by Sarah Price
When she worked in the garden, she used her hoe to dig up the earth and pull out the weeds. She tended to the tomato plants with as much care as she could. She always broke off the bottom branches so that the good, healthy nutrients could focus on the top of the tomato bush. That was where the juiciest tomatoes would grow. Sometimes, she even talked to the plants, thanking them for giving the family such a bounty of food.
By Saturday, Priscilla was anxious for the volleyball game. After all, this was another first for her. She had never attended one as a sixteen-year-old. Her brother Jonas laughed at her as she smoothed back her hair just one more time in the small mirror that hung over the sink in the utility room.
“If you keep looking in that mirror, you might start seeing some gray hairs pop out,”he teased.
Priscilla frowned and looked over her shoulder at him.“You be nice to me, Jonas,”she said.“I bet you were the same way when you first went to a Saturday evening social gathering!”
Her mammfinished wiping down the counter. They had eaten a light supper at five, just before the evening milking. Luckily, Daed and David had volunteered to milk the cows so that Jonas could get ready and take Priscilla to the volleyball game.“Ja, he sure was,”Mamm chimed in.“Dusted his boots until they shone so much that he didn’t need a mirror to see his reflection.”
Jonas had offered to pick up Anna so they left earlier to travel the extra miles to her daed’s farm. She smiled as she jumped into the buggy, sitting beside Priscilla in the front, her body hanging partially out of the door. It was cooler and a lot of the youths liked to ride that way, despite the bishop reprimanding them for it being dangerous.
When they arrived at the Yoder’s farm, Priscilla and Anna noticed that most of the youth from their district were already there, along with some others that they had not met before. They noticed Polly and Sarah standing in the group so they hurried over to join them, hoping to get to know the other young women a bit better. Because they were older, neither Priscilla nor Anna had much opportunity to know them outside of the fellowship time following services on Church Sundays. This was the perfect opportunity to correct that.
However, Priscilla’s heart skipped a beat when she saw that Susie Byler already stood in the middle of the circle, giving her usual round of praise to everyone that was listening. She had some comment to give to everyone, some compliment or question. Priscilla quickly noticed that, despite the appearance of interest in the other women, everything eventually seemed to return to focus on Susie. Standing on the outside of the group, it was easy to see that Susie was trying to control the other girls and win their favors with overly abundant compliments. Clearly, she wanted to be the center of attention and affection in the group.
Priscilla started to turn around and walk away, disgusted with what was so obvious to her yet so unapparent to the others. She didn’t like the un-Amish-like manner in which Susie Byler behaved. Rather than be exposed as having negative feelings toward another, Priscilla preferred to find somewhere else to stand.
Unfortunately, Polly saw her turn to go and interrupted Susie’s latest story about her wonderful gardening skills.
“Priscilla Smucker!”Polly called out. All of the young women turned to look at Priscilla.“Come back here and tell us about your garden.”Polly smiled and waved her hand.“Your brother said you’re going to donate tomatoes to the charity dinner. He said you raise wonderful beefsteak tomatoes.”
Priscilla flushed and paused, not liking the attention. She was not used to people singling her out and she felt most uncomfortable. No one seemed to notice. They simply stared at her, waiting for a response. As Priscilla glanced at them, trying to figure out how to respond, she noticed that Susie Byler was glaring in her direction. Her dark eyes flashed with anger but no one else seemed to notice. Turning her attention back to Polly, Priscilla nodded her head.“Ja, brother Jonas told me that he had volunteered my donation,”she said.“After talking it over with my mamm, we felt that it was a nice thing to do since it raises money to help those in need.”
The other girls smiled and nodded their heads. Sarah Lapp reached her hand out and touched Priscilla’s arm.“You are such a good person, Priscilla. Always so sweet and thoughtful. We should all do the same as you…donate something to help those in need.”
