Look Out, Lancaster County

by Wanda E. Brunstetter

Just then an Amish girl who looked to be about Rachel’s age walked across the yard toward them. She had dark brown hair and matching eyes, and a deep dimple in each cheek. Rachel had never seen the girl before and figured she must be new. “What have you got there?” the girl asked, pointing at the rock in Orlie’s hand.

  Orlie smiled. “It’s a ladybug rock.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like bugs!”

  “Not even ladybugs?” Orlie asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t like any kind of bugs.”

  Orlie looked at Rachel and said, “Have you met Audra Burkholder yet?”

  Rachel shook her head.

  “Audra and her family moved to the farm next to our place on Saturday.” Orlie grinned. “Guess Saturday must have been moving day here in Lancaster County.”

  Rachel gritted her teeth. Was Orlie trying to make her feel worse about Mary moving?

  “We used to live in Ohio, but we moved here to be closer to my grossdaadi [grandfather] and grossmudder [grandmother].” Audra looked at Rachel. “What’s your name?”

  “Rachel Yoder.”

  “Rachel’s grandpa used to live in Ohio. Isn’t that right, Rachel?” Orlie asked.

  Rachel only nodded in reply. She didn’t want to talk to Orlie or the new girl named Audra right now. “I think I’d better get inside,” she said as she started walking toward the schoolhouse.

  “What’s the hurry?” Orlie called. “Elizabeth hasn’t rung the bell yet.”

  Rachel ignored him and hurried up the schoolhouse stairs. After she put her lunch pail on the shelf just inside the door, she trudged over to her desk and sat down. She glanced at Mary’s old desk and blinked back tears. For the rest of this school year Rachel would have to look at the empty desk across from her and be reminded that her best friend moved away.

  A few minutes later, Elizabeth rang the school bell. Clang! Clang! Clang!

  The children filed into the room and took their seats. Audra stood up front by the teacher’s desk, red-faced and staring at the floor.

  “Good morning, boys and girls,” Elizabeth said.

  “Good morning, Elizabeth,” the scholars replied in unison.

  “We have a new girl with us today. Her name is Audra Burkholder. Audra and her family moved here from Ohio.” Elizabeth nudged Audra’s arm. “Would you like to tell the class something about yourself?”

  Audra’s face turned even redder as she raised her head and looked at the class. “Well, uh—my mamm and daed are Andy and Naomi, and I have four older brothers. Walter and Perry are married. Jared’s sixteen, so he’s out of school already. Brian, my youngest brother, is twelve. Brian’s not here today because he has a bad cold.” Audra looked at the teacher. “Oh, and starting today, my daed and Jared will be working at the buggy shop.”

  Rachel cringed. Uncle Ben used to work at the buggy shop, until he decided he’d rather be milking cows. I wish Uncle Ben still worked at the buggy shop, not Audra’s daed and bruder.

  “We’re happy to have you in our class, Audra.” Elizabeth looked at the scholars and smiled. “During recess you’ll have a chance to get to know Audra better. Please make her feel welcome.” She pointed to Mary’s empty desk. Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. “That desk will be yours, Audra.”

  No! No! No! Rachel silently screamed. Tears burned in her eyes as she watched Audra sit at Mary’s desk. Audra opened her backpack, took out a writing tablet and some books, and lifted the lid of the desk to put them inside.

  When Rachel realized her mouth was hanging open, she snapped her jaw shut. Mary’s things should be in there—not Audra’s, she thought. This isn’t right. It’s not right at all!

  Elizabeth picked up her Bible. “I’ll be reading from Ecclesiastes 4:9–10: ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!’”

  Rachel’s heart clenched. Mary had been that kind of friend. Whenever Rachel felt sad, Mary cheered her up. Now Rachel had no best friend, except maybe Orlie. After he’d helped Rachel with her lines in the Christmas program last year, they’d had a secret friendship. Even so, she didn’t think of him as a “best friend.”

  Orlie’s sharp whisper jolted Rachel out of her thoughts. “We’re supposed to stand. It’s time to repeat the Lord’s Prayer.”

