At the end of the day, she saw her students off, many being picked up by parents and older siblings. Once the last student had left, she collected her belongings and locked the school securely and went to Mr. Kopp’s farm.
“Mr. Kopp, I spent much of today with the Kurtz children. The two boys are still noticeably angry and they tried to take it out on smaller students. Sarah is still extremely shy; she’s at the age where the events in her family have caused her extreme embarrassment. You asked me to let you know if I thought any special intervention would be necessary. It is. I know an Englisher counselor – Amanda Williams. I have maintained a relationship with her and she has always told me that, if I needed any professional assistance, to let her know. I would like to have her work with the Kurtz children. To protect their privacy, this work can take place at their house. Amanda is very careful about protecting the privacy of her clients and it would be no different with the Kurtz children. I would need something in writing to call her and talk to her, if you and the board could help me with that.”
“Ya, I was wondering what you would find. What did you do with the boys when they tried to take their anger out on other students?” asked Mr. Kopp.
“I directed them to stop and told them it was not right to try and harm others,” said Annie.
“Good. I will have that letter for you before Friday, with all of our signatures. With this, you can contact Miss Williams – and, yes, having her work with them at their father’s farm is an excellent idea.”
“Denki, Mr. Kopp. I will stop by later for that letter . . .”
“Or I can take it to you or drop it with your daed.”
“Ya, denki.”
On Thursday afternoon, Annie came home and saw Mr. Kopp waiting for her.
“Here is the letter. We just ask that the counseling stay confidential and that it be as time limited as possible,” said Mr. Kopp.
“I will. I’ll call Amanda and set up the first appointment – at the Kurtz farm,” Annie promised.
“Good. You are doing a good job, from what I hear! Keep up the good work!”
Annie smiled gratefully. “Denki. I have had some excellent guidance from mamm,” she said. After Mr. Kopp left, Annie helped her mother with meal preparation for dinner. After the kitchen had been cleaned, Annie spread her books out and worked on lesson plans for her students. By the time she finished, she was yawning hugely and more than ready for bed. Putting her things away, she trudged upstairs and took a shower, then tumbled into bed.
CHAPTER THREE
On her way home from school the following day, which was a Friday, she stopped at the store, which had a public phone. After calling her friend, Amanda Williams, and suggesting a get-together, she boarded her buggy and went home.
“Mamm, I can’t say this to anyone other than you. I’m setting up counseling for the Kurtz children with my friend, Amanda. She’s the one I met on my rumspringe. She’s a counselor and I think she has the skills to work with them. I will be having Amanda work with them at the Kurtz farm so their confidentiality is preserved.”
“Excellent plan. They will only benefit from being able to talk about their feelings and thoughts. How have you been keeping the boys from bothering others in school?”
“Watching them at all times! But I don’t want to take away from other students, either. Yet . . . if I don’t watch them, they’ll hurt a younger student,” Annie said quietly.
“Ya, they will. You’re doing the right things. I hope Amanda will be able to start working with them soon – the sooner, the better,” said Mrs. Fisher.
“I agree,” Annie said, nodding.
After the kitchen was cleaned up, Mark Stoltzfus came to the house to visit with Annie. They sat outside, enjoying the falling dust and cooling temperatures. They talked about Annie’s first week as a teacher, as well as Mark’s work in the fields.
“You know, because you are so busy with school and planning, we can only see each other on the weekends. Does that bother you?” asked Mark.
“I miss you, but we are both very busy. After dinner, I’m planning and grading, and I almost fall asleep in the kitchen, so it’s better this way,” Annie said honestly.
“You’ll get used to it. Right now, you’re adjusting to a busier schedule, which is why you get so tired at night,” Mark said wisely.
“Ya, that is what my mamm and I talked about. She is really enjoying her retirement – quilting and making items for Christmas and for the needy.”
“Why don’t we see each other on Friday and Saturday nights, then? I miss you, too, but I know you need to get your work done,” Mark said with a gentle smile, his eyes searching Annie’s face.
“I like that. Ya, Friday and Saturday nights sounds good,” Annie said.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next day, Annie spent much of the day, helping her mother with chores around the house. While they were doing this, her mother mysteriously disappeared for several minutes, coming back in with a gentle smile on her face.
“Mamm, where were you? I was looking for you. The rearranging of the fabric bolts is done. Now, you’ll be able to find what you need more quickly,” Annie said.
“Your daed and I had a private conversation, nothing more,” Mrs. Fisher said. Her eyes twinkled, causing Annie to look at her with suspicion.
“Something’s up,” she muttered.
Hearing this, Mrs. Fisher let out a laugh. “Nee, nee, nee, my Annie! All I needed was a few minutes with your daed. We discussed something and I came back inside. I like how you rearranged the fabrics. It will make it much easier to find what I need and what goes well with each other. Don’t you have a meeting with Amanda tomorrow?”
“Ya. I will take the buggy to town and meet her in a coffee shop where we can meet in private.”
“Good. No need for anyone finding out about the Kurtz’ business and taking it where it doesn’t need to go,” said Mrs. Fisher.
