by Sarah Price
Her brother was standing by the brick fireplace, fiddling around with the large cast iron pot that would cook the apples. He looked up when Priscilla walked into the room.“Mamm says I’m to take you for apples tomorrow,”he said.
“Really?”Priscilla answered, turning her head to look toward the kitchen. Every year, Mamm took Priscilla to the market for the apples. It was a special time of year for the two of them, especially since Priscilla’s older sisters had left the farm so many years ago. The bond that she had with her mamm was deeper than most daughters had with theirs, mostly because they spent so much time together. So, this was news indeed, for Mamm had never asked one of the boys or Daed to take her. So this news that Jonas had been recruited to accompany Priscilla surprised her.“Is she not feeling well then?”
Jonas shrugged.“Looks right as rain to me, I reckon,”he said casually before kneeling down to sweep out the ashes from the fire pit beneath the pot.“There! That’s should be all set for tomorrow.”He wiped his hands on his pants as he stood up.“Best go back out to see if daed needs my help with the cows,”he said before disappearing out the door.
Priscilla hurried into the kitchen and saw that Mamm was already preparing the evening meal. She was moving with lightning speed around the kitchen, her hands pulling down dishes and bowls from the cabinets. Priscilla walked toward her and reached out to take the plates in order to set the table. They moved in silence, each one knowing exactly what to do in order to get the table ready for supper.
Supper was a light meal in the Smucker household. Bread, chow-chow, pickled cabbage, cheese, and any other leftovers from the earlier meal were served most often. Sometimes Mamm made cup cheese and served it with pretzels, always a favorite of Priscilla and her brothers. But tonight, it was more simple fare.
“Jonas said he’s to take me for apples tomorrow?”Priscilla asked hesitantly,“Any particular reason for that?”
Her mammnodded.“Ja,”she said.“Have to watch the kinnerfor Elsie.”
This was news for Priscilla. It was Saturday and her older sister, Elsie, was always home on Saturdays.“Elsie OK?”
Her mammsmiled.“Just tired out these days,”she said softly. “Feeling a bit poorly and needs some rest after being at market yesterday and today.”
Priscilla smiled and asked no more questions. She didn’t need to for it was clear that her older sister was expecting again. This would be her fourth baby, a great addition to Elsie’s growing family, which included Katie, Ben, and Ruth Ann. There was nothing Priscilla enjoyed more than seeing the joy in her family when a new member was born. She was truly looking forward to the upcoming autumn and winter months now.
“Looks like it might rain tomorrow,”Daed said as he entered the kitchen. He smiled at Priscilla as he walked past her to wash his hands in the sink.“Hear you’re going to be making applesauce tomorrow, ja?”
Priscilla nodded.“150 quarts again this year, right Mamm?”
“That’s awfully ambitious,”Mamm said teasingly as she started setting the bowls of food onto the table.
Once everyone was seated, Daed bent his head and the rest of the family followed his example for the silent prayer before the meal. When he lifted his head, the conversation began. Bowls were passed, spoons scooped food onto the plates, and the events of the day began to unfold as the conversation flowed.
“Saw some of the neighbor women with their daughters in town today,”Daed said, glancing at Priscilla.“They were looking through fabric at the stores.”
Mamm met his gaze.“Starting to prepare for winter quilting, I reckon.”Her eyes flickered over to Priscilla.“I really do think that we should be considering making a quilt this winter, Priscilla.”
She caught her breath. If making applesauce was her favorite autumn activity, quilting was her favorite winter one. But she hadn’t thought that the quilting bee she might attend this winter would be her own. For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond. While she had only been to three quilting bees, she remembered how special those days had been. With grey winter skies appearing so dreary, it was wonderful to be surrounded by colorful fabrics, beautiful stitching, and lively women.“A quilt?”she asked.“For me?”
Daed frowned as if deep in thought as he teased her by saying,“I suppose that hope chest of yours is a bit empty!”
“Daed!”Priscilla said, glancing around the room at the rest of her family. They were laughing at her discomfort.“It’ll be filled in due time, I reckon,”she added softly.