  Rachel stood and recited the prayer with the others, even though her heart wasn’t in it. When she filed to the front of the room with the rest of the children to sing a few songs, her throat felt swollen. She moved to stand next to Orlie, but Audra squeezed in where Rachel wanted to stand. She sighed, slumped her shoulders, and found a spot at the end of the line.

  Rachel glanced at the clock on the far wall. She would be glad when it was time for morning recess and she could go outside to play. Maybe she and Orlie could talk about the ladybug rock she’d painted for him. She might also ask if he could come over to their place and help Jacob train Buddy.

  The next hour ticked by slowly as Rachel worked on her arithmetic lesson. Every few minutes she glanced at the clock. Finally, Elizabeth announced that it was time for recess.

  Rachel hurried outside and was happy to see that the sun shone brightly. It had been hiding behind the clouds on the walk to school. She spotted Orlie standing near the teeter-totter. She was about to head that way when she saw Audra walk up to him. No way was she going over there now!

  Rachel moved over to the swings and sat down. She let her feet dangle but didn’t pump her legs. It didn’t feel right to swing without Mary.

  Phoebe Wagler took the other swing and started pumping her legs. Pump, pump, swing. Pump, pump, swing. The swing moved back and forth, and Phoebe giggled excitedly. “This is so much fun! I love to swing!”

  Rachel stared at the ground.

  “When’s your mamm due to have her boppli, Rachel?” Phoebe asked.

  “This summer—probably July.” Rachel decided to get her swing moving, too. Maybe then Phoebe would stop talking to her. Pump, pump, swing. Pump, pump, swing.

  “My baby sister, Darlene, is ten weeks old.” Phoebe grinned. “It’s so cute when she gurgles and coos. I don’t think there’s anything sweeter than a boppli.”

  Rachel hoped her baby sister or brother would be cute and sweet. She didn’t like the idea of having a fussy baby in the house.

  The bell rang, calling everyone back inside. Rachel left the swing and hurried into the schoolhouse. She’d just taken her seat when Orlie turned in his chair and said, “Audra told me her daed might let her visit the buggy shop on Saturday. She invited me to go along. How about you, Rachel? Would you like to see the buggy shop, too?”

  Rachel shook her head. “I’ve seen it already—when my uncle Ben worked there.”

  “Oh.” Orlie turned around before Rachel could say anything more. So much for asking if Orlie might come over to their place on Saturday. He obviously had other plans.

  At eleven thirty, Elizabeth dismissed the classroom by rows to get their lunch pails. Rachel frowned when Audra’s row was dismissed first.

  When Rachel reached up to take her lunch pail down from the shelf, Jacob took his down at the same time. “Are you in a better mood now, Rachel?” he asked.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you think?”

  “I think you’re an old sourpuss today. If Mom packed a bottle of Pap’s homemade root beer in your lunch pail, maybe you’ll be sweeter after you drink it.”

  “It would take more than a bottle of root beer to make you sweeter,” Rachel muttered as she headed out to the porch to eat her lunch. She took a seat on the top step, opened her lunch pail, and took out her sandwich. Her stomach rumbled as she removed the plastic wrapping. Peanut butter and jelly was her favorite kind. She lifted it to her mouth and was about to take a bite, when a fishy smell wafted up to her nose.

  “Eww … tuna!”

  But how could that be? Rachel wondered. She’d watched Mom make
her sandwich this morning, and it had been peanut butter and jelly—not tuna fish!

  She looked in the lunch pail and saw an orange, two cookies, and a bottle of milk. This isn’t the lunch Mom made for me!

  Rachel looked across the porch, where several other girls sat, and spotted Audra—eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

  Rachel tossed the tuna sandwich in the lunch pail and slammed the lid. Then she marched over to Audra and said, “I believe that’s my sandwich you’re eating!”

  Audra looked up at Rachel and wrinkled her forehead. “What makes you think that?”

  Rachel handed the lunch pail to Audra. “There’s a tuna fish sandwich in here, and it’s not mine. You’re eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” She pointed to the lunch pail sitting on the porch beside Audra. “And that’s my lunch pail!”

  Audra’s eyes widened as she looked at one lunch pail and then the other. “I think I made a mistake,” she said. “Our lunch pails look almost alike. They must have gotten verhuddelt [mixed up]. Since I’ve already eaten part of your sandwich, why don’t you go ahead and eat my lunch?”

