Huckleberry Summer (8 page)

Lily ran up the steps and flung her arms around Rose. “What a wonderful-gute idea. Surely that will help Amanda find us.” She surveyed the yard. It wouldn’t hurt to look everywhere twice. Besides, she found it impossible to remain still. “Don’t any of you move from the porch. I’m going to look in the barn again.”

After ten minutes, the pot banging grew less energetic. Lily scoured the barn and garden and house again, but still no sign of Amanda. Lily had never felt so helpless or so frightened in her whole life. She wanted to run into the woods herself, but she didn’t dare leave the other children alone.

Where was Aden? Why hadn’t he found Amanda yet?

Aden and Junior reappeared on the path they had taken ten minutes ago. One look at Aden’s face told her it was bad news. She held her breath anyway as he came to her and laid a gentle hand on her arm.

“I think we better call the police,” Aden said, his voice heavy with worry.

Lily couldn’t find her voice. She nodded.

“I will take the horse and ride down to the Van de Graffs’. They have a phone.”

They looked across the driveway as the sound of rustling leaves caught their attention. Pilot padded out of the woods with his head hung low, carrying Amanda on his back as if he were a horse. Her little arms were wrapped around his neck, and she cried as if her heart would break.

Aden bolted to his dog, and Lily, light-headed with relief, followed close behind.

She lifted Amanda into her arms and hugged her close. Amanda was soaking wet. “Oh, Amanda. Why did you run off?” Aden wrapped his strong arms around Lily and Amanda in a three-way embrace. His warmth made Lily feel as if she’d be safe forever and always.

Amanda wouldn’t stop crying.

“Is she hurt? Can you tell if she’s hurt?”

Aden withdrew his arms and smoothed the wet tendrils of hair from Amanda’s face. “Are you okay, Amanda?”

“I fell,” Amanda wailed. “Pi-yot bite me.”

Lily caught her breath. “Pilot bit you?”

Aden shook his head. “Pilot doesn’t bite, Lily.” He examined the hem of Amanda’s dress. “Did he use his teeth to pull you out of the water?”

Amanda nodded. “I fell.”

A pit formed in Lily’s stomach. Amanda must have fallen into a puddle deep enough to soak her from head to toe. If that dog hadn’t been there . . .

She nudged Aden’s elbow and handed Amanda to him. Then she knelt down and threw her arms around Pilot’s neck. “Good boy. Good, good dog.”

He stuck out his tongue and licked her ear. She caressed his head as he yipped his pleasure and tried to lick her hand. “Oh, you beautiful, beautiful dog.”

Aden smiled at her and kissed Amanda’s cheek. By this time, Amanda had stopped crying, and she watched as Pilot, obviously pleased with himself, wagged his mammoth tail and ran circles around Lily, who kept trying to pet him.

“Pi-yot!” Amanda yelled, caught up in the jubilation.

Rose, Evie, and Uriah bounded down the steps and tried to give their own hugs to Pilot, but he hopped around the yard like an eighty-pound bunny rabbit as the three children and Lily chased him.

Lily felt like a schoolgirl again and found it impossible to stop giggling. Pilot would rather run around than be congratulated. She finally gave up chasing the silly dog and went to Aden’s side. “Let’s get her in the house and into something dry,” she said.

Aden gave Amanda’s arm a squeeze and nodded.

As soon as Lily stood still, Pilot came to her. He sat on his haunches next to her, as he had done before, like he was standing guard by her side. She reached out and petted the curly fur on top of his head. “Good boy. Good boy.” Then she leaned over, scratched under his chin, and whispered in his ear, “I’ll love you forever, you stupid, wonderful dog.”

His wet nose nudged against her fingers.

Hand sanitizer did not cross her mind once.

Lily had smiled at him today. A lot. But that didn’t mean she liked him. That didn’t mean they were going to get married or anything.

She was pretty, all right. He could hardly turn his attention from her when she was near, but that didn’t mean she was his perfect match.

She had hugged Pilot, but that didn’t mean she would ever really be fond of eighty-pound dogs with unruly fur.