“Nee. No need,” said Annie. She didn’t know it, but her mother had disappeared to the barn, where Mark Stoltzfus had asked both of her parents for her hand in marriage. Upon getting their permission, he promised that he would be waiting to propose until after the upcoming wedding season.
The next day was Sunday. Annie drove to town and met Amanda as she had told her mother she would be doing.
“Here’s the information you’ll be needing. Mother and sister both hospitalized. The three younger children have all felt the aftereffects. One is extremely shy and the two youngest have been trying to express their anger by hurting the younger schoolchildren. I’ve had to keep a very close eye on them to keep them from succeeding. I have been asked to have you meet with them at the family farm and to keep it as short as possible. Once they have worked on their issues, they need to finish up the counseling,” said Annie.
“The shorter, the better. I will make sure they start to focus on their issues right away so they can resolve them appropriately. Do you have directions to their farm?” asked Amanda.
“Right here,” Annie said, giving Amanda a piece of paper with a hand-drawn map.
“Excellent, thanks! Now, I’m treating you to a luscious dessert and some coffee,” said Amanda.
After visiting for a few hours, Annie returned to Peace Landing and prepared for her evening visit with Mark. She changed to a clean dress, combed her hair and put on a clean, white kapp. Because it was getting cooler, they visited in the Fisher kitchen, talking and drinking coffee. Mark’s eyes twinkled and he smiled often. Something seemed to have happened between the previous night and this evening, Annie was thinking, to make him so happy.
A few miles away, Hannah sat in her family’s home, thinking about her recent trip to Hope Township and Annie’s success in the Peace Landing classroom.
Why didn’t I find out about the position here? It’s not fair that I have to face a drive to a community two miles away while Annie Fisher drives just down the road. That position should have been mine! Hannah managed to conveniently overlook th
at the position had been advertised in and around Peace Landing, meaning that news of the opening would have been common knowledge. No use crying over something that’s done now. Until I find out about that Hope Township position, all I can do is to stay around our school and find out what she’s doing.
***
The following Monday, Hannah walked to the Peace Landing school and stayed close by, listening to the classes in progress as Annie taught her students and kept them busy with school work. Hannah’s heart slowly slipped even further down as she realized how skilled Annie truly was at teaching.
“Sarah, can you please diagram this sentence for me? It’s okay. We all know each other here, so you’ll be fine. Come on. Take the chalk and diagram this sentence. Good girl!” Annie said, cajoling the shy Sarah to the front of the classroom where she quickly diagrammed the written sentence.
“Excellent! Very good! Everyone, do you see what Sarah did? She isolated the parts of speech and showed how they fit into this sentence. Sarah, you can sit down now.”
Next, Annie started the math lesson. She had found a way to involve all grades, teaching them with the same materials, but at different levels. Beginning students eagerly raised their hands to show their grasp of the concepts while the middle students worked on more-difficult addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Annie’s oldest students worked on converting to decimals and percentages.
Outside, Hannah sank to the ground as she realized just how Annie had made the classroom her own. How did she come up with all this? Did her mamm give her the ideas?
That afternoon, Hannah quickly retreated to the back of the school house as students began streaming out to meet their parents and older siblings. She noticed that Annie had held Sarah Kurtz and her brothers back.
“Sarah, I have set up a counselor to work with you and your brothers at hour home. She will start this week . . . here, take this note home to your daed and have him talk to me if he has any questions. Go on, he’s outside waiting for you. Better yet, I’ll talk to him now.” Annie walked out with the three siblings and explained what had been set up.
Hannah’s jaw dropped. So, they need the services of an outside counselor! How can I use this? First, I’ll see if I can get Annie to tell me anything. Hannah waited on the school’s front porch for Annie to come out.
“Annie! I have a question for you . . . why have you set up a counselor for the Kurtz children . . .?”
“I’m sorry, Hannah, but . . . You have nothing to worry about . . . Mr. Kurtz makes sure that his childrens’ welfare is taken care of. In the classroom, I make sure they have what they need and that they are learning. If you will excuse me, . . .”
Annie quickly boarded her buggy and, instead of heading home, she headed for Mr. Kopp’s farm. How did she find out what I’ve set up? If she knows, who else knows? I took all precautions to make sure that services would be confidential. Mr. Kopp needs to know . . .
At the Kopp farm, Annie met with Mr. Kopp and explained what had just happened.
“I don’t know how she found out. I told her not to worry about any of it – that the children’s’ welfare is being taken care of.”
“Good. I’m glad you came to me . . . What is it, Micah? Miss Fisher, I must go. We have a bull in the corn. Thank you for telling me,” Mr. Kopp said, rushing off with his oldest son. As he ran to the field, he forgot about his conversation with Annie almost immediately.
CHAPTER FIVE
Two days later, Amanda drove to Peace Landing and met with the Kurtz children at their home once they had gotten home from school. She met with them and with Mr. Kurtz, explaining how she would work with them after she took a basic history of what had happened the previous spring.
“Ms. Williams, I am grateful you don’t blame my wife or daughter for what they tried to do to your friend. That shows true Christian forgiveness,” said Mr. Kurtz.
