Rose smiled with her whole face. She had gute teeth. Surely her teeth alone would attract a husband. “You’re just saying that because you’re my best friend.”
Best friend? Surely there were a dozen or so girls closer to her age that were better friends than Sam. A dozen or so at least. And even three or four boys that were closer to her than Sam was. Did she really consider them best friends? Sam frowned. He hadn’t been that close of a friend for years.
He shrugged and smiled. “Give the boys some encouragement. Make more friends. Talk to a few boys at gatherings. They’ll forget all about the new teacher.”
Rose giggled. “I’m not a flirt. The new teacher is a flirt. Sadie Yoder says so.”
Elsie was plainspoken and straightforward, more inclined to lecture a boy than date him. She had a wonderful-gute fastball and lightning-fast reflexes, but Elsie was not a flirt. Sam wasn’t going to argue. Sadie Yoder was the bishop’s daughter, and most of die youngie believed everything that came out of her mouth. “I only know there’s lots of boys out there who would be wonderful pleased if you would pay them some attention.”
A blush rose on her cheeks. “You think so?”
He nodded.
She looked down at her hands. “I turn twenty in March, you know.”
“Jah. I suppose I can’t call you ‘pip-squeak’ anymore.”
Her blush got deeper. “Nae. You can’t. I’m all grown up. Finally.”
“To me you’ll always be the little girl who used to whine at the base of the tree until we let you into the hideout.” He tugged on her bonnet string. “I’d better be going. Wally and the other boys should have that rock dug up by now.” Unless it went all the way to China. He swung up into his seat. “See you later.”
“I’ll help.”
“Huh?”
“I want to help at the school. It sounds like a big rock.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
She wasted no time bouncing into the seat next to him and making herself comfortable. “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help?”
Didn’t Rose have better things to do today? Shouldn’t she stay home and start thinking of boys she wanted to date? Sam was sort of hoping Miss Stutzman would be at the school and he could check on her nose and maybe bask in one of her smiles. But basking would be awkward with Rose looking over his shoulder. “It isn’t going to be much fun. I’m just going to pull the rock out of the ground and let the boys fill in the hole. Won’t take but half an hour.”
“It sounds like fun. I can help with the team, if you need me to.”
Sam couldn’t imagine what help with the team he’d need from Rose, but he probably couldn’t wonder that out loud without offending her. He wracked his brain, trying to think of a gute reason to leave Rose behind, but I want the new teacher to smile at me didn’t seem like an adequate excuse, especially when the new teacher might be home nursing a broken nose. “Okay,” he said, trying hard not to sound disappointed. “It’s very nice of you, but like as not, you’ll be bored.”
“It doesn’t matter. A best friend is always there for you.”
There was the best friend thing again. Not by any stretch of the imagination were they best friends, but did it really matter that Rose thought they were?
Rose talked about the quilt she was making and the new goat and the news that three Zook children had the chicken pox. Sam listened only well enough to nod in all the appropriate places when she paused to take a breath. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in quilts and chicken pox, it was just that he wasn’t interested in Rose, so he didn’t try real hard to be agreeable. It wasn’t the way to treat a best friend, but Rose wasn’t his best friend—at least, he didn’t think so. That probably made him a terrible person. He sighed and threw insensitivity onto his pile of sins. It was wonderful high and grew every day, except for when he had laryngitis. It seemed when he opened his mouth he either said the wrong thing or said it the wrong way. Miss Stutzman would surely agree with that.
Sam’s bruders, with Reuben Schmucker, Jethro Glick, and Tobias Raber, were hard at work around a wonderful big hole where the first base line used to be. Sam’s heart did a little jig. Miss Stutzman was out there with them, working the dirt as if she had been born with a shovel in her hand. Something told Sam she’d be able to hold her own with a hammer and a pair of pliers as well.
“What’s she doing here?” Rose said when she caught sight of Elsie, as if Rose had more right to set foot in the school yard than Elsie did.
Sam shrugged. “Looks like she’s helping.”
