Taken for English

by Olivia Newport

  Ruth’s frustration. On top of her ongoing emotional turmoil about her feelings for Elijah, Ruth was frustrated with Elijah’s mother, with Annie, with Leah. The air in Annie’s small home had become tenser than she imagined possible. These weeks of being roomies with her dear friend and future sister-in-law were supposed to be full of joy and companionship. But they weren’t now.

  Leah’s behavior was erratic. Leah made her bed and straightened her end of the living room before she disappeared every day, but she was still gone before Annie came downstairs. Enough food was finding its way out of Annie’s cupboards for her to know that Leah was eating. As the days shortened and grew cooler, Annie wanted to suggest Leah should come home before dark for her own good. But to suggest any kind of rule would shake the fragile trust that kept Leah sleeping in a safe place at night.

  That afternoon Annie had dropped a vase that shattered on the shop floor. The symbolism did not escape her. When she turned off Main Street onto her street, Annie breathed prayers for insight and peace in the hearts of all around her.

  And she missed Rufus.

  P.S., God, she thought, let Rufus come for a visit.

  Ruth had only four items to take through the checkout line on Friday evening. She suspected that Leah was the one absconding with Ruth’s food contributions to the household, but so far she had not seen Leah awake all week, so she was not going to press the point. She was living rent-free and had enough money saved to cover her minimal expenses until Christmas, even if she had to buy the same food twice a few times.

  She spotted Bryan working a cash register and debated getting in another line, but in the moment she spent wavering, the other cashier plunked an orange CLOSED sign on the conveyor belt and turned off her light. Ruth smiled as she set her items on Bryan’s belt. What else could she do?

  “I wondered how long it would be before you came in during my shift.” Bryan slowly waved a container of yogurt over the scanner.

  “I don’t know what your schedule is.”

  “I find out every Thursday.” He set the yogurt down and picked up the bag of four apples to weigh.

  Ruth had never seen a checker punch in a fruit code more slowly. She glanced to make sure a line was not forming behind her.

  “I’m off tomorrow night.” Bryan picked up the half gallon of milk and waited for the scanner’s beep. “Maybe you would let me take you to a movie.”

  Ruth nudged her last item, a carton of orange juice, forward. She had never been to a movie, and she did not think this was the time or place to explain that reality to Bryan. He might never understand her, she realized, but he was consistently kind.

  “How about it?” Bryan finally got the juice to beep.

  “How about what?” Alan Wellner swooped in and scooped up Ruth’s four items, rapidly dropping them in a bag.

  “None of your business, buddy.” Bryan hit the TOTAL button and reported the sum to Ruth. She scanned her debit card and watched the cash drawer pop open.

  “Nuts.” Bryan pushed a button above the cash register, and a light blinked. “I’m out of quarters.”

  “You don’t eat much,” Alan observed.

  “I don’t like to buy more than I need, and I like fresh food,” Ruth said.

  “Frugal and healthy. I like that.” Bryan grinned.

  The shift manager shuffled over with a new cash drawer. “You keep running out of everything. Let’s just fill you up.”

  “Great idea.” Bryan stepped aside for the manager to swap the drawers.

  “Alan,” the manager said, “remember you owe me half a shift for Wednesday morning last week.”

  “Right.” Alan tapped the side of his head.

  “The next time you need to leave early, just say something instead of disappearing before we’re finished with the overnight stocking.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Last Wednesday. Something stuck in Ruth’s brain, and she tilted her head as if to shake it loose.

  Last Wednesday morning was the day of the planned training burn.

  And the unexplained outbuilding burn.

  “I couldn’t get away from work.” Ruth was sure she had heard those words from Alan’s mouth on the day of the burn. If he was not at the store, and he was not on time for the training, then where was he?

  Could he have been three miles away?

  Thirty-Three

  Annie came down the stairs on Saturday morning and instantly knew something was different. Ruth was gone, but Annie knew she had a morning shift at the clinic. At first she thought the whimpering she heard was the kitten, but he brushed by with the casual arrogance of most cats Annie had ever known and scratched at the back door to be let out. Annie ignored the kitten’s plea, uncertain whether Leah would approve and not willing to disturb the fragile peace of the household over a cat’s wanderlust.

  Rustling in the living room confirmed the source of the whimper. It was after eight in the morning, and Leah was still home.

  Annie sucked in a deep, uncertain breath and closed the yards between the staircase in the middle of the house and the sectioned-off half of the living room. Careful to respect Leah’s privacy, Annie remained on her side of the screen.

  “Leah?”

  The girl blew her nose but did not respond.

  “Did you sleep?” Annie heard Leah come in around eleven, so she knew she was in the house all night.

  Sniffles.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “No.”

  At least it was an answer.

  “I could make you a cup of tea.”

  “Okay.”

  Progress.