Priscilla noticed that everyone quickly began volunteering to donate canned goods and meats, loaves of fresh bread and pies. The more people started clamoring around Priscilla and Polly, focusing on the community effort for the charity dinner, the darker Susie Byler’s face became. It was as if a dark cloud had passed over it and Priscilla felt a deep fear growing inside of her. She had never seen such ugliness manifest itself in someone’s expression and she certainly had never wanted to see such anger pointed in her direction.
During the volleyball game, Priscilla tried to forget about the uneasy feeling she felt earlier. She played the volleyball game, laughing with Anna, Polly, and Sarah, despite feeling heat from Susie’s glares on the back of her neck. Then, when Stephen Esh caught up with her between games, bringing her a cup of fresh meadow tea, Priscilla found herself focusing on something new: The way that Stephen had smiled at her.
So it caught her off-guard when she heard a whisper in her ear.“It recently came to my attention,”the voice hissed.“That you are copying my gardening secrets.”
Priscilla turned around, startled by the voice and the accusation.“Whatever are you talking about, Susie Byler?”
Susie put her hand on her hip. Her dark eyes flashed and a strand of her very blond hair fell out from under her prayer kapp.“I know that you copy my method of growing tomatoes! You also use store-bought fertilizer instead of natural fertilizer because you want the biggest tomatoes!”
Priscilla frowned.“That is most certainly not true! I have never even seen your garden!”
Susie snorted.“You can pretend not to know, but I know the truth.”She lowered her voice, her eyes piercing as she glared at Priscilla.“I heard about you donating food to the charity dinner. I make it my business to know these things, you see. You think you are so smart, but you are no more than a copycat. Several other people have noticed this, too. They are all talking about it.”She paused.“They are all talking about you and what a liar you are.”
Priscilla started to say something, but Susie put up her hand to stop her, a rude gesture that caught Priscilla off-guard.
“I raised the most money last year with my tomatoes because I know how to grow the best tomatoes,”Susie stated, her hands on her hips.“I would think that you’d want your tomatoes to stand on their own merit. Instead, they will just think you are mimicking me.”
Priscilla took a deep breath, wishing that someone was around to overhear this discussion. But they were alone.“Since you already grow the best tomatoes, I reckon you have nothing to worry about. Besides, I’m growing the tomatoes to help raise money for the needy, not to be recognized as the best.”
Susie glared again and leaned forward, her face just inches from Priscilla’s.“I’m going to tell you something right now, Priscilla Smucker. If, and when, I find out that you copied me, I’m going to complain to the bishop. You will be removed from the charity drive and everyone will know that you are a liar.”
For a moment, Priscilla was speechless. The attack was completely unprovoked on her part. The accusations were beyond ridiculous. Yet, there was nothing she could do about it.“You are absolutely crazy,”she whispered, taking a step backward to escape Susie’s close proximity.“Don’t talk to me anymore.”
“Oh,”Susie said, a sneer on her faceas she stood up straight.“If I’m crazy, I can’t help it. But you…you with your lying serpent’s tongue…you can!”And Susie turned on her heel and stormed away, her expression suddenly returned to normal as she rejoined the volleyball game and began laughing with her friends.
Priscilla stood there, her mouth hanging open and her heart heavy. She felt tears well up into the corners of her eyes and she had to reach up to wipe
them away. She couldn’t go back to the volleyball game, not the way she was feeling. Her hands were shaking, her heart was racing and her stomach was twisted in a knot. This was all so unfair and uncalled for.
She was still standing there when Stephen Esh came over to see what was wrong, Priscilla knew better than to confide in him. It would be wrong to tell someone what Susie had just said for that might be construed as gossip. And she knew that no one liked a gossip. So, instead, she tried to smile but she knew that she was still tense and upset.
This time, on the buggy ride home, Priscilla didn’t feel so talkative. She was still in turmoil over the disturbing things that Susie Byler had accused her of. Her stomach felt thick and heavy as if she had a pit inside there that churned. She even felt the beginning of a headache, although she couldn’t be sure if it was from the warm evening air or the stress of the unprovoked confrontation with Susie.
