“Ya, I think I will. Denki,” said Hannah.
***
The holidays were quickly coming up. Annie had planned a special Christmas play that all of her students would participate in – if the flu didn’t keep knocking first, one, then several more down.
Annie, drinking hot tea at home, scanned worriedly through her roster of students, counting up the absences day by day. Today, she had marked seven children absent, leaving only ten in their seats. And of those ten, several were sniffling and coughing.
“Mamm. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the play. I have almost half of my students out with the influenza!”
“It’s that time of the year, Annie. Tell your students that, if they do not feel well, to stay home. They are spreading the illness just by coming to school, sitting near each other, sneezing, coughing and worse. Even if you are teaching only three or four students, it’s better than losing every one of them to the flu for a week or more. And you . . . how are you feeling?” asked Annie’s mother.
“I’m fine – now that I’ve gotten over my own flu. As long as I don’t overdo, I’m fine. But the kids! I will do that, mamm. Denki.”
The next morning, Annie handed out handwritten notes to each student healthy enough to be in school.
“We are being hit hard by the flu this year. We have only eight students in here today and half of you are coughing and sneezing. I am going to ask you a question and I expect honesty . . . how do you feel right now, today?” She waited as the students looked at each other, puzzled.
Sixteen-year-old Micah raised his hand.
“Micah?”
“Shivery. Weak and sick to my stomach.”
“Go home. Take this note home and tell your parents I want you to stay at home until you are well. Anybody else?”
Ben and Joseph Kurtz raised their hands. Annie wasn’t surprised – both were glassy-eyed and flushed. They went home as well. Five-year-old Mary leaned over and vomited before she could raise her hand, causing several other students to look away or gag.
Fortunately, Mrs. Fisher had decided to stop by the school. She offered to take the sick students home, after helping Annie clean up the mess.
Annie looked at her remaining students. She had four now apparently healthy students waiting for instruction. Sighing inwardly, she opened the classroom window more widely to get rid of the smell of sickness and began with her day’s teaching plans. After lunch, she looked up in surprise. Mr. Kopp was standing in the doorway.
“Four students remaining, hmmm? Micah is at home in bed right now – thank you for asking them to tell you how they felt. He would have stayed if you hadn’t made him leave. When is your play?” he asked.
“Three weeks. The students still have to . . .”
“Get well. If this outbreak continues, there will be no Christmas play this year. There is no shame in this, Miss Fisher. You have no control over the flu. Keep me informed, if you would.”
“Ya, Mr. Kopp. I will,” Annie said. After Mr. Kopp left, she finished the day’s instruction, pausing often to make sure that the four remaining students still felt healthy.
“If you feel sick, please let me know and I’ll make sure you get home, understand?”
“Ya, Miss Fisher,” the students all said.
By the end of the day, she was down to three students – one of the 10-year-old girls had begun complaining that she ached and felt horrible. Annie, feeling the girl’s forehead, agreed. She went to the phone installed in the back of the school house and called the store to get the girl’s parents to come pick her up. Thirty minutes later, the father drove up and collected his daughter.
“You are down to three students! What does that mean for this year’s play?”
“If everyone is still out sick, I’ll have to cancel it,” said Annie. “It’s better that they get well, although I admit I’m disappointed.”
“I agree. Healthy is better, although having the play would be ideal. You, Miss Fisher, stay healthy.”
“Ya, I will. Denki.”
The following day, Annie still had only three students, who all stayed healthy. Thinking back, she realized they had already had the flu.
***
At the Lapp home, Hannah walked swiftly to the barn, braving the sudden cold temperatures. Inside, she saw Jacob working to inventory the feed for the farm’s livestock.
“Jacob. I need your help,” she told her twin.
“What is it?” Jacob asked absently, occupied by the counting.
“You are still seeing Jenny King. She’s Annie Fisher’s friend. Get her to find out what’s happening in the classroom,” she demanded.