Even though small children seemed to scare her, she had warmed up to them today. He loved the way her eyes sparkled just so when she read the children a book, as if she were living in the story instead of simply telling it.

Aden immediately caught a glimpse of her when he walked up the stairs into Yoder’s living room for the gathering. She wore a burgundy dress that accentuated the golden highlights in her hair.

One thing was certain. He had to quit staring. A boy his age was too old to moon over a girl like a teenager.

Her face lit up like a sunrise when he caught her eye. She was happy to see him? That was unexpected.

Maybe not totally unexpected. He might have been a jailbird, but his dog had saved Amanda today.

“You came,” she said, coming close enough that he could see the green and blue facets of her eyes. Much closer than four feet.

“Both you and Tyler Yoder invited me,” Aden said. “Do you know Tyler Yoder?”

Was it his imagination or did she turn one shade redder?

“Jah. I know Tyler. He is in our district. His dat is the bishop.”

Now he felt stupid. Of course she knew Tyler. Aden had watched Tyler make googly eyes at Lily for a full ten minutes two Sundays ago. Since when could he not even talk to her without tripping over his words?

He faked a cough and tore his gaze from her face. “How can I satisfy your dat when you insist on standing too close?” He took two steps back.

Lily shook her head. “That is all forgotten. My dat has given me permission to be your friend.” She turned redder. “Tyler talked to him. I am not required to stay away from you anymore.”

“In other words, you are instructed to show this misguided young man Christian charity.”

She looked down at her hands. “My dat is a wise and gute man.”

Aden’s heart sank. She wasn’t used to his sense of humor. He shouldn’t be so flippant with such a straitlaced girl. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just teasing.” He bent over so his eyes met hers. “Pilot will be happy to know that the
bann
is lifted.”

She seemed to snap out of her embarrassment as her lips curled upward. “As if he ever obeyed it in the first place—not that I’m complaining.” A shadow passed across Lily’s face. “I owe that dog a lot.”

“I thought you might have had a heart attack this afternoon.”

“I feel terrible. To think Amanda walked away, and I didn’t even notice. I’m never babysitting ever again.”

“Those things happen. My mamm used to say that she had so many children that she did her best and trusted the rest to God. She said Heavenly Father assigned an angel to each of us to keep us safe. I know I’ve got one.”

“If that’s true, then Pilot was Amanda’s angel today. I get goose bumps thinking of what might have been.”

“Don’t think about that. Think about how everything turned out. That’s a much happier ending,” Aden said.

Lily glanced toward the entryway of the Yoders’ split-level house. “There’s somebody I want you to meet.” She skipped down the stairs and took the hand of the special girl Aden had seen her with at gmay. She led the girl up the stairs to Aden. “This is Treva Schrock, one of my best friends.”

Treva smiled and lifted her hand in a bashful wave but didn’t meet Aden’s eye.

“Nice to meet you, Treva.”

Treva giggled and hooked her arm around Lily’s elbow. Aden might have had a heart for animals, but Lily obviously had a big heart for this special girl.

A girl, taller than Lily but with the same hazel eyes, handed Aden, Lily, and Treva warm pretzels cradled in napkins. “They’re better right out of the oven.”

“Denki,” Aden said.

“I’m Estelle, Lily’s sister. Everybody calls me Estee.” She reached over and tugged the sleeve of a young man behind Aden. The young man stumbled toward Estee, cheerfully letting her pull him into their little circle. “And this is Floyd Miller.”

“Hullo,” Floyd said. “We’ve heard a lot about you.” He pursed his lips as the color traveled up his neck. “We weren’t gossiping. I mean, we weren’t trying to spread rumors or . . .” His voice trailed off. He must have decided to quit before he dug a deeper hole for himself.

Estee didn’t have the same qualms. “So, you’ve been in prison. What was it like?”

Lily’s face glowed. “Estee, hush!”

“Floyd’s cousin says you chained yourself to a tree,” Estee said. “Arty Weaver. Do you know him?”

“Jah, he lives in my district in Sugarcreek. Did he write and warn you I was coming?”