  Annie withdrew to the kitchen and started the kettle. Hopeful that Leah would accept some morning company, even without conversation, Annie took two mugs down from the shelf. She checked the kettle to make sure the water was warming and then stood in a classic impatient, foot-tapping pose, all the while listening to the noises coming from the other end of the house. The cat abandoned the quest for the outdoors and slinked back through the rooms.

  At the first hint of a whistle, Annie grabbed the kettle and poured boiling water over green tea bags. She gripped one handle in each fist and followed the cat.

  Leah had emerged from her bed and now sat in one of the chairs, her eyes red but dry. Annie handed her a mug and sat in the coordinating chair.

  “I suppose you want to know what’s going on.” Leah blew on the hot tea.

  “We have a deal.” Annie leaned back in her chair, hoping to appear far more nonchalant than she felt. “No questions.”

  “So you don’t want to know?”

  “I’m here to listen to whatever you want to tell me.” Annie’s heart raced.

  “It’s been over a month! No letter in over a month. What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”

  There it was.

  On top of Leah’s heartbreak over being separated from her young man, she was in a panic over his lack of response. Thirteen days had passed since Annie’s letter to Matthew, and she had heard nothing, either.

  “I’m sorry you’re hurting so much.” Leah’s anxiety was palpable, but Annie would not promise everything would be all right.

  “Aren’t you going to say Gottes wille? That’s what everybody says to me when I’m unhappy.”

  “I don’t think God means for us to be unhappy.”

  “Then why doesn’t He fix things? He could make Aaron write a letter. He could make my parents understand that I love Aaron. He could give me a job so I can earn train fare to Pennsylvania. God could do lots of things, but He doesn’t.”

  Annie moistened her lips and then hid them behind the mug of steaming tea. She hoped this disappointment would not put Leah over an edge Annie could not predict.

  “So you going home for the weekend?” Marcus sliced through the bottom of a carton and stepped on it to flatten it.

  “My friend should be here soon to drive me.” Rufus wiped sweat off his forehead then dropped the rag in his toolbox. His small bag of per
sonal items, removed from the motel that morning, waited for him next to the door.

  “I live up toward Cripple Creek or I would have been glad to drive you home,” Marcus said.

  “That’s kind of you. Tom doesn’t mind coming.”

  “Who would have thought we’d finish with this place in a week? You’re a speed demon when it comes to this stuff.” Marcus tossed the flat box on a stack in the corner.

  Rufus gave a half smile. “I’ve had a lot of experience with cabinets.”

  The door opened, and Jeff, their employer, came in. He nodded with approval. “Nice work, guys.”

  “Thank you,” Rufus said.

  “Look, this job went a lot faster than what I scheduled. I don’t have things firmed up for the next job yet. I’ve let everybody know to plan on a few days off, and I’ll call you next week and let you know where we’re going to be working.”

  “Give a hint where?” Marcus said.

  “Alamosa, probably,” Jeff answered.

  Marcus groaned. “That’s a long drive. You have to go around half the world to get to Alamosa from here.”

  “We have to follow the money, my friend.” Jeff gave a playful salute. “When you’re finished cleaning up, you can go. Talk to you next week.”

  Rufus tugged on the brim of his hat in thought. Alamosa was on the other side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. None of the highways were a direct route on the map. On the other hand, Amish settlers were increasingly numerous in Alamosa and Monte Verde, far more than in Westcliffe. He might find a family to extend him hospitality.

  His mind turned to Annalise and the land she did not know he owned. She did not know he was coming home, and now he could stay longer than just for the Sabbath.

  The land meant to be home to Rufus and Annalise might keep his parents in their home. And Joel and Lydia and Sophie and Jacob. Before Annalise sold her thriving software business and gave away most of her money, she would have seen the funds the Beilers needed now as loose change. She could have solved their problems with a phone call and an electronic funds transfer.

  Rufus decided to drive Annalise out to see the land. She deserved that much.

  Annie put on a warm jacket and took her bike out of the garage. It was late in the afternoon, but she believed she had enough light for a long bike ride. This time she would not even mind the hills, instead anticipating a good workout to burn off the week’s stress.

  Leah had finally agreed to a proper hot bacon and eggs breakfast that morning, but as soon as she finished eating, she picked up the kitten and went out the back door. Annie was left with a stack of dirty dishes and a sense of dread that Leah would not return.

  Garden chores called. Annie pulled in the last of the squash and stacked it in the kitchen. She cleaned the house from top to bottom, except for Ruth’s room. With a broom, she thrashed at the leaves piling up on the front walkway, then found a rake in the garage and attacked the leaves on the browning grass. During and in between her efforts to find something she could control, she remembered to pray and pray again for a quiet, humble, discerning heart.

  Still, she feared she would not sleep if she did not first exhaust herself. She would ride, take a hot bath, pray some more, and go to bed early before a fresh wind of discontent blew through her. Ruth had plans for the evening, though she had not said what they were, and Leah would do what Leah decided to do.

