by Lauren Wood
“Well, he would have to come in as a cousin. We’d have to try and make it possible that the community would believe it. See I’m already quite the outcast here. But bringing in a man, who isn’t related, no they would tar and feather me for sure. I’d be kicked out and have nowhere left to go, my siblings, I don’t know if they would send them with me. I have no clue what would happen, but it isn’t something I want to experience.” Sara explained.
“Of course, we will follow your rules. Aren’t you interested in how much we will be paying you?” He asked.
Sara realized she hadn’t found out what he was offering. She realized it was because she was thinking of what Ben North looked like. He was rugged and very handsome. “Of course I do, how much are you offering me?”
“We will give you $250,000.”
She sat up surprised by the huge amount of money. If she used that correctly, it could keep the farm running for years. “When will he be coming?”
“Is next month okay?”
“Sure.”
“Good, see you in a month. Thank you very much. I’ll bring the money that day when I drop him off.” John shook her hand and said goodbye.
Sara plopped down on the sofa. Her life would soon change for the better and she would have Ben North in her house!
Chapter Two
Ben North looked out of the windows as they drove through Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “What kind of world is this? I’ve not seen one oriental restaurant, let alone a Thai food one. What in the world has John talked him into? How in the world will he survive here?” He talked to the driver.
He heard the man chuckle lightly, “No sir you won’t find much choices in food here. But you’ll really enjoy what they have to offer. The Amish food is something that many enjoy around here, and pay quite a pretty penny for.”
Ben looked around more; he couldn’t even imagine what this was going to be like. In a slight panic he pushed the button on his phone and calls John.
“John, how the hell will I do this? I mean seriously, is she going to take me around all the other people? I don’t think I’ve learned enough to pull off really being Amish.” Ben questioned the man quickly.
“Look, you want to do a great job on this role right? You will have to absorb as much about the culture as you can. The good news is that you won’t have too many visitors; she is kind of considered an outcast there. It was why I picked her out of all the choices. She also wants to make sure you don’t blow your cover, so she’ll watch how much interaction you have with everyone. If they find out something, they will banish her from their community.” John explained.
“What? John, why didn’t you tell me that before I agreed to this? What if I blow it for her? How do you think I’d feel knowing I got some girl banished from her whole community?” Ben could feel his blood pressure rising. It was so much more pressure on him, he didn’t think he liked it one bit.
“I didn’t tell you because you wouldn’t have agreed to it. But Ben this is what you need to pull this off. You’ll have lived the life and you’ll know exactly how they would react. You’re sure to bring home the Oscar for this one, no doubt about it. But in order to do that, you had to go. Tell me Ben, if I would have told you about the chance she was taking. If I would have said, look Ben if you get found out, her and her brother and sister may be kicked out of the community. Would you have agreed to do it?” John asked.
“Hell no I wouldn’t have agreed. It’s not just her but two other people? John, you’ve put me in some sort of spot, I’m just thinking of calling it all off.” Ben said.
“Look Ben, the kid really needs the money. Her farm is going to be lost if she doesn’t get it. Plus I took the money to her yesterday. She’s got it already. You should have seen her face. Seriously, I think we just saved her family with this offer.” John explained.
Ben felt his heart melt a bit. “Oh shit. Alright, I’ll do it, but I’m not going to like it one bit.” He cut off the call without saying goodbye.
The thing was John knew him quite well, he knew what would make Ben feel bad for Sara Albright. That was his hostess name. He was to be her cousin Ben from out of town.
He knew John had picked this girl on purpose. John had most likely checked out everything he could about her. Then approached her and made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Not if she wanted to ensure her family farm was to continue. It was a dirty ploy, but it had worked. Ben knew that John was right about this role.
Ben North had been a big name in the movies for the past 7 years now. But he had always played an action hero. He had gone to John one afternoon a few months back and asked him to find him something different.
“What do you mean different?” John had asked him.
“I want a more serious role. A drama, something that will make people see that I can do much more than action. I’m tired of the same old story line. I want to spread my wings, and while doing that, I want to prove how skilled I am.” Ben had told him.
John had looked at him, and studied Ben closely. “Well I just got one in yesterday, I was thinking of passing on it, at least for you.”
“What is it about?” Ben had asked.
“It’s an Amish love story, well, more of an Amish betrayal. But it opens as a love story; the husband finds out that his wife has been sleeping around on him. You would have to pull off that you were Amish, and well its high drama. The story is pretty decent, I have to admit.” John explained.
“Let me take it and read it.” Ben had gotten the script and taken it right home that day.
He had flipped through the pages, getting into the story, and even seeing how he would play the part. He loved it, but wasn’t sure if he could play the part. It would mean a lot of work on his part.
“I’ll do it, sign me up now.” Ben had called John and told him. “But somehow I have to learn about the Amish culture. Put me in it if you can, so I can absorb everything. I want to play this part so well that people will think I used to be Amish.” Ben stated.
