A Place Called Eden

by R. H. Hull

  “Okay. Here it goes,” Rebecca began. “You know I’ve been talking with Jacob Swenson while at school. And, as you well know, I was even in his car one time so I could talk with him for a few minutes. But, since my parents didn’t know, and I do not want to deceive them, I told Jacob that I couldn’t see him alone again until I asked my parents if it was all right to be seen with him. Jacob had asked me to go to a school activity with him, or to a restaurant to have a soda. I thought that going to a school activity wouldn’t really be like an official date. I would just be going with him, to sit with him, and then he would drive me home.”

  “Jacob told me, however, that if I consented to go with him, he would have to ask his parents if he could go on a ‘date’ with me. But he felt that they would certainly say ‘yes’ since they both know my parents. I told him that I, too, would have to ask my parents if I could go, especially since my parents have told me that I am not supposed to go on a date with any young man who is not of our Mennonite Order, or close to it.”

  Sarah broke in excitedly with an audible whisper, “Did you ask them? Did you really ask them? What did they say? Can you go?”

  Rebecca continued, “Please, let me finish. It becomes complicated at this point.”

  “Just like a real love story in a book!” Sarah excitedly interrupted again.

  “Sarah!” Rebecca replied again, “Let me finish!”

  “I’m sorry,” Sarah said. “I’ll try to listen quietly. It’s just so exciting!” she said in a hushed voice.

  Rebecca paused, and then began again. “I knew that I had to ask my parent’s permission to go with Jacob, so I tried to carefully plan what I would say to them. I guess that I was so quiet when I rode home with my brother Tom after school today that he knew that something was up. He kept asking me what was wrong, and was thinking the worst, so I decided that I should tell him, and perhaps he would have some advice for me. He told me that he thought that Jacob was a fine young man, and that he comes from a good family. Jacob belongs to his Future Farmers of America club at school, and is in some of the same classes, and Jacob sings in the school choir with him.”

  “I asked Tom what he thought I should say when I asked our parents if I can go someplace with Jacob, and he said he really didn’t know. He said that, after all, it’s just a school activity or going out for a soda that he had asked me to go to, not the Grand Dutch’s Ball, or to Kansas City for the weekend! I reminded him that Jacob is not of our Mennonite Order, and that father calls him, ‘of the world,’ and says that he is not one of ‘us’.”

  “But Tom said to me in a very confident voice that Jacob’s family has been farming in our community for many years, and that should count for something! He seems just like one of us!”

  “Wow!” Sarah replied. “What happened when you got home? Did you ask?” She then interrupted herself, “Oops! Sorry for butting in again! I’ll be quiet and wait for the good stuff!”

  “Well…” Rebecca began again, I asked Tom what he would say if he was our father? But all he said was, “If I was father, I would say that it’s okay to go. But, I’m not our father.” He said that his best advice was to ask at dinner this evening when both mother and our father are at the table, since mother seems to be more understanding than our father.

  “So, I rehearsed in my mind what I would say. I knew that my mother would be more apt to say that it was all right to go with Jacob. She knows his mother, and they belong to the same farm women’s organization. Mother told me that she likes her, that she seems like a good church-going woman, and a good wife and mother, and a good friend.”

  “Okay,” Sarah couldn’t wait for the conclusion to what Rebecca was telling her, and broke in one final time. “Give me the ending. What happened?!”

  “I’m getting there!” Rebecca said rather impatiently, “Let me finish!” Rebecca continued, and was almost at the conclusion of her story. “I helped my mother after we got home. I helped her prepare our supper, and I am sure that I didn’t say a word. Mother talked as she always does. Perhaps I said a few things in response, but I can’t recall.”

  "At supper time, mother and I set the table, waiting for father. He had been called for supper, so he knew we were waiting for him. He arrived late saying that one of the cows was having some difficulty bearing her calf. We ate quietly, and Tom glanced at me periodically to see when I was going to ask my question about Jacob.