He pulled his wagon alongside the merry-go-round and jumped down. Rose quickly followed, bringing an air of authority with her, as if Rose and Sam were in charge of the rock and were here to supervise the excavation. Sam tried not to frown. If anybody was in charge of this project, it was Wally. Rose was just being Rose. She liked to feel important.
Miss Stutzman—was it inappropriate to call her Elsie?—flashed a smile that almost knocked him over. He might have thought the smile was just for him, but she gave the same one to Rose, even though it was completely wasted on her. Rose tried to look uninterested while giving Elsie a slight wave of her hand. Sam didn’t know what she had expected. It was the teacher’s ball field. Of course she would be here to see that everything was done with care.
Elsie walked toward them, using her shovel like a cane. “Sam, Rose, so nice of you to bring the team.” Her lip was still a little swollen, but there was no sign that her nose had been hit yesterday, except for a little redness on the bridge.
He couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. Elsie was just so cute. “Your nose looks better.”
She laughed and touched a finger to her mouth. “No black eyes, and the lip is barely noticeable. I’d say I got off easy.” That smile of hers was irresistible. His heart tumbled over and over in his chest.
Sam almost forgot Rose was standing next to him. “What happened to her lip?” she said.
“Ach.” Sam stuffed his hands in his pockets and pulled his gaze from Elsie’s face. He kicked at the dirt and stared faithfully at his boots. “Elsie pitched a ball to me, and I hit it at her face. She raised her mitt just in time.”
Rose’s eyes darted from Sam to Elsie and back again. “That’s dangerous. Girls shouldn’t pitch to the boys.”
Sam’s gaze traveled to Elsie’s face. He smiled at her. She grinned back. “She kept striking me out. I had to hit at least one to prove myself.”
Elsie laughed. “You proved yourself, all right. And I’ve got the marks to show for it.”
He didn’t realize he was staring until Rose took a step forward and practically put herself between them. “When did you play softball together?”
“Yesterday. I wanted to see if she was as gute a pitcher as she said she was.”
Rose pressed her lips together so tightly, they looked like they’d been ironed in place. “Girls shouldn’t brag.”
Elsie grinned and nodded. “It’s my greatest weakness. I’m grateful that people here are so forgiving.”
“I suppose we are, Miss Stutzman,” Rose said.
“Please call me Elsie.”
Rose shook her head. “I won’t call you that. You’re the teacher.”
It was obvious Elsie sensed Rose’s hostility, but she pretended that Rose was nothing but nice. “I hope we can be friends too.”
Elsie probably had to smooth over many unpleasant situations when angry parents came to see her. Or rude brothers. Sam’s mouth suddenly felt as dry as day-old toast. She was especially patient with rude brothers.
Elsie looked over her shoulder. “These boys have been hard at work.”
“Have they uncovered the rock?” Sam said.
“Almost enough to be able to move it. Come and see.”
She led them to where the boys were digging. Wally sat on the ground, using a garden trowel and filling a plastic bucket with dirt. Tobias, Reuben, and Jethro were filling two more buckets with
their shovels. Perry and Danny were the bucket movers, dragging the full buckets a few feet from the hole and dumping them out. They had quite a pile of dirt.
Wally glanced up and nearly knocked Sam over with that smile. He hadn’t seen it in such a long time. “Sam, look how big it is! We’ll need your team for sure and certain.”
The boys really had been hard at work. The rock, or boulder—as it probably should have been called—jutted out of the hole like a tall pillar, nearly the size of a full-grown hog standing on its hind legs.
“How deep does it go?” Sam asked. He wasn’t going to let them dig another ten feet.
“Jethro thinks he found the bottom another six inches down,” Wally said. “Can the team pull it out or should we keep digging?”
Sam resisted the urge to ruffle Wally’s hair. “Let’s try it with the team. They should be able to get it.”
Rose looked into the hole. “Why are you digging out this rock?”
Elsie drove her shovel into the dirt and wrapped her fingers around the handle. “Kids keep tripping on the edge of it when they run to first base. Wally had the wunderbarr idea to dig it out.”