“I’ll get on it.” John had hung up the phone. No more than two weeks later he had called Ben with the details of his stay.
At that time Ben had been thrilled. But driving through Lancaster had tampered that excitement quite a bit. Now when he looked out he saw they were in the country. By the bumps in the road in figured they were on an old dirt road.
“We’re here sir.” The driver turned and told him. “I’ll get the bags.”
Ben stepped out of the car; they were nowhere near a house. “Hey where are we going? There’s no house.” Ben asked.
“Yeah, we can’t drive up to the house and tell everyone you are her cousin.” The driver stopped talking for a second, and then pointed to the south. "That will be your ride the rest of the way.”
Ben watched as the carriage drew closer to them. He looked closely at the girl and studied her as much as he could. He smiled upon seeing that some of her hair had come lose during her trip. It was flapping in the wind, and every once in a while she swipes it out of her eyes.
The brown mass doesn’t pay attention to her pleas for it to stop either. He can hear her pleading to stay out of her eyes as she gets even closer.
Ben is transfixed by the pure beauty of the girl who is in the driver’s seat. As she hops down from the carriage with an amazing grace, he is simply too dumb to talk.
Finally the driver speaks to break the silence. “Sara Albright?” He asked.
“Yes that is me. I’m sorry I was a little late. I was having a few issues at the farm.” Sara explained.
Ben is studying her accent, trying to pick it apart. “Hi it’s nice to see you cousin. I’m Ben from your Uncle Burt’s side.” He tries to copy her accent.
She laughs heartily. “Nice to meet you cousin, how is Uncle Burt doing?”
“Was my accent really that bad?” Ben asks embarrassed. He was never embarrassed, but this girl turned his insides to jelly. He wanted to impress her.
“No it was really good. It just s
hocked me that you did such a perfect job of it, after all you’ve only heard me once.” Sara smiled at him.
He was lost in the smile. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Chapter Three
“As soon as we get to the farm house, I’ll give you some of Pa’s clothes. You tried, but even what you have on now isn’t Amish enough. These people will pick apart everything. We must pull this off. Just follow my lead on most of it for now. We can play that off as you’re the shy cousin; he hasn’t quite made it into that time of his life where he talks a lot. I think they will go for that. But if you start trying to interact too soon, they will pull you apart. Along with that they will kick us out of the community. I don’t know what I would do if that happened.” She explained to him.
Ben wasn’t upset that she was telling him how much pressure he had on him. It would remind him that he needed to listen and absorb everything as quickly as he could. “Just how soon will we have people coming around?”
“Well after you meet my brother and sister, they may tell some of their friends. Even if we tell them not too, there will be other people who are noisy. If someone comes and buys vegetables and sees you, they’ll spread it all over that you have come to visit. Just remember who you are, and why they’ve never heard of you.” Sara stated.
“Hello, my name is Ben Albright. My cousin was kind enough to let me come and stay with her for a while. I may plan to move to Lancaster soon.” He said, using the accent from before.
“Good and they are going to ask you right away where you are from.” Sara told him.
“I’m from the Heuvelton settlement; it sits along the St. Lawrence River.” He answered, the accent now sounding quite natural to her.
“Excellent. With the accent you have worked out very well, you’ll pull off the noisy people who come around.” She explained.
“Won’t your brother and sister think it’s odd that they have never heard of me?” He asked. Ben was trying to locate any weaknesses in their story.
“No, when my parents died I became the head of the household. They’ve not heard of all of our relatives, and may never know where all of them are located.” She explained.
To him it sounded a bit weak, but he hoped she knew her culture better than he did. Of course she did, this had been her life for how long now? “Just how old are you Sara?” He asked. John had never told him many specifics. Just that she seemed like a really nice girl.
“I’m 22 years old, just turned a week before my parents passed.” Sara said.
He could hear the sadness in her voice. “I’m really sorry about your folks. I know what it’s like. I lost my mom when I was 14. My dad died a year later. Though I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose both at one time.” Ben told her.
She could hear he was being earnest in his voice. “Thank you, it’s been very hard on us all. My brother and sister are very messed up by it too.”
“I don’t know how you’ve taken over so much at such a young age.” Ben admitted.
“By messing it up mostly, I was going to lose the farm, until your agent came around.” Sara laughed dryly, no humor in it at all.
“Well I appreciate you helping me out.”
“There’s the farm house.” She pointed out a shabby little shack looking thing.
“It needs a bit of work.” Ben commented.
“I can only do so much.” Sara said a bitterness coming through in the comment.
“No I only meant I could help you with it. Believe it or not I do know how to do some hard labor.” He stated.
“I’m sorry; I’m really a bit on edge right now.” She apologized.
“No worry.”
They took his bags in and she placed them into her Ma and Pa’s old room. Here are some clothes. My brother and sister will be home soon, they will normally play outside for a bit. Though I’ve been making Sally help with dinner every now and then, she needs to learn. Get changed, and you can look around outside. Just please remember the story just in case anyone sees you and comes up to talk.” Sara said. He could hear the plea in her voice.