“Aw, you can worry about filling it later,”Jonas said, trying to change the subject. He was always the great protector of his younger sister.“Here’s something a bit more current. There’s a volley ball game tomorrow at the Millers,”Jonas said, looking over the table at Priscilla.“I suspect you are already going, ja?”
The look on Priscilla’s face made it clear that she knew nothing about the event.“I…I hadn’t heard about it.”She wondered whether or not Stephen was going. He hadn’t mentioned it to her. Usually he would ask her if he could pick her up beforehand but, apparently, not this time. In fact, she realized, she hadn’t seen him all week.
Jonas’cheeks turned pink and he looked back at his plate.“Well, I’m going to head over there after chores. I’d be happy to take you, if you want.”
Mamm smiled understandingly at Priscilla.“Nothing wrong with riding along in your brother’s buggy, now,”she said. But the unspoken feeling was that everyone knew Priscilla was thinking about Stephen. Why hadn’t he asked her?
“Ja, I reckon,”Priscilla said soft, poking at her food with her fork.
“Better than Daed taking you,”Jonas said with a smirk.
“Don’t be cheeky,”Mamm reprimanded her son but her eyes twinkled at Jonas’attempt to break the tension that had suddenly befallen the table.
“What’s wrong with her daed taking her?”Daed chimed in, a pretend look of hurt on his face.
“Oh Daed,”Priscilla said, smiling appreciatively at her family. She was glad that they hadn’t mentioned Stephen’s name but even more glad that they cared enough to remind her of what was really important in their family: each other.
Chapter Two
It was just after nine in the morning when Jonas harnessed the horse up to the special hauling buggy. It had the regular box-like front to it but the back was open and flat which would allow them to haul the apples from market back to the farm.
After Priscilla finished her morning chores, she hurried over to Elsie’s to collect Katie, Ben, and Ruth Ann for her Mamm to watch. The children held hands as they crossed the street before racing down the driveway toward the main farmhouse. A day with their grossmammimeant a day filled with cookies, laughter and other special treats. Priscilla smiled, watching Ruth Ann try to keep up with her older siblings. But her small little legs couldn’t just quite do it.
Scooping the little girl into her arms, Priscilla nuzzled at her niece’s neck.“Come, Ruth Ann,”she said.“I’ll get you there in no time. Can’t have you missing mid-morning cookies now, can I?”
Inside the house, Katie and Ben were already seated at the old farmer’s table, waiting impatiently for Mamm to place a plate of sugar cookies before them.“Hurry, Ruth Ann!”Katie snapped.“We can’t get cookies until you sit down!”
Priscilla laughed. It was clear that Mamm was one step ahead of her grandchildren and was making them wait for Ruth Ann before anyone received any cookies. She set the little girl on the floor and watched as she scrambled onto the bench beside Ben.“Ready!”she exclaimed happily.
“I think Jonas is ready, Mamm,”Priscilla said.
“Where you going?”Ben asked, cookie crumbs spraying across the table.
“To get apples--and don’t talk with your mouth full,”Priscilla said.
“I want to go!”Ben cried out.
“Me, too! Me, too!”Ruth Ann piped in.
“Now, now,”Mamm said, placing a small cup of cold milk by each child’s plate.“If you all go, we won’t have room
for the apples. What’s more important? That you ride along or that we have enough apples to make applesauce?”
Neither child answered but Ben scowled, knowing that his grossmammi was right.
The market was only twenty minutes away from the farm. Priscilla leaned her head against the door and shut her eyes. She had awoken at five in the morning to get a head start on her chores and prepare all of the items that she would need to make applesauce. It was a nice cool day for which she was thankful. But she was tired so she let the buggy gently rock her into a short nap along the way.
Truth be told, she hadn’t slept much the previous night. She had tossed and turned in bed, wondering if Stephen Esh was going to show up at the volleyball game. If he did, that certainly was a sign that he wasn’t as keen on courting her as she had thought. While there wasn’t anything she could do about it, her heart felt heavy at the prospect.