  “Finally, I took a deep breath and began my question by saying that I had seen Jacob Swenson at school, and that we talk periodically, and that he had reminded me that he and his family lives north of our farm, his father and mother’s names, and about when father met him at the General Store that Saturday morning when he helped him load the cases of soda in his father’s pickup truck. I also reminded mother and father that mother has said that she likes Jacob’s mother, and that I know that his family has been respected and successful farmers for well over one hundred years, five going on six generations in our community. Jacob will be the sixth.”

  Rebecca continued while Sarah listened quietly, "And, then I said that Jacob had asked me if I could go to a school activity with him this coming Friday. I said that I told him that I would have to ask my parents, which I was doing at that moment. Through the corner of my eyes, I saw my mother look quickly at father. My father was silently looking down at his plate, apparently in deep thought.

  "Finally, my father looked up at me and asked, ‘Do you mean that Jacob asked you to go out with him on a date?’

  "I replied, ‘Yes, well—not really a date, but I would still like to go with him if you say that I can. It’s just to a school activity. Jacob would bring me right home afterward.’

  “My father did not hesitate in saying what was on his mind when he said, ‘No, you cannot go with him.’ I started to speak again of Jacob’s virtues, hoping to change father’s mind.”

  "But, before I could say anything, he interrupted me by saying in so many words that Jacob is of the world, and that was the end of the discussion.

  “Then my Father said, ‘My answer is No, and the subject is closed!’”

  Sarah broke into the conversation, “Oh Rebecca, what did you do?”

  Rebecca replied, “There was nothing I could do! When my father says ‘No!’ he means what he said. I ran to my room, threw myself on my bed and cried. I didn’t know what to do! After a while, my mother came up to my room to be with me, but she said that there was nothing she could do. She had spoken to father on my behalf after I had run to my room, but his ‘no’ was final. His reasoning? It was that we are of our conservative Mennonite Order, and are not to associate with those ‘of the world’. No one from our community—including our family has dated anyone from ‘the world,’ nor has anyone married a person from ‘the other side,’ as my father calls them.”

  Sarah interrupted again, “No! I mean what are you going to do? What will you do?”

  Rebecca replied, “I don’t know. I know that I must talk to Jacob, even though I know that I’m not supposed to. I just wish that I didn’t have to wait until Monday! I wish that I could tell him that I will be working at the Eden General Store for father tomorrow, since we could possibly talk for a few moments when father is working in the back of the store.”

  Sarah broke in, “I have an idea! Do you know his parent’s name? I could call and tell him to go to your father’s store, and to be there at a specific time. But, (and, with a romantic tone to her voice) you must have a signal of some kind so he will know when it is safe to come into the store. Or, you could go outside of the store to talk, behind the wall with no windows! How about it? Want me to call?”

  Rebecca hesitated, thought for a moment, and then said with courage in her voice, “Yes. I want you to call! His father’s name is Milo Swenson, and they live on Rural Route 2. If you call the operator, she will give you their telephone number, or will connect you to their telephone.”

  “Oh, thank you, Sarah! Call me back after you talk with him—if he is
at home. Tell him to come to the store at 11:00 a.m. I will be there, and father is usually working in the back of the store at about that time. Please tell him to come to the side window to see if I am alone, and then to open the door to let me know that he is there. I will come to the door to let him in, or tell him to wait outside and I will meet him there. Oh…I feel so guilty sneaking around like this! I feel as though I am purposely working to deceive my father!”

  “Oh, don’t feel that way, Rebecca,” Sarah replied. “Just feel that you are doing what is best for you and Jacob. If your father is so closed minded as to not even want you to talk to a nice young man like Jacob, then I guess he deserves to be deceived as far as I am concerned! Ooops! Now, I am beginning to feel guilty. If I am caught helping you two get together, I will also be in very big trouble with my family!”