During the buggy ride, Stephen had asked her a few questions but Priscilla was so distracted by her own thoughts about that horrible conversation with Susie that twice she had to ask him to repeat the question. Her distraction was too apparent and, eventually, he stopped asking her questions. They rode home in silence and, when he dropped her off, he did not ask her to ride home with him from future events.
“How was the volleyball game?”Mamm asked when Priscilla walked into the kitchen. Her mamm was sitting on the rocking chair, stitching at a quilt square.
Priscilla hesitated, wanting to talk to her mamm but not wanting to upset her. There would be too many questions and, by speaking with her mamm about what was going on, her mamm might force her to go to the bishop. That would certainly set off a string of additional issues. The last thing that Priscilla wanted to do was to make Susie Byler look bad in the eyes of the community.
“It was fine,”she responded. But she knew that her voice wasn’t very convincing by the way her mamm raised an eyebrow and watched her hurry up the stairs.
When she plopped onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow, she cried. How could Susie Byler ruin what had the potential to be a wonderful evening? Because of that horrid young woman, Stephen would certainly never ask her to go riding again. All because of tomatoes!
She felt like her entire world had just collapsed and there simply wasn’t one thing that she could do about it. She had never felt so helpless in her life.
Chapter Six
The following Wednesday, Anna brought up the subject to Priscilla. Despite living almost two miles away, Anna had ridden her scooter over to the Smucker farm, a concerned look on her face. She found Priscilla in the garden, working on the tomato plants. Anna set her scooter down on the driveway and hurried across the grass.
“You’re never going to believe this,”Anna said as she approached.
Priscilla sensed the urgency in Anna’s voice and set the hoe on the ground, careful not to crush any plants. It wasn’t like Anna to visit in the middle of the afternoon. And she looked so distraught. Clearly, something bothered her friend.“What’s wrong, Anna?”
“I had the most disturbing conversation with that Susie Byler yesterday,”Anna said. Her face was pale and her brown eyes large.“I’m still shaking.”
“Oh dear,”Priscilla said. She didn’t have to hear the details for she was fairly certain that she knew exactly what Anna was going to say.“Let me guess…it’s about the charity dinner.”
Anna looked up, her eyes wide and surprised.“How did you know?”
Priscilla quickly told her about the conversation from the volleyball game.“I’m telling you, I’ve never seen such a look on anyone’s face,”Priscilla said when she finished her story.“I was actually scared.”
Nodding her head, Anna admitted the same.“She’s not right, I’m afraid. Something is definitely wrong. I heard that she just works in her garden all day, only stops to eat and eventually sleep. Her daeddoesn’t need her help in the fields and her mammwants her to be happy. They don’t even see that something is wrong with her.”
“Do you think that she’s obsessed with this charity dinner?”Priscilla gasped.
Anna nodded.“I’m starting to think that very same thing. The more anyone seems to talk about other people donating vegetables to the charity, the angrier she seems to get.”Anna lowered her voice, even though no one else was around.“I think she is jealous when other people get any attention.”
That didn’t sound right to Priscilla. Amish were taught to help and support each other. Jealousy was not something that reared its ugly head within the district too often. In fact, modesty was a highly valued characteristic in an Amish woman. If Susie Byler was, indeed, jealous, she was prideful and that could very well hinder her from ever getting appreciated within the community.“She needs help,”Priscilla said.
Anna frowned.“I’m not about to tell her that. Not the way that she spoke to me.”
“No, no,”Priscilla agreed. She had made it clear that she didn’t want to speak with Susie Byler again.“But she’s obviously got issues. Mayhaps the bishop could talk to her.”
Anna sighed.“This is all so silly, isn’t it?”
Priscilla nodded. Anna was right. The whole situation was almost comical…if only it wasn’t really happening.“I have been so upset about it. Would it be awful to admit that I feel a little bit better to know that she’s after you, too?”