The blush continued its ascent of Floyd’s face like a rising thermometer. “He wrote to us, but if I’d known he wanted to spread gossip, I wouldn’t have read his letter. I should have burned it . . .”

Aden folded his arms and pinched his upper arm to keep from laughing. Poor Floyd.

Around the room, three other girls and several boys fell silent and gravitated closer to Aden. The juiciest gossip came straight from the horse’s mouth. Only Lily and Floyd seemed the least bit distressed.

Aden studied the eager faces surrounding him. “It was a beautiful old tree. I didn’t want them to cut it down.”

“It wouldn’t be that hard to cut down a tree with somebody chained to it,” Estee insisted, as two or three of the boys nodded. “They could have chopped the branches first.”

“Or taken some bolt cutters and cut him loose,” volunteered one of the boys.

“Yeah, they thought of that eventually.” Aden rubbed the stubble on his chin—might as well announce his transgressions to the whole world and end the speculation. Maybe they’d decide he wasn’t such a wicked man. Or maybe not. “There was this oak tree, probably two hundred years old, and some developers wanted to get rid of it to make room for a parking lot. It didn’t seem right, this big old tree that was home to probably dozens of birds would be cut down. You can’t replace something like that. The city wouldn’t listen to our petition, so on the day they were supposed to chop it down, my friend Jamal and I and six other people chained ourselves around the tree. We made it into the newspapers.”

“And they arrested you?” Estee asked.

“Once they cut the chains off.” Aden pointed at the boy who’d spoken up. “With bolt cutters. But with all the bad publicity, the developer had a change of heart and built the parking lot around the tree. There’s a nice little park where the tree stands, maybe fifty feet by fifty feet, but at least we saved it. I spent three days in jail and one night in the hospital.”

Worry traveled across Lily’s face. Aden found the emotion particularly endearing. “The hospital? Were you hurt?”

Aden brushed his finger along the scar on his eyebrow. “I caught the butt of the property owner’s rifle and got a wonderful-gute concussion.”

“Oy anyhow,” mumbled one of the boys.

Lily looked around the room, where it appeared that every eye stared at Aden. “He once got in trouble for trespassing because he fed a man’s starving horse.”

Aden couldn’t deny the warmth tingling from his chest to the tips of his fingers. Lily was defending him?

Tyler Yoder seemed to appear out of nowhere. “No animal should suffer at the hands of man.”

Everyone nodded.

“I went to jail one other time,” Aden said, wanting to confess everything so people like Floyd would not feel guilty about spreading gossip. “A group of us sat in the mayor’s office and wouldn’t leave. We were protesting a new road that didn’t need to be built. We lost that one.” The failure still stung. A pond along a geese migration route had been destroyed.

The boy who’d suggested bolt cutters spoke up. “Plain folk should stay out of the affairs of men.”

“Jah,” Aden said ruefully. “My bishop thought so too.”

Tyler broke the silence when he lifted his half-eaten pretzel in the air. “Everybody get a pretzel while they’re hot, and we’ll go play volleyball.”

A woman who must have been Tyler’s mamm stood at the bottom of the stairs with a tray of golden-brown pretzels. The young people turned their attention from Aden, marched down the stairs, and filed out the door. Lily whispered something to Treva, and Treva followed the others outside. Besides Aden, only Estee, Floyd, Lily, and Tyler remained.

Apparently, Estee’s curiosity was not satisfied. “Did they put you under the bann?”

Lily growled, grabbed her sister’s hand, and dragged her down the stairs. “Stop it, Estee.”

Aden smiled. These questions didn’t bother him. He wasn’t ashamed of what he had done. “If you’ve heard from Floyd’s cousin, you already know the answer to that.”

Floyd nearly jumped out of his skin and followed Lily and Estee out the door. Aden mentally smacked himself upside the head. He had to stop being so cheeky. Neither Floyd nor Lily could begin to guess he was only teasing.

Tyler frowned—or at least seemed to frown. His face mostly held one expression. “You know Floyd will feel guilty for days.”