Jacob set his clipboard and pencil down, flabbergasted. He brought himself back to the present with difficulty and looked sharply at his twin sister.
“Repeat that,” he ordered.
Hannah, caught up in what she wanted, completely missed the anger in Jacob’s voice. She told him again what she wanted.
“Hannah. You have a well-deserved reputation as a troublemaker. You say you want us to stop escorting you all over town, but until mamm and daed know you’re not going to try to do anything to anyone, you won’t get that. why can’t you just be grateful for everything you have? Why don’t you just stop trying to ruin everyone else’s lives?”
Hannah’s jaw dropped.
“Because! Jacob, she ruined my life by getting that teaching job here in Peace Landing! That job should have been mine! “Hannah, if you didn’t need constant chaperoning, you would have been able to go to town shortly after the position was announced! You would have been put into consideration for the job! Whether you would have gotten that position, I don’t know. Just . . . just stop!” He stormed out of the barn and up to the house, slamming the door as he walked into the kitchen.
Hannah stared at the ground with a deep frown on her face. He just doesn’t see what I’ve been forced to deal with by Annie’s actions. She took that position from me. If I had been allowed to go to town and visit friends and learn what was going on, I would have known that it was open – and I would have gotten it!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Two weeks later, the flu outbreak seemed to have worn itself out. Just as students had fallen ill and stayed home, drawing down the numbers in attendance at school, the began to return by ones, and twos. Annie, counting the students back in their seats and seeing thirteen faces attentively turned toward her, wrote a quick note to Mr. Kopp, letting him know that her students were recovering and coming back to school. She gave the note to Micah, who promised to give it to his father.
“And, in the future, if anyone comes down with an illness that spreads so easily – flu, a stomach bug, whatever – please stay home. It’s much healthier that way. I will make sure you get assignments, never fear!”
Students giggled, knowing she would do just that.
Annie moved to the next lesson of the day. At the end of the day, the board showed up with smiles on their bearded faces.
“Miss Fisher, I got your note. The play is back on, ya?”
“Yes, it is, Mr. Kopp.”
You don’t have much time. You concentrate on having the class learn their parts and we will advertise for you. If there is anything you need for the play, give me a list. What kinds of props do you have?”
Annie beckoned the school board members to a closet at the side of the room. “I have these figurines of the animals. Students will portray Mary, Joseph and the wise men. I will need hay and a manger. I will have a student bring in a doll to represent the Infant Jesus.”
“Excellent. You get them learning their parts and we will let the community know that the play will be taking place,” said Mr. Kopp.
In town, Hannah saw the school board members hanging handwritten fliers advertising the school’s play. She realized she could make things difficult for Annie through the play. Seeing Annie riding through Peace Landing with props stacked in the buggy, she realized how she could interfere. I will take different
props and make her look like she doesn’t know what she’s doing.
On the day of the play, Annie closed and locked the school building after wrapping herself in her scarf and coat. Driving off, she didn’t see Hannah skulking behind the building, watching her leave.
Hannah tried the door. Finding it locked, she scurried to the back of the building and forced the window open and climbed in. Opening the closet door, she rifled through several props and chose those that seemed to be the most important. She was so focused on picking props, she failed to hear the unlocking of the front door.
“Miss Lapp! What are you doing?” Mr. Kopp’s deep voice roared out.
Hannah shrieked, startled. As she whirled around, she dropped several of the items she had in her arms, breaking them.
“I . . . I . . .” Hannah couldn’t say anything else. She knew she’d been caught red-handed.
“Come with me. I’m leaving a note for Miss Fisher, telling her what I found you doing. Put those props down and get into my buggy . . . now,” he ordered.
Hannah, frightened, didn’t dare try to defy Mr. Kopp. She climbed into the buggy and sat next to him, knowing they were on their way to her parents’ home. As the buggy stopped, she jumped out, hoping she could avoid the worst of what was about to come.
“Miss Lapp! Stay with me,” ordered Mr. Kopp. “Take me to your parents, right now.”