Rose wasn’t impressed. “That’s a lot of work for a little bump.”
“We don’t mind,” Danny said. “Maizy Mischler tripped on it. We don’t want anybody else to fall.”
“That’s right,” Elsie said. “It is a very kind and Christian thing to do, thinking of others before yourself. I’m wonderful proud that these boys would give up their Saturday to do it.”
Sam smiled at Elsie. “Denki for letting the boys dig up your softball field. I know how important this field is to you.”
Rose shrugged. “I suppose a reward is waiting for them in heaven, but you shouldn’t let Maizy play softball. She can’t run real good. She’s going to get hurt.”
“She already did,” Danny said. “She cut her leg.”
Rose folded her arms. “That’s what I mean.”
“She didn’t mind. She was having fun.”
Rose frowned. “It’s careless to put your students in danger like that.”
Elsie didn’t seem offended. “A little fun never hurt anybody.”
“Get the team, Sam,” Wally said. “Let’s see if they can pull it out. Then we have a big job filling that hole back in.”
Sam unhitched the team from the wagon and moved the mules into place. Reuben and Jethro helped him secure ropes around the boulder.
Rose glanced at Elsie and smiled at Sam. “I can help you drive the team. I don’t know how to play softball, but I’m better than just about anybody with a mule team.”
Sam shook his head. “Two drivers will confuse the team. They know my voice. I can do it.”
Rose pursed her lips together but didn’t argue. For sure and certain, she was regretting coming along. Elsie hooked her arm around Rose’s elbow, and Rose stiffened as if she’d been slapped. Elsie didn’t seem to notice. “Let’s stand behind the backstop. Cum, Wally, Danny, everybody. Move back. You want to be clear if a rope snaps or a chunk of rock flies out of the hole. We don’t want anyone to lose an eye.”
Wally stood and picked up his crutches. “I’ve already lost a leg. It’s someone else’s turn to lose a body part.”
Sam almost fell over. Was Wally making a joke? And about his leg, no less?
Elsie giggled. “Let’s not lose any body parts today, shall we? Wally has lost enough for the nine of us. We should all thank him for taking on our share.”
Rose’s mouth fell open, and she snapped her head around to look at Sam, her expression blazing with indignation. Two weeks ago, Sam would have felt the same way and probably yelled at the teacher for mocking his bruder, but Elsie wasn’t being malicious. She was treating Wally like a normal child, teasing him as if he were in on the joke instead of the butt of it.
“Denki for giving my share, Wally,” Jethro said, playfully punching Wally in the arm.
Wally grinned and punched back. It was the most ordinary, heartwarming thing Sam had ever seen—Wally laughing with his friends like a typical, healthy boy. Sam thought he might melt into a puddle right there in the school yard. He stood beside his team just staring at Elsie. How could he have wanted her in tears? How could he have yelled at her?
“You gonna stand there all day?” Reuben yelled.
Sam pulled himself out of his own head. He should probably see about getting this boulder out before Ascension Day. He grinned sheepishly at Elsie, trying to ignore the glare Rose was giving him. Elsie’s arm was still hooked with Rose’s elbow, but Rose might have been a statue.
He positioned himself partially behind and to the side of the team and snapped the reins. “Ho, haw, haw,” he yelled. The mules dug in their heels and moved forward. The ropes grew taut as the mules strained against the boulder. Sam glanced behind him. The boulder slowly tilted toward him and then broke free from the soil altogether. He immediately pulled up on the reins. “Reuben, Wally, get another rope.”
A week ago, Sam wouldn’t have considered asking Wally to be the one to help him, but if Elsie could treat Wally like all the other boys, so could Sam.
Reuben sprinted to the wagon for another rope, then he and Wally helped Sam secure it around the bottom of the boulder. If Wally got his fingers briefly tangled in the knots, nobody said anything.
Sam turned to Elsie, who had finally released Rose and was standing with her fingers wrapped around the chinks in the backstop fence, intently studying what Sam and the boys were doing on the other side. “Where do you want this rock?”