  Rebecca waited for Sarah’s call so that she would know whether or not she had gotten a hold of Jacob. Five minutes passed, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes! Rebecca knew that Sarah had to call for information to get the telephone number that would reach the Swenson residence, and then wait for the operator to connect her to their telephone. How many Milo Swensons were there at Rural Route 2? Rebecca looked quickly in the telephone directory, and to her dismay, there were five! How many would Sarah have to call in order to find the one with a son named Jacob?

  Twenty minutes later, the phone rang at Rebecca’s house. She knew it had to be Sarah with some news! So she ran to the phone to be there before her mother could reach it, picked up the receiver and heard Jacob’s voice! “Rebecca, is that you?”

  Surprised, she uttered an almost silent, “Yes.”

  His next words were, “Sarah called and told me that something is wrong! What has happened?”

  Rebecca paused, and then replied softly so that others might not hear, “I wanted to talk with you, but I didn’t mean for you to call me at home! What if my father had answered? I am sorry that you felt it necessary to call! The reason for Sarah’s call was supposed to be to ask you to come to my father’s store tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. so that I can talk with you! I cannot talk here in the kitchen because others might hear!”

  Quietly Rebecca continued almost whispering, “Please, if you can, come to the store in Eden at 11:00 a.m. My father will probably be in the back room working. Look through a window to see if I am alone. If I am, open the door and call me quietly. I will walk outside, and we will go around to the side with no widows so I can talk to you.” She then hung the telephone receiver on the hook without waiting for a response from Jacob.

  Jacob put the phone away and pondered the apparent urgency that he had heard in Rebecca’s voice. “What had happened in their home that evening?”

  Chapter 13

  The next morning was Saturday, and it was overcast and raining lightly. The weather was such that there would be no outside work that day, so Jacob felt as though a drive to Eden, Kansas, to see Rebecca might be possible. “Father?” Jacob’s vocal pitch moved upward in the form a question, “Do you mind if I drive to Eden for a little while this morning? The last time I was there in the General Store, I saw a lariat that looked perfect for roping our calves when we do the vaccinations in the spring. I want to look at it again and maybe buy it.” Abraham Swenson looked quizzically at Jacob, and then smiled slightly, “Or…is it Abraham Yoder’s pretty daughter who brings you to the General Store? I hear that she works there quite often on Saturday mornings!” He smiled almost impishly as he looked at Jacob.

  Jacob looked down, slightly embarrassed by the question, and then replied, “Well father, she is a pretty girl, but I know that her parents do not want her associating with young men ‘of the world.’ Can we just leave it at that?”

  “Okay,” his father replied, still smiling as Jacob left the conversation dangling. “Is it okay if I drive to Eden?” he asked again. His father continued smiling with that impish look in his eyes, and said, “Sure. Just be back for lunch at 12:30 p.m. I have some things for us to work on this afternoon in the workshop.”

  It was now 10:45 a.m., and so Jacob had just enough time to drive the 6 miles on wet and somewhat muddy country roads to Eden, and to the Eden General Store. He wasn’t sure if he should park in front of the store, or away from it and walk to the window. He decided to park away from the front of the store and walk. If Rebecca’s father happened to look out the front door of the General Store and see the pickup truck that he knew was previously driven by Jacob, he would definitely become suspicious. Jacob parked the truck about 30 yards from the store and walked toward the window on the west side of the store that looked into the main sales area. He felt rather conspicuous, and hoped that the neighbors who lived nearby would not report him as a suspicious character since he would be looking into the store window!

  He walked carefully to the north side of the store where a window was located and looked sideways through it into the main part of the store where Rebecca would probably be located. He saw her near one of the counters, but didn’t see anyone else in that room. He was going to assume that her guess was correct, that her father would probably be in the back room working.

  Jacob walked quickly to the front door of the store. Since the door had no windows, he opened it slightly and listened just in case he could hear a man’s voice. There was silence, so he called softly to get Rebecca’s attention. A moment later, she came to the door and slipped out onto the front step. She took Jacob’s hand and led him around to the west side of the store where there were no windows. “We have to talk quickly and quietly Jacob. I do not want father to see me missing from the store. He would be worried, and would begin searching for me.”