Hannah directed him to the barn, where she knew her father and brother were.
“Jacob, go get your mamm. It’s important that she hear this,” Mr. Kopp said.
Jacob hurried, wondering what the news was now. From the look on Mr. Kopp’s face, he knew it was bad. Returning with his mother, he sat down next to her. Mr. Kopp, their father and Hannah were sitting in a silent circle, waiting for them.
“Mr. and Mrs. Lapp – Jacob – I went to the school house to see if Miss Fisher needed any final preparations completed for the play. I found your daughter inside, taking several of the animals Miss Fisher has collected as props. Many of them are now broken, dropped by your daughter. She has been trying to undermine Miss Fisher as the new Peace Landing teacher ever since the beginning of the school year. I rather suspect that Hannah is the source of the ‘leak’ regarding some students and services they were receiving. What she has done goes against the Plain life and the Ordnung. It is for the ministers to decide whether what she has done rises to the level of excommunication and Shunning. Miss Lapp, I told you last summer that Miss Fisher had gotten the job because she applied for it and qualified for it. I know why you are not allowed to go to town – your parents have made a decision that you are to be escorted everywhere you go, because of your tendency to misbehave and cause trouble for others. That is their right as your parents. And that is why you missed out on learning of that job announcement. If you were not so bent on causing trouble for others, you would have been able to go to town freely, you would have learned of the announcement – and you would have been considered along with all applicants. Do you understand that I’m saying your actions have had an impact, not only on those you have aimed them at, but upon you?”
Hannah, her heart pounding, finally realized how her actions had impacted her and her future. Keeping her eyes downcast, she nodded.
“Ya, I understand.”
In her room, she cried, inconsolable. All she had wanted to do was to make it clear that she had been cheated! Yet, from what Mr. Kopp had said, she had cheated herself with her actions.
Downstairs, Hannah’s parents sat in the kitchen, talking quietly.
“We have to go talk to the ministers and let them know what she has been doing. All this time! She has been doing her damage, trying to get back at Annie Fisher,” said Mr. Lapp.
“Were we too strict with her?”
“Nee, nee. If we had allowed her to have full freedom within Peace Landing, just imagine what she would have done. All along, she has carried an attitude that she is entitled to something, whether she has earned it or not. Even when we talked to her, she refused to understand that, if she hadn’t earned something, she wasn’t entitled to it. We will go talk to the ministers tomorrow. To spare Miss Fisher, we won’t be going to the play. Jacob, if he wishes, may go. Hannah is staying at home. She will only go to town with one of us until a decision is made,” decided Mr. Lapp.
“Ya, I will go tell her,” sighed Mrs. Lapp. She trudged upstairs, knocking on Hannah’s closed door.
“Come in,” said Hannah dispiritedly.
“Hannah, your daed and I have just finished talking. You will not be going to the play; when you go to town at all, it will be with Jacob, me or your father. You have shown yourself to be untrustworthy of the little freedom we had granted you with running errands. We will be talking to the Peace Landing community ministers – about excommunication. Hannah, you may be forced to leave, not only Peace Landing, but our family! All because you could not let go of the thought that you were ‘entitled’ to things you had not earned. If you are excommunicated, you will not be allowed to take that teaching position in Hope Township – unless you show remorse and repent and make a confession to the bishop,” said Mrs. Lapp hopefully. “Because you have done this more than once, I don’t know how it will go for you – will you repent?”
“Mamm, I see how I have harmed myself . . . but I still believe that I was cheated out of the teaching position here in Peace Landing. I . . . don’t know what I will decide,” Hannah said as tears thickened her voice. “I have to be honest with you. If I am shunned, I will see how I feel – how my beliefs change. To answer your question, I don’t know if I will repent or not,” Hannah said.
The Lapp house was quiet that night. Jacob went to the play, hoping to see Jenny King there.
