while pushing and shoving each other with their snouts.

“Dirty, greedy pigs,” he mumbled. “I'm glad I don't have to smell you all day.”

Lonnie turned on the water and filled the watering trough before he headed back toward the house. As he approached the place where their propane tank sat, he halted and sniffed the air. The pungent rotten-egg aroma of propane gas drifted up to his nose. Could there be a leak in the line, or had the nozzle on the tank not been closed tight enough?

He was tempted to move closer to investigate but decided that it would be best to call the company that delivered their propane and ask them to come and check things out.

Lonnie hurried down the driveway toward their phone shed, but he'd only made it halfway there when an earth-shattering explosion shook the ground beneath his feet. When he turned his head, he saw flames shooting into the air and a fence post coming straight at him!

Jolene handed Sylvia and Irvin their pieces of paper and asked them to copy the words she'd written on the blackboard. She'd tried talking to Irvin about what had happened outside before school started, but he wouldn't respond to her at all.

Maybe I should have a talk with Irvin's parents.
Jolene tapped her pencil on the edge of her desk.
But if they find out that Irvin was teased by those boys, they might take him out of this school and send him elsewhere for his education. I'd really like the chance to prove that I can teach these children, so maybe I should speak with Kyle and Elmer's parents instead, and let them know that their boys were antagonizing Irvin.
She continued to tap her pencil.
No, that might make things worse. If Lydia or Joe Beechy punishes Kyle and Elmer for teasing, then the boys might try to get even with Irvin and torment him even more.

She leaned back in her chair and tried to relax, deciding that it was best not to say anything to either set of parents right now. She'd wait and see if the boys could work things out on their own. In the meantime, she needed to concentrate on teaching.

While the children did their assignment, Jolene made a list of projects she planned for them to do—making posters to hang in their class and cutting out pictures to color during recess when the weather turned cold and they couldn't play outside. She hoped that doing some fun projects might draw Irvin out of his shell. She knew it must be hard for the children to have moved from their home in Ohio and come here where nearly everyone was a stranger.

If only Irvin could make some friends,
she thought.
Everyone needs a good friend.

Jolene didn't know what she'd do without the friendship she'd established with her cousins. Even when she'd been living several hundred miles away, she'd kept in touch with Loraine, Ella, and Katie through letters. And even when they'd each gone through trials of their own, she'd felt their love and support.

Pulling her thoughts aside, Jolene glanced at the battery-operated clock on the far wall. It was time to collect the children's papers.

She rose from her chair and stepped up to Sylvia's desk.
“Are you finished?”
she signed.

Sylvia nodded and handed Jolene her paper.

“Thank you.”
Jolene moved over to Irvin's desk. When she looked down at his paper she was stunned. He hadn't written one single word!

She groaned inwardly and made a decision. As much as it pained her to do it, she would stop by his house after school and speak to his parents about this.

“I thought Lonnie would be returning to work today,” Ella said when she entered her father's shop and didn't see Lonnie in front of his workbench.

“I don't know what's up. Last time I saw him he said he'd be comin' in this morning.” Papa shrugged. “He's not usually late, so I guess it's fair to say that his hand must still be hurting.” He frowned. “But then, he should've at least come by and told me if he didn't feel up to workin' today.”

Ella couldn't argue with that, but it wasn't like Lonnie to be so inconsiderate. He'd always come to work early and sometimes stayed late to finish a job. He often whistled while he worked and usually wore a smile, so she knew he must enjoy working here. His hand was either still hurting, or else something had come up at home to keep him from being here today. She hoped it was nothing serious.

For the next hour, Ella worked quietly, inserting some recent purchases and customer invoices into the ledger. While she did that, Papa cut some pipe for new chimes, and Charlene kept busy stringing the pieces of pipe together.

At ten o'clock, the shop door opened and Jolene's father, Uncle Alvin, stepped in.

“Guder mariye,” Ella said, smiling up at him. “Did you come to buy a new set of wind chimes or just to visit with Papa awhile?”