“Wake up, sleepy head,”Jonas whispered as he nudged her.“We’re here.”
Blinking her eyes, Priscilla lifted her head and looked around. She had forgotten where she was and it took her a moment to reorient herself. The market. Apples. With a sigh, she pushed away any thought of Stephen Esh and hurried out of the buggy to follow Jonas into the market.
It was crowded at this time of the day. Many of the women were there to gather their fruits and vegetables so that they, too, could can them for the upcoming winter months. Priscilla smiled at a few of the women from their own church district but hurried toward the back of the store where she knew that the baskets of apples were waiting. She knew that they needed ten bushels in order to make a year’s worth of applesauce. It was a good thing that Jonas had brought the hauling buggy, she thought.
“Priscilla Smucker!”
At the sound of her name, Priscilla turned around. Her friend Sarah greeted her with a warm smile.“Gut mariye, Sarah,”Priscilla said.“You here for apples, too?”
Sarah laughed.“Ten bushels?”
Priscilla joined her.“Ten bushels!”
“Seems like we both have a long day ahead of us, ja?”Sarah glanced over her shoulder, noticing that they were alone in the aisle at the store.“You going to the volleyball game tonight?”
At the mention of the game, Priscilla sobered. She felt as if a dark cloud was passing over her head.“Brother Jonas will be taking me, ja,”was her simple response.
“Jonas?”Sarah asked, lifting an eyebrow. The meaning behind Priscilla’s words registered with Sarah and she sighed. Clearly Stephen was not taking Priscilla.“Well, that’s what big brudersare for, anyway. We’ll have a good time so it doesn’t matter.”
Priscilla tried to smile.“Have fun making all of your applesauce with your mamm,”she said before she turned back to the task at hand. But her heart was heavy and her pulse quickened. She felt helpless about the situation but she’d never be so brazen as to approach Stephen Esh. He was a grown man and had the right to choose whether or not he wished to court her.
It took her and Jonas five trips to carry the bushels to the hauling buggy. With everything secured, Jonas helped Priscilla into the buggy before he climbed in next to her and took the reins. With a click of his tongue and a slap of the reins on the horse’s croup, Jonas steered the horse and buggy out of the parking lot and back onto the lane.
“Sure is a lot of apples, back there”he said lightly.“Can’t say I’d be excited about peeling all of them.”
“Good thing Katie and Ben are there today. Mayhaps they can help, ja?”she said.“After all, many hands make light the work!”
Another buggy was approaching them. As they started to pass, Jonas slowed his horse down and raised his hand to wave at the other driver. As his hand was against the window, the two buggies were closer and Jonas caught his breath. He glanced nervously at Priscilla who was staring out of the side window. At the noise of her brother gasping, she turned around just in time to catch sight of the buggy passing alongside theirs.
“Jonas!”she whispered, clutching at his arm.“Please tell me that wasn’t…”
Jonas stared straight ahead, the color drained from his face. With a somber face, he clenched his jaw and said nothing.
“Jonas? Was that Susie Byler riding in Stephen Esh’s buggy toward market?”Her voice was pleading and tears began to well up in the corner of her eyes. With all of her strength, she willed Jonas to tell her that she was imagining things. But, when Jonas failed to reply again, she knew that his silence was a confirmation that, indeed, they had witnessed Stephen with another girl.
But it wasn’t just any other girl. It was Susie Byler. Earlier in the summer, she had created such a horrible mess over Priscilla’s donation to the Mennonite charity dinner. She had donated a decorated basket filled with tomatoes from her garden. But Susie had been jealous. The year before, Susie had earned recognition for her own donations. She hadn’t liked the competition from Priscilla. Indeed, she had accused Priscilla of stealing her gardening secrets and even vandalizing her tomato garden. Susie had even demanded from Polly, the organizer of the Amish participants in the event, not to allow Priscilla to participate in the charity dinner at all. But Polly had stood firm. Unfortunately, the youth group had splintered, with several of the young women siding with Susie Byler.