  Jacob smiled and said in a rather sly tone of voice, “This is all very mysterious, Rebecca, but also kind of exciting! Why did you want to see me?”

  They joined both hands while they stood together, their eyes fixed on each other. Jacob’s heart was beating rapidly, as was Rebecca’s—Jacob’s because he was looking at Rebecca’s beautiful face, and the excitement of being with her, and Rebecca’s not only out of fear that they would be found by her father, or a neighbor who might be driving into the parking lot of the store, but also because of the sheer bliss of being close to Jacob.

  “I wanted to speak with you, Jacob, to tell you that I asked my parents if I could go with you to the school activity next Friday evening, and my father said an absolute ‘No!’ he said that I was not permitted to argue, and said that the end of the discussion was ‘No!’ I would not be permitted to go with you.”

  All Jacob could think of to say was, “Why? What is the reason?”

  “Because,” Rebecca replied, “As he said, it is because we are not to be a part of your world. In our church, our community, and our family, we are not to be a part of ‘the world,’ and not to be in any type of relationship with a person ‘of the world.’ And, I guess that includes going to a school activity with you.”

  Jacob replied quickly, “Then, we don’t have to go to a school activity. If it is that we aren’t supposed to be together in public, then we don’t have to be seen in public! How about going for a ride in my car? How about a picnic? How about going for a walk in the hills south of here? How about going for a pizza in another town? There are many places we can go to be together!”

  “But,” Rebecca countered, “I have never disobeyed my father. Oh Jacob, I feel so torn between what I would like to do, and what I am not supposed to do! I feel a strong commitment to my father, to obey him, but I also would very much like to be with you! What am I to do?”

  Jacob paused, and then reflected, “Remember Rebecca, when we were talking one day a while back? We were talking about the exact same thing. And, you said to me, ’The answer to your question, Jacob, is within us—to do what you and I decide. If we want to see each other again, we will. If we decide not to see each other again, we can do that also. However, I would prefer the former rather than the latter.’ That is what you said, Rebecca. I thought you were very brave, and very matu
re. My question is, do you still believe what you said then?”

  Rebecca paused, and then said in as steady and as mature a manner as her now 18 years of age could portray, “Yes, I do Jacob. I know my father means well, but I also know that I want to see you again. It is so very frustrating to be a child of a family—a religion that does not want to be a part of the rest of the world!”

  She continued while still looking intently at Jacob, “Your world, I feel, is just as good and just and moral as ours. In fact, I find that my family’s world—our beliefs are openly biased against good people and other religions of your world. I am confused right now, but the one thing I do know is that I would like to see you again. Your family is known throughout our community as good, honest and upstanding people. Therefore, I see nothing wrong in seeing you again,” she said with conviction.

  “Throughout the time I have known you, Rebecca,” Jacob said in reply, “You have impressed me as possessing maturity that is beyond your years, with wisdom that is sound, and with the ability to reason with sound logic. I have never known anyone like you, and I do, more than anything else, want to see you and be with you in any way that we can—as much as we can.”

  Jacob continued as he looked into Rebecca’s eyes. He held out his hands, and Rebecca took them into hers, “I know that you have thought and worried about this for some time now, but I have also been thinking about us. Do you think that you can talk to your brother Tom about your feelings? Or, can you speak with your mother? Neither she nor Tom seem to have as much bias against those of us ‘of the world’ as does your father. Perhaps they would have ideas for you, or could speak to your father on our behalf.”

  Rebecca looked anxiously toward the corner of the General Store near where they were standing, expecting to see her father walk around it at any moment and discover them together! She spoke quickly to Tom, “We must see each other soon, and continue our talk, but now I am terribly afraid that my father will come looking for me. I have been away from the store for too long! Can we talk at school on Monday, perhaps during lunch time? I will be bringing my lunch, and perhaps you can bring yours so we can talk on the steps in back of the school, or on the lawn if it is a nice day. Please come to my locker at lunch time, and we will go together. But I must leave now!”