“Alright, don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything wrong.” He told her, though his confidence was shaky at best.
Sara left the room and Ben missed her presence immediately. He would love to get to know her much better. He couldn’t help thinking about how she would be as a lover. After his entire playboy nature made him think that way all the time.
“No way, she would be far different from those others.” Ben told himself. Sara would never be the type to let him touch her, not until they were married.
The thought of marriage scared Ben. He didn’t want to have any part of it. Far too many times he had seen the damage that his parents’ marriage did to them both. They were always fighting; it was never quiet at his house. Ben had often wondered why they stayed together. Wouldn’t it be better to be alone, than to listen to someone yelling at you every day?
He finished dressing and looked in the mirror. Now he really did look Amish, he was impressed how well the clothes looked on him. “Oscar here I come!” He muttered in the mirror and went to check out the rest of the farm.
Before he could make it to the door though he ran into Sara and her brother and sister, they were all staring at him.
“Henry and Sally this is our cousin Ben. He came to visit us.” Sara introduced him.
“Hello nice to meet you both.” He shook Henry and Sally’s hand.
“Who is your father?” Henry asked.
Ben felt a bit of nerves pop up, maybe he knew more than Sally had given him credit for. “Uncle Burt, we live in upper New York, near the St. Lawrence River.” Ben explained.
Henry shook his head like he accepted the answer. Ben wondered if he had spotted a weakness in the story so quickly. “Okay, I don’t know him anyway. Nice to meet you Cousin Ben, I have only a bit of time to play outside before I must do some chores.” Henry went out the door.
Sally followed behind closely and soon it was just Ben and Sara again.
“Good job.” She smiled at him. “I have to finish dinner, you can go look around. Maybe help Henry with the chores, he’ll love it.”
“Sure.” Ben went out to explore more and figured what would it hurt to learn from Henry too.
However, Henry finishes up to fast for Ben who had been lost standing looking over a field that was filled with wheat. The beauty of this area had filled him with a joy he hadn’t felt in some time. This break away from the fast lifestyle would do him a lot of good.
He sat down for what smelled like a wonderful meal. “I hope you don’t mind, I had Henry and Sally eat sooner. They have some homework to do tonight.” Sara explained why it was just the two of them eating.
“Good, that way I can ask you questions and they won’t wonder why.” He smiled.
“Ask anything you want.”
“By the way the food is delicious.” Ben said as he shoveled in another huge scoop of meat and potatoes.
“Thank you very much.”
“Is it all homemade? I mean do you ever buy the powdered potatoes from a store?” Ben asked.
“Never, why would I do that when we can get them from the Earth?” She answered shocked at his question.
“What about a place to plug in my phone?” He asked.
“We don’t use electricity. I’m sorry.” She apologized.
“What, no way to charge my phone. I swear what would it hurt if you just put in some electricity?” Ben asked.
“It’s our religion. We feel that we should live with the basics, only what God provides to us. Electricity was invented by man, not God.” She told him.
“Well who gave him the idea, God?” Ben said.
“Why take a chance, perhaps it was the devil. That means that everyone who uses it is going against God.” She explained.
“That’s the stupidest thing I think I’ve ever heard. You’re telling me that everyone else on the face of the planet is going against God,
because they use electricity.” Ben uttered.
“I don’t expect you to understand our ways. But your agent wanted you to know about it. You either accept it or not. I’m not the one who is playing a part, you are.” Sara said. “You know what, I’m going to bed. You can wash up in the other room; I’ll heat some water for you. You know where the bedroom is.”
Ben looked at her, he had insulted her. He hadn’t meant too, but he did think their thinking was backwards. However, as she pointed out, he was the one who was set to play an Amish character on the big screen. How could he pull it off he if didn’t at least understand why they did things, and he would have to practice it too.
He wanted to tell her that he was sorry, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead he cleaned up and went to bed. His head feeling heavy on the pillow as he tried to sleep in a strange new world that he felt far too confused to figure out.
Chapter Four
Ben stretches as he wakes up. He looks around and realizes yesterday wasn’t a dream. No he’s still sitting in the shabby little Amish farmhouse. The bed had been quite comfortable and he at least had slept well. Now his mind was whirling again, he was trying to figure out how he was going to finish the two weeks here.
As he is walking down the stairs he smells bacon and eggs. His stomach growls like he’s been starving for weeks. Ben knows better than though, he had ate the equivalent of a horse last night, he swore.
“Hey Cousin Ben when you’re done eating, you want to come and help me in the field?” Sally looked at him.
“You know you can just call me Ben! Sure let me just eat really quick and I’ll be right there.” Ben smiled at her.
He noticed that she turned red as she ran off.
Sara laughed a bit, “You embarrassed her a little, don’t worry, she’s shy!”