It had been a horrible few months for Priscilla. The fact that anyone in the community would believe that she could have done such terrible things was extremely hurtful, to say the least. But Priscilla was not one to come right out and accuse Susie Byler of lying. She firmly believed in turning the other cheek, as did her family and the members of her community.
The only saving grace had been Stephen Esh. That had been around the time when they had started courting. She had suspected that Susie might have also been jealous of his attention being directed at Priscilla. Without Stephen’s emotional support, Priscilla didn’t know how she would have survived the bullying from Susie Byler. For weeks it had continued until the actual charity dinner ended and the bishop had addressed the issue of competition among the people with the congregation.
Now, to see Stephen Esh taking Susie Byler to market was especially hurtful. It was all she could do to wonder if Susie was behind Stephen not asking her to the volleyball game. If she arrived at the game and he was there with Susie, Priscilla knew that her heart would just flip-flop. But she also knew that Stephen had the choice and she was not one to stop him from selecting which young woman would ride in his buggy. She only wished it wasn’t Susie Byler.
Back at the farm, Priscilla did her very best to push any thought of Stephen out of her mind. What’s done is done, she told herself, despite the fact that her chest felt tight and the happiness was definitely gone from her day. She avoided her brother’s concerned gaze as she slid open the buggy door and hurried into the sunshine, hoping its rays would help hide the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks momentarily.
The children ran out the door and into the porch to greet her, young Ben jumping up and down and clamoring for a fresh apple to eat. Even Ruth Ann was smiling and clapping her small hands, asking for a Granny Smith to sink her teeth into, a big smile on her cherubic face.
“Apples! Apples!”Ruth Ann chanted in her baby voice with a slight lisp.
“Now, now,”Jonas scolded gently.“Let me carry the baskets inside first. And they need to be washed before you eat them, ja?”
Ben made a face.“Don’t like waiting.”
Despite having a heavy heart, Priscilla tried to focus on making applesauce.“We have a lot of work to do,”she said with false cheerfulness in her voice.“I’m sure you’ll be sick of apples by the end of the day!”
For the next hour, they set to work cleaning and preparing the apples. Priscilla showed Katie how to peel the apples and taught Ben how to core and cut them into neat, even slices, close to the core, so that the least amount of apple was wasted. The peelings were gathered together and dumped into a big bucket. They’d feed those to the chickens later.
By the end of the day, 155 jars of ap
plesauce were lined up on the shelves, ready for use during the next year. Some would be given as gifts to the elderly for their birthdays. Others would be taken to family gatherings. One thing was certain, there would be no applesauce left over and, in twelve months, it would be time to start canning applesauce all over again.
“Just wait until Mamm hears about this,”Ben said, his small hands tugging at the suspenders that held up his black pants.“She won’t believe all the work we done!”
“Did,”Priscilla corrected gently.“The work we did.”
“Aw,”he scoffed, waving his hand at his aunt.“She knows what I mean, anyway!”
“Don’t be sassy, Ben!”Katie scolded.
“Don’t be bossy!”Ben shot back.
The friendly, cooperative energy of the day quickly began to dissipate. Priscilla didn’t want the two children to argue and ruin what had been a wonderfully welcomed distraction for her. So, she tried to divert their attention.“What an achievement we made, ja? I could never have done it without your help. What do you say that we pack up some of these jars for your mamm? I bet you’d like to taste some of this applesauce at your own home, later on tonight.”
Both children lit up, their eyes sparkling and smiles on their lips. Priscilla told them to select four jars each to set on the counter while she hurried to the pantry in search of a sturdy box to carry the jars to Elsie’s home when she’d walk the children across the lane.
Jonas opened the side door and poked his head inside, smiling at the children.“You little ones ready to go home?”
“Ja!”Ben shouted as he ran toward the door. He scurried under his uncle’s arm and leapt off of the porch. He landed in the grass on his knees.
“Careful, now,”Jonas said, laughing at the antics of the small boy.
Priscilla lifted the box from the counter.“I thought I’d walk them home.”
He waved his hand at her and reached for the box.“I suspect Mamm might need some help with making supper and you might need time to get ready for the volleyball game, ja?”