Anna laughed.“I suppose I can understand that. Mayhaps because we are the newcomers to the group, she feels a bit threatened.”
“Indeed!”Priscilla joined Anna in laughing at the situation. But it wasn’t an honest laugh. Instead, it was full of sadness and regret. She worried about the upcoming singing. Would Stephen Esh ask to bring her home again? She doubted it. Not after the way she behaved at the last volleyball game. Certainly he would think she wasn’t interested or simply dull. Just one more thing that Susie Byler had ruined, she thought angrily.
Priscilla spent the best part of the next few days quietly reflecting on the situation and hoping that it would die down. After all, the charity dinner was only one week away now. Priscilla couldn’t imagine that it could get any worse.
On the Sunday after the service, she realized that she had been wrong. She had sat next to several of the girls during the service and noticed that they were behaving strangely toward her. One of them seemed to lean away from Priscilla and no one whispered to her during the sermon. Their behavior was indeed peculiar. At first, Priscilla didn’t find that strange, especially since Bishop Zook was preaching today. No one whispered when the bishop drew the lot to preach.
But afterwards, it was Sarah Lapp who pulled Priscilla aside. Grabbing her hand, she took Priscilla out of the barn where the service had been held and they walked around the corner where no one was standing. She looked pale and unnerved. Without hearing a word, Priscilla knew exactly why Sarah looked so unhappy and a pit quickly formed in her stomach.
Yet, she wasn’t prepared for Sarah’s first question.“Did you destroy some of Susie Byler’s tomatoes?”
“What?”Priscilla said, her heart beginning to pound. She could barely believe that Sarah had asked her that question. She repeated it in her mind, trying to decide whether or not she had misheard what Sarah had actually said.“What are you talking about?”
Sarah nodded her head.“You heard me right. Susie Byler told Polly and some of the other girls that you went to her house and crushed some of her tomato plants last night.”
The tears began to well up in Priscilla’s eyes. What a vile accusation, she thought.“That’s not true at all! How could she say such a horrible thing?”
“I know, Priscilla,”Sarah said, reaching out to rub Priscilla’s arm, a gesture of comfort that fell short of its target.“But I wanted you to know what she’s saying.”
Priscilla felt sick to her stomach. How could anyone say such a thing? Then, it dawned on her that Sarah had asked her for a reason.“Are people believing her?”
Sarah nodded again.“Some are, yes.”
Priscilla li
fted her hand to her cover her mouth. How could anyone believe such a horrid lie? No one in their community would do something so dreadful. Vandalize another person’s property? To state something like that was just despicable and Priscilla was stunned.“That’s an outright lie,”she said, wiping the tears that fell down her cheeks.
“It gets worse,”Sarah said.“She even went so far as to demand that Polly not let you participate in the charity dinner.”
“Can she do that?”Priscilla gasped. After all of her hard work, was it possible that now, because of Susie Byler, she couldn’t donate her tomatoes to help raise money for charity? “Why is Susie doing this?”
Sarah frowned and shook her head.“She’s jealous, Priscilla. Think about it. She won last year, received all of the attention from everyone at the singings and social events, and then you showed up with Anna. She didn’t like the idea of having competition. It took away from her own glory.”
“But she’s not going after you or Polly or any of the other girls!”
Sarah shrugged.“She’s younger than them. Wouldn’t make sense to attack them, I reckon.”
“This is terrible,”Priscilla moaned. She had never been the subject of such bullying before. In fact, she had never heard of anyone being bullied in their community. Of course, there was that issue in Ohio of the renegade Amish man who bullied people in his community for having different beliefs. But that was so far away and resulted in some physical attacks, not social or emotional. No one in Priscilla’s family had ever talked about how to handle such situations.“What do I do?”
Sarah smiled, despite the look of sorrow in her eyes.“You keep working on your tomatoes and you donate them to that dinner.”