Uncle Alvin removed his hat and fanned his face with it, although Ella didn't know why, because it was a chilly fall day. “Came to see if you'd heard about the explosion that took place over at the Hershbergers' early this morning,” he said.

“Which Hershberger?” Papa asked. “The bishop or his nephew Ezra?”

“It happened over at Ezra Hershberger's place,” Uncle Alvin replied.

A sense of alarm shot through Ella as she slowly shook her head. “We haven't heard anything.”

Papa hurried over to his brother. “What kind of explosion?”

“From what I was told, the Hershbergers' propane tank blew up.”

“Ach, That's
baremlich!
Was anyone hurt?” Charlene asked, joining the group.

Uncle Alvin nodded soberly. “You're right. It is quite terrible. Lonnie got hit in the head by a flying fence post and was knocked out cold. Heard he was taken to the hospital, but That's all I know for sure.”

Ella felt like her heart had leaped into her throat. She hoped Lonnie wasn't seriously hurt. They'd had enough tragedies in their community over the last few years.

A sharp pain shot through Lonnie's head as he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked at the blurred image of a middle-aged woman looking down at him. She wore some kind of a uniform, like that of a nurse.

He tried to sit up, but his head hurt too much. It was all he could do to keep his eyes open.

The woman shook her head and her lips moved, but Lonnie couldn't make out what she'd said. It must be because his head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton.

“Wh-where am I?” He winced. That was strange. He couldn't hear his own voice, either.

The woman picked up a notepad by his bed and wrote something on it. Then she held it in front of his face. The words were blurred, but he could make a few of them out.
Parents. Waiting room. I'll get them.

Lonnie grimaced as the truth set in. He was in the hospital, and his folks were waiting to see him. He must have been given some pills that had made his brain feel fuzzy and clogged his ears. But why was he in the hospital?

When the nurse set the tablet down and hurried from the room, Lonnie closed his eyes, struggling for some memory that would let him know how he'd gotten here.

He remembered getting up, eating breakfast, doing a few chores in the barn, and going to feed the smelly hogs. Then, as he'd headed back to the house, he'd smelled something funny.

Another jolt of pain shot through Lonnie's head as the memory of everything that had happened flashed into his mind. He'd been heading to the phone shed to report a propane leak. Then he'd heard a terrible explosion, turned, and saw a fence post coming straight at him. It had hit him in the head with such force that he'd been knocked to the ground. That was the last thing he remembered.

Lonnie felt the pressure of someone's hand on his arm, and his eyes popped open. Mom stared down at him with tears in her eyes. Pop stood beside her, wearing a grim expression.

“Wh-what happened to me? H-how bad am I hurt?” Again, Lonnie couldn't hear his own voice, and that scared him a lot.

Mom picked up the notepad from the table by his bed and wrote something on it. Her lips were pinched, like she was holding back tears, as she held the notepad in front of Lonnie's face.

Our propane tank exploded. Apparently you were hit in the head by one of our fence posts. Your daed found you lying near the phone shed.

Pop's lips moved as he leaned over Lonnie, shaking his head.

Lonnie put both hands against his ears. “I—I can't hear you! Why can't I hear what you're saying?” His throat hurt, and he knew he must be shouting.

Pop stepped away from the bed, and Mom wrote something else on the tablet and showed it to Lonnie.

When the post hit your head, it caused a concussion, and the doctor just told us that there was severe damage to the auditory nerves in both your ears.

“Is—is that why I can't hear?” She nodded.

“How long until I can hear again?”

Mom slowly shook her head as tears pooled in her eyes and dripped onto her cheeks.
The doctor isn't sure, but you may never get your hearing back,
she wrote on the tablet.
We'll have to wait and see how it goes.

Lonnie swallowed around the lump in his throat. If he couldn't hear, he couldn't tune chimes. If he couldn't tune chimes, he didn't have a job. If he didn't have a job, he couldn't get married.