  Rachel shook her head so hard the ties on her kapp [cap] flipped around her face. “No way! I hate the taste of tuna!”

  Audra shrugged and handed the half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich to Rachel. “All right then.

  Here you go.”

  Rachel nearly gagged. “No thanks!” She wasn’t about to eat that peanut butter and jelly sandwich now. Not with Audra’s germs on it! “I’ll bet you took my lunch pail on purpose!”

  Audra shook her head. “Why would I do that? I didn’t know the lunch pail I took was yours. I thought it was mine.”

  Rachel bent down, snatched her lunch pail, and shoved Audra’s lunch pail in its place. At least she could eat the apple and banana bread Mom had packed.

  She plopped down on her seat across the porch step and opened the lid. Sure enough, there was a big red apple and two slices of banana bread.

  Rachel unwrapped the banana bread and was about to take a bite when she remembered that Mary liked banana bread, too. Rachel’s eyes filled with tears. She tossed the banana bread into the lunch pail and shut the lid with a snap! She wasn’t hungry anymore.

  “Aren’t you gonna eat your banana bread?” Jacob asked, taking a seat beside Rachel.

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “It reminds me of Mary.”

  The skin around Jacob’s blue eyes wrinkled. “Huh?”

  “Banana bread was one of Mary’s favorites.” Rachel sighed. “Now that Mary’s gone, every time I see a piece of banana bread, I’ll think of her.”

  “That’s lecherich [ridiculous], Rachel.” Jacob grabbed her lunch pail, flipped open the lid, and helped himself to the pieces of banana bread.

  “Hey!” Rachel frowned at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  He shrugged. “Figured if you’re not gonna eat the banana bread then I will.”

  Rachel was about to say something mean to Jacob when she noticed several children staring at her. “Fine then, I hope you enjoy every bite!” She jumped up, raced down the steps, and ran all the way to the swings.

  As Rachel walked home from school that afternoon, she kept thinking about the lunch pail mix up and how happy Audra had looked eating Rachel’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I’ll do something to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Rachel muttered under her breath.

  Jacob nudged Rachel’s arm. “You’re mumbling again, just like you did this morning. What’s wrong now?”

  As they continued walking, Rachel told Jacob about Audra eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I think she took my lunch pail on purpose because she doesn’t like me,” she grumbled.

  “Audra’s new at our school,” Jacob said. “She doesn’t know you well enough to decide whether she likes you or not.”

  “Humph!” Rachel grunted. “I could tell by the way she looked at me that she doesn’t like me.”

  “You’re lecherich, little bensel.” Jacob shook his head and kept walking.

  “I’m not ridiculous, and I wish you would stop calling me a silly child!”

  “When you stop acting like a silly child, I’ll stop calling you one.”

  As Rachel hurried on, an idea popped into her head. When I get home, I’m going to paint a picture of a ladybug on my lunch pail. That should keep Audra from thinking it’s hers!

  When Rachel and Jacob arrived home, Jacob went out to the dog run to see Buddy, and Rachel hurried to the house. She set her lunch pail on the kitchen counter and went upstairs to her room to get out her paints. When she returned to the kitchen, she spread some newspaper on the table, placed her lunch pail on it, and opened a bottle of black paint. She had just finished painting the body of the ladybug on one side of her lunch pail when Mom entered the kitchen.

  “What are you doing, Rachel?”

  “I’m painting a ladybug on both sides of my lunch pail.”

  Mom squinted over the top of her metal-framed glasses. “Why would you want to do something like that?”

  “Because there’s a new girl at school named Audra Burkholder, and our lunch pails got verhuddelt because she took mine instead of hers. The sandwich in the lunch pail I opened was tuna fish—not peanut butter and jelly.” Rachel frowned. “I think Audra took my lunch on purpose.”

  “Do your lunch pails look alike?” Mom asked.

  “Jah.”

  “Then I’m sure Audra took your lunch pail by mistake.”

  Rachel stared at her lunch pail and heaved a big sigh. “Elizabeth gave Mary’s old desk to Audra, and now every time I look over there I’ll be reminded that Mary’s gone and I lost my best friend.”