Her smile couldn’t have gotten any bigger. She pointed to the east side of the school. “Put it there a few feet from the wall. I’ll work some other rocks around it and make a planter.”
Sam gave her a nod. Wally and Reuben ran to the other side of the backstop, and Sam got his team moving again. The boys cheered when they pulled the boulder clear out of the hole. Sam guided the team to pull the boulder to the side of the school where Elsie wanted it. He untied the ropes and led his team to the water tub for a drink.
Elsie and the boys grabbed their buckets and shovels and started filling the hole. “Do you need me to haul in more dirt to fill up the hole?” Sam called.
Elsie pointed to the north side of the field. “Nae. There’s a pile over there we can use.”
Rose ambled toward Sam as if she’d had a very hard day. “I knew it was bad, Sam. I really did. But I had no idea it was this bad.”
Sam patted Buck’s neck while Jerry Boy took a drink. “What’s bad?”
She wrapped her fingers around Sam’s arm. “The way Miss Stutzman makes fun of Wally. No wonder you want her fired.”
“I don’t want her fired, Rose. I already told you. She wants to help Wally.”
Rose shook her head. “She’s a snob, and she thinks she’s better than us. She talked to you as if you were her friend.”
“Elsie is my friend. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Nae,” Rose insisted. “A teacher should be humble and modest. Miss Stutzman doesn’t know her place.”
Sam furrowed his brow. Rose had some strange notions. “I don’t see that a teacher’s place is any different from yours or mine.”
Rose’s breathing became shallow, and beads of sweat appeared on her upper lip. Her hands trembled, and she clasped them together in front of her. “I’m talking sense, Sam. Why won’t you believe me?”
Sam found himself wishing he was helping Elsie and the boys fill in that hole. What was he supposed to do with an agitated girl who thought she was his best friend? He was just trying to water his mules. “It’s not a matter of believing. I have a different opinion, that’s all.”
“Dat agrees with me. He’s not happy that she’s been so mean to Wally.”
Had Rose heard nothing he’d told her? How much plainer could he make himself? He tried to smile through gritted teeth. “Elsie is trying to help Wally stop feeling sorry for himself.”
“By making fun of him?”
“By treating him like all the other children.”
Rose narrowed her eyes. “She makes fun of all the children?”
Sam placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her squarely in the eye. “Rose, please will you trust me on this? Miss Stutzman is helping Wally. It would be terrible for our family if she got fired. Do you understand?”
Rose softened like butter in July. “Of course I understand. You’re my best friend. All you have to do is ask, and I’ll bake you a cake or drive your team or even help you dig up rocks. And if you ever have another problem with the teacher again, I will make sure my dat knows about it. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
Sam nodded. “Right now, I need you to hold your tongue and try to be nice to Elsie. She needs friends.”
Rose pressed her lips together. “I don’t think we should be her friend. And you shouldn’t call her Elsie.”
Sam stifled a growl. “Okay. That’s okay. I just hope you’ll believe me when I say that she is a wonderful-gute teacher, and she is taking very gute care of all the children.”
“Are you her friend?”
Sam wasn’t sure how to answer that. He liked Elsie, but he’d yelled at her and accused her of being cruel. Even if he wanted to be friends with her, she didn’t necessarily want to be friends with him.
Rose sensed his hesitation. “She is Wally’s teacher. You need to keep your distance. We all do.”
Sam nodded and pasted an I’ll-think-about-that look on his face, even though he wasn’t going to give it one more thought.
Or was he?
Should he keep his distance from Elsie? Would it be better for Wally and his brothers? He glanced in the direction of the softball diamond, where Elsie and the boys were busy filling the hole. Elsie was a puny little thing with a personality like a firecracker. She made him mad, and she made him think. She wasn’t afraid to stand up to him, and she did what she thought was right, no matter what. She had inspired Wally to practice hitting the ball—even if it was only because he wanted to hit it over her head.
Rose followed him while he hitched the team up to the wagon. “What is your favorite pie? I’ve never made you a pie before.”
A Courtship on Huckleberry Hill Page 12