***
Back at the school house, Annie unlocked the door and stopped short as she saw the broken animal figures. She had no more left that she could use to represent the animals in the manger. Making a quick decision, she pulled out large pieces of cardboard and quickly drew and colored animal shapes. Using a sharp cutter, she cut each animal out and propped it against a desk. She was working so hard to get the stage ready, she failed to hear the scuff of a footstep on the wood floor.
“Annie. I found out about your break-in. I have several large, wooden animals. You can use them, now and in future years,” said Mark.
“Oh, Mark! I . . . thank you!” Annie sped over to him and relieved him of two of the smaller animals.
The couple moved the desks into rows, then set up the stage with the wooden and ceramic animals. Mark scattered large clumps of hay to make the “manger” look more realistic. Annie moved a large table to one side of the room as families began to drift in, placing platters of refreshments. The refreshments went on the long table and families began finding their seats.
Mark sat to one side, telling Annie that, if she needed any help, he would be ready. Annie smiled gently at him, then hurried to the back of the school house, where she helped children into their costumes.
“Everyone, you’re going to do a wonderful job! You all know your parts. The stage is set up, and it looks just like the manger in Jerusalem. Remember, you are in the play to give glory to the Lord. This is why we celebrate Christmas – to remember His birth,” Annie finished saying. “I will be right back. Stay right here and don’t get loud!” She hurried back to the front, where she helped families find rapidly diminishing spaces for the refreshments. Looking around, she saw her parents. She continued to look – the only Lapp in attendance was Jacob. Annie was not aware of what had happened at the Lapp home. Thinking, she knew she would learn what was deemed appropriate. Shutting Hannah and her actions out of her mind, she returned to the back of the school, where she helped a few late-coming students into their costumes.
“Okay, we are getting started. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men – all follow me! Take your places as we rehearsed all week long.”
At the end of the play, Annie let out a long-held breath. It was over! She clasped her hands in front of
her as the audience applauded loudly. She saw Mr. Kopp and the other members of the school board applauding as well.
“While your children get dressed, feel free to take some refreshments and mingle! Thank you for coming to our Christmas presentation! Our students worked very hard on their roles, practicing and learning their lines. They will be out in short order. Please – enjoy some refreshments!”
Annie stood to the side as Mr. Kopp approached her.
“When you have a few minutes, we need to talk,” he told her in a low voice. “Ya, Mr. Kopp. I will be cleaning up after everyone leaves. Can we talk then?”
“Ya. I think your parents – and Mark – should also hear this. It will be common knowledge very soon.”
Annie looked silently at Mr. Kopp, surprised at his words.
“Oh! Ya. I will ask them to stay behind,” she promised.
After everyone had left, Mr. Kopp asked Annie, Mark and Annie’s parents to sit down. The men drew up several desks and the group sat down.
“Miss Fisher, I came in and found Miss Lapp holding several figurines you had intended to use for the play. When I called out her name, she turned and dropped them. She was in the act of stealing those parts, Miss Fisher . . . so she could make you look incompetent as a teacher. I drove her to her parents’ farm. Mr. and Mrs. Lapp will be talking to the bishop and deacon about excommunication for Miss Lapp. What she did – stealing – goes directly against, not only the Commandments, but the Ordnung. She has long been restless. Your mother can tell you what actions she caught her in while she was her teacher. She has a sense of entitlement that leads her to believe that she should get what she has not worked for – your teaching job, for instance. You do know, don’t you, that her parents placed severe restrictions on her after learning of some of her past actions? You know she was only allowed to come to town with one of her parents or with Jacob?”
“Ya, I do, but . . .”
“It has a bearing on what has been happening to you. Your mother announced her retirement during the busiest part of the planting season. We announced it immediately. You and several other applicants provided your applications. Because Jacob and Mr. Lapp were so busy with planting, they could not bring her to town. Mrs. Lapp was away at that time, taking care of a sick relative. Nobody could bring her to town. She missed the application deadline and learned of it only when I gave you the news that you had been selected.”
Simple Amish Love 3-Book Collection Page 10