  Mom clucked her tongue. “I don’t think you’re being fair, Rachel. Audra’s new at your school, and I’m sure she needs a friend. You should give her a chance, don’t you think?”

  Rachel shrugged.

  “Why don’t you invite Audra over to play after school? You might become good friends.”

  “I don’t need a friend. Not a friend like Audra, anyway.” Rachel thought about Sherry, the English girl she’d met at the farmer’s market last summer, and wondered if she would make a good friend. Sherry had let Rachel walk her dog, even though they’d just met. The only problem was, Rachel didn’t know where Sherry lived, and she hadn’t seen her since that day at the market. Rachel needed a friend now. She needed Mary!

  Mom moved over to the cupboard and took out a glass. “Sometimes the very thing we think we don’t want is exactly what we need,” she said as she filled her glass with water.

  I don’t need Audra, Rachel thought. And I don’t want her, either. Rachel dipped a clean brush into the jar of white paint so she could paint the ladybug’s eyes and antennas. She was sure of one thing—she could never be Audra Burkholder’s friend!

  Chapter 3

  Raining Sideways

  It’s raining pretty hard. You’d better wear your boots to school this morning,” Mom said as she handed Rachel her lunch pail with a ladybug painted on both sides.

  Rachel peeked out the kitchen window and wrinkled her nose. Not a speck of sun. “I hate the rain!”

  Mom looked at Rachel over the top of her glasses. “You know how I feel about that word hate.”

  “I know, but I just don’t like walking to school in the rain.” Rachel set the lunch pail on the floor, slipped her feet into her rubber boots, and put on her raincoat. “If it keeps raining, we probably won’t get to play outside during recess today.”

  “It’s been a dry spring so far and we need a good soaking,” Mom said. “If you can’t play outside during recess, I’m sure you’ll find something fun to do indoors.”

  “Maybe you can sit at your desk and draw a picture, little bensel,” Jacob said as he joined Rachel in the utility room.

  “Stop calling your sister that name,” Mom said before Rachel could respond. “She is not a sill
y child.”

  Rachel smiled to herself. At least she wasn’t the only one being scolded by Mom this morning.

  “We’d better get going or we’re gonna be late for school,” Jacob said, nudging Rachel’s arm.

  “Just let me get my umbrella.” Rachel opened the closet door, but her umbrella wasn’t there. “Has anyone seen my umbrella?”

  “Where did you put it?” Mom asked.

  “I thought it was in here.” Rachel squinted at Jacob. “Did you take my umbrella?”

  He grunted. “Why would I want your dumm [dumb] old umbrella?”

  “It’s not dumb and it’s not old,” Rachel said. “Esther gave it to me for Christmas.” Rachel’s older sister always gave Rachel nice presents for her birthday and Christmas, and Rachel would feel bad if she lost the umbrella.

  Jacob opened the back door. “Let’s go, Rachel.”

  “I’m not going without my umbrella.”

  “Aw, come on. You won’t melt from a little bit of rain.” Jacob snickered and shook his head.

  Rachel looked out the door. “That’s more than a little rain. It’s coming down by the buckets. The drainage ditch out by the road is so full, it’s starting to overflow. If the rain doesn’t stop soon, Pap’s fields will flood and turn into ponds.”

  “I can’t believe the way you exaggerate.” Jacob stepped onto the porch. “Are you coming or not?”

  Rachel frowned. “It’s raining too hard to walk without an umbrella.”

  Mom went to the kitchen and returned with a large black umbrella. “You may borrow my umbrella today,” she said, handing it to Rachel.

  “Danki, Mom.” Rachel picked up her lunch pail and slipped it into her backpack.

  Mom bent down and gave Rachel a hug. Then she patted Jacob’s shoulder. “Have a good day.”

  “You, too, Mom,” Rachel and Jacob said at the same time.

  Rachel opened the umbrella and sloshed down the muddy driveway behind Jacob. When they reached the edge of the road she noticed there were puddles everywhere.

  Rachel walked carefully, stepping around the puddles. Any other time she would have enjoyed plodding through the puddles, but not today. She dreaded going to school—dreaded seeing Audra sitting at Mary’s desk—dreaded having to stay indoors for recess.