“Thank you. It’s important for me to be able to see why something happened, Mr. Kurtz. Even though they tried to harm my friend, I know, inside here that it wasn’t them doing these things – it was their illnesses.” Amanda pointed to her heart as she responded. “I do have one question for you. It has to do with how . . . close your family’s blood is. Are your wife’s parents related by blood?”
“Ya, now that you mention it, they are. That’s not good . . . I know that. Just as with animals, the blood is too close in related individuals, and this leads to a worsening of any physical, genetic . . . or mental conditions that may exist in a family line,” said Mr. Kurtz.
“Exactly. I don’t know what testing has been ordered in the hospital for your wife or daughter, but you may want to ask for genetic testing. Don’t the Amish have a special fund or hospital for children who are affected by genetic conditions?”
“Ya. I will ask their doctors the next time I visit. Is this a problem for Sarah or my boys?”
“I hope not. Genetic testing for them should also be done, just to rule it out. Meantime, I want to help you and your children learn to deal with what has happened. I can teach them how to deal with their fears and emotions in a healthy way. Miss Fisher has told me that the school board wants counseling to be completed in a short time, which I hope we can do. I’ll be sending a report to her, and with your permission, to the school board.”
“Daed, does the school board really need to know about what’s going on with us?” Sarah asked in a painfully quiet voice.
“Sarah, they won’t misuse any of the information I give them,” said Amanda. “It’s just so they know you’re making good progress and about how much longer I think I’ll need to work with you. I’ve been given twelve sessions, which should take about three months. Close to the end of that time, I’ll look at how you are all doing then as compared to now. Miss Fisher’s goal, and my goal are for you to be able to speak out to others without your shyness getting in the way; for your brothers, it’s so their anger doesn’t lead them to do what’s wrong . . . like hurting other students,” said Amanda with a gentle smile.
The boys looked furtively at each other.
“Let’s start with you two. Have you tried to do anything to anyone that would hurt them?”
Ben looked at Joseph, seeming to communicate with him. Joseph, his younger brother, shrugged in response.
“Boys? It can’t feel good, holding onto all that anger. Wouldn’t you rather figure out why your angry and learn healthy and safe ways to express yourselves when you’re angry? By the way, anger isn’t a bad thing. It’s a healthy feeling we have in response to something that’s happened, something we see as bad. What’s bad is how we may choose to express how we feel – for instance, by putting a pin in another student’s seat . . . or taking a part of their lunch, for example,” said Amanda. Annie had filled her in on some of Ben’s and Joseph’s potentially harmful actions.
“Oh. Ya, that,” Ben said with a sickly smile. “Miss Fisher picks on the other students to answer her questions when we know the answers just as well. We feel like she doesn’t like us.”
“Okay. How many students are in the classroom. including you three?” Amanda asked.
“Uh, seventeen? Maybe?” Ben asked on a rising note.
“And all of you are in different grades. Answer this for me – does she try to go around to other students to get their answers so she gets them from as many of you as she can?”
“Well . . .” Ben cast a sideways look at his father.
“The truth, Ben,” said Mr. Kurtz firmly.
“ . . . Ya, she does. But we know all the answers! Other kids don’t!” he burst out in a high voice.
“Still, she needs to know who doesn’t know the answers so she can help them. Right?” asked Amanda. “What I want to teach you today is to recognize when your anger is out of proportion to the situation, when you want to hurt someone else, just because. Now, with this situation, Miss Fisher asks everyone to answer questions so she can identify who’s having trouble with something she’s teaching. And, even though yo
u know all the answers, that’s not what she needs to know. She already knows you two are very smart young men. Now she needs to know how to simplify what she’s teaching for those who are having trouble with the material. When she doesn’t pick you, instead of trying to get back at them, what I want you to do is to remember that . . . and wait for your turns.
“Ben or Joseph, I want either one of you to answer my next question, because it’s something I think I know . . . but I’m not positive. And remember, this isn’t a ‘smart’ competition. Doesn’t the Amish faith frown on boastfulness or bragging? Calling attention to yourselves?”
Joseph answered first, hesitantly. “Yes, it does, miss.”
“Okay, thank you. What is it you’re trying to get in the classroom by answering all the questions your teacher has to ask?”
“Oh! I never thought of it . . . Miss, my sister . . . Barbara . . . she always told us that we have to make sure we’re all ‘better’ than anyone else in Peace Landing. Better behaved, smarter, cleaner, all of that,” said Joseph.
“Mr. Kurtz, is this true?”
“Ya. I always saw her comparing herself to others in town. When she fell short, she was very angry at herself. She took that out on others.”
“Ben, Joseph . . . and you, too, Sarah . . . do you see how this sets you up to fail more often than it does to help you to succeed?” Amanda asked. Once she had finished working with Ben and Joseph, they went to do their homework in the living room.
“Sarah, why are you so quiet? It’s very hard for you to ask questions and bring attention to yourself, isn’t it?”
“Ya,” Sarah whispered, looking down at the table. “I don’t want to be visible. I don’t want others to notice me. It’s easier when I don’t have to talk to anyone or answer questions.”
Simple Amish Love 3-Book Collection Page 8