“I’ll apologize,” Aden said as he bounded down the stairs.

“Miss everything he sends your way in volleyball. That will make him feel better.”

“I can do that, although he might feel guilty for being a better player than I am.”

Tyler’s mamm still stood at the door with her tray of pretzels. “Could you boys carry the lemonade and cups out to the backyard?”

“Mamm,” Tyler said, “this is Aden Helmuth. He is staying with Anna and Felty for the summer.”

His mother’s round face bloomed into a smile. “We have heard so much about you, Aden. Floyd’s cousin is in your district.”

 

 

Nobody would want Aden on his team after today. He stood on the other side of the net from Lily and had the hardest time concentrating on volleyball. He didn’t need to pretend to play poorly. Every ball Floyd Miller or anyone else hit to Aden came in too fast or had an awkward spin. He’d never played so dreadfully. But Lily kept smiling at him, so his clumsiness didn’t matter.

After volleyball, the large group of young people sat under the trees in the backyard and sang songs. While harmony wasn’t used at church, the songs at gatherings were rich with layers of sound.

Aden made a point of sitting next to Floyd and Estee during the singing. He leaned in to whisper to Floyd when the voices were the loudest. “You know I was teasing you about your cousin, jah?”

Floyd sat with his forearms propped on his knees. “I shouldn’t have listened to gossip.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But I spread the rumors. I told Estee.”

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable about it. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Floyd twitched his lips upward. “I appreciate that. But I’ve learned my lesson. Gossiping is wicked.”

“I don’t mind if you get your news from your cousin. He knows me pretty well.”

Floyd snapped his head around to look at Aden. “He didn’t tell us if you were shunned or not.” Aden started to speak, and Floyd held up his hand to stop him. “I don’t want to know.”

“You’ll want to know this. I wasn’t shunned. The bann is rare in Sugarcreek.”

Floyd’s eyes grew wide, and he nudged Estee. “Did you hear that, Estee? That’s why Arty didn’t tell us.”

Aden stifled a chuckle.

They sang for an hour, and then Tyler’s mamm and dat lugged out a big orange jug. Everybody lined up for a drink. Aden stood by no one in particular watching all the different youth of Mammi and Dawdi’s district as well as the other district in Bonduel. Estee and Floyd were obviously enamored with each other—probably a wedding in store this fall.

Lily came toward him, smiling again, and handed him a cup of root beer. “It’s delicious. I didn’t want you to miss out.”

Their fingers brushed as Aden took the cup. “Denki. That’s very kind.”

“You looked like you worked up a thirst playing ball.”

“I ran after the ball a lot.”

Lily’s smile faded. “I’m sorry about Estee. She is overbearing at times.”

“Not at all. I appreciate that she would come straight to me. Most people circulate rumors without ever trying to find out the truth.”

“I can’t believe someone struck you with his gun.”

Aden fingered the scar embedded in his eyebrow. “I didn’t feel much. It knocked me out.”

“But the scar is attractive,” Lily said, and then her lips twisted sheepishly as an appealing blush tinted her cheeks. “I mean, it looks interesting and . . . never mind.”

Aden pretended to look at a distant tree so she could gather her wits. “Denki. I’ll be sure to send a thank-you note to the plastic surgeon.”

Tyler came toward them with the bishop, his dat, by his side. Tyler in his stiff and formal manner stationed himself next to Lily. “Aden, I want you to meet my dat, Monroe Yoder.”

Aden shook hands with the bishop. “We met at gmay.”

Tyler was definitely his father’s son even though his dat was twice as large as Tyler. They shared the same thin nose and the same dark eyebrows, but his dat’s round belly bulged over his trousers like a muffin escaping its paper.

“Talk to my dat about organic farming. We are thinking about growing vegetables to supplement the dairy.”

“I don’t want to drench the soil with poisons like so many farmers do,” said Monroe.

“We’re expanding our herd,” Tyler said, becoming more animated than Aden had seen him. His eyes danced with excitement, and he actually relaxed his arm enough to make a gesture. “We’re going to buy a methane digester for all the manure and sell electricity.”