  What did it mean to seek God’s will? What did it mean to accept God’s will? And what did it mean to do God’s will? Questions tumbled without answers.

  Whenever Annie went for a bike ride without a predetermined destination, her feet seemed to automatically pedal toward the Beiler home. She would be welcome, she knew, if she stopped in. But if Annie stayed too long and darkness fell, someone would have to drive her home in a buggy, and she did not want to presume on any of them. She made up her mind to ride as far as the rise in the road that would allow her to see the farm and then turn back.

  She came to the rise and stopped at the highest point, prepared to look with heartfelt yearning on the scene before her.

  Instead she saw smoke.

  She pedaled hard down the sloping highway.

  Ruth was not at all sure she had done the right thing in accepting a date with Bryan. But standing in the grocery store yesterday, she had agreed to a meal rather than a movie. Bryan said he knew a place in Walsenburg he would love to take her.

  “Nothing fancy,” she had insisted. “I wouldn’t have anything to wear.”

  “You’ll look great whatever you wear,” he had said.

  “And home early,” she said.

  “Right,” he said. “The next day’s the Sabbath.”

  So here she was, in the passenger seat of his Mitsubishi while he challenged the speed limit just enough to display his anticipation of the evening. In another hundred yards, they would pass her family’s home.

  “I don’t like the way the sky looks up ahead,” Bryan said.

  Ruth leaned forward as they went over the rise in the road.

  Flames.

  “Is that on your land?” Bryan accelerated.

  Ruth gasped. “I think so. It looks like Joel’s field.”

  “Is there anything in the field that could catch fire?”

  “His whole crop!”

  “I mean a building, an electrical wire, a can of gasoline too close to a match.”

  “There’s an old shed. It was there when we bought the land. Joel might keep a few tools in it but nothing of value.”

  “We’re only five miles from town. It won’t take long to have an engine here.”

  Bryan had his phone out now and spoke calmly into it reporting the details of the fire.

  Rufus was relieved to be almost home. He enjoyed talking with Tom, who had come to understand the Amish ways well during his years of taxiing for them and doing business with them through his hardware store. But Rufus was anxious to surprise his family. He probably had not even missed supper yet.

  A siren wailed behind them, and Tom pulled to the shoulder of the highway. A water truck and a ladder truck whizzed past. Tom’s pickup shuddered in their wake.

  Rufus put a hand on the dashboard and leaned forward. “What could be burning out here?”

  “Maybe nothing,” Tom said calmly. “It might just be a medical call.”

  The trucks were out of sight now. Tom drove past one acre of trees after another. Rufus scanned the horizon from left to right and back again.

  Finally he sank back in his seat and muttered, “Joel’s field.”

  He could hardly breathe.

  Thirty-Four

  Annie held Rufus’s hand, not caring who might be watching, and the two of them huddled with Ruth.

  “Bryan is trying to find a way to help.” Ruth folded her arms across her chest, gripping her elbows. “But he’s not suited up. They won’t let him do much.”

  Annie put a hand on Ruth’s back. “He knows how to be safe.”

  The trio stood well back from the fire, which had demolished the shed and unfurled to low-growing crop around the field. Firefighters aimed hoses and pumped water. A layer of foam quickly covered the ground, stifling the efforts of windblown embers to find fuel and burst.

  “It’s just about out,” Rufus said.

  “This is going to ruin Joel’s crop, isn’t it?” Annie looked a few yards to her right, where she saw Joel sitting on the ground with his knees raised and his hands hanging between them. Behind him Eli knelt with a hand on his son’s shoulder. Lydia and Sophie on either side.

  “The chemicals they’re spraying will change the soil,” Rufus said quietly. “I’m not sure what it will mean.”

  “It’s not good.” Ruth spoke sharply. “This was supposed to be Joel’s first crop. Now look. What isn’t burned or ruined with chemicals has been trampled or rutted by the trucks.”

  “He’s been working so hard.” Annie’s throat thickened.

  “He persuaded Daed he could get one more crop before they le
t the field go fallow.” Rufus scratched his cheek. “It was going to be the start of a financial stake for him.”

  “At least it didn’t spread to the other fields,” Annie said. “They’ll be all right, won’t they?”

  “This was not an accident.” Ruth took a few steps forward. “Somebody started the fire that burned your cabinets, Rufus, and somebody started the fire in that county building along the highway. Now this.”

  “But why would anyone come after your family?” Annie asked.

  “I haven’t worked that out yet. Bryan says there’s always a pattern, and when this scene cools down, they’ll figure out what it has in common with the others.”

  “The fire on the highway and this one both started in sheds,” Annie mused, “but the first one was a half-built house.”

  “But it was empty,” Ruth countered, “and the fire started in the back. At least that’s what Bryan thinks. The highway shed burned from the back, too.”

  Annie could not keep herself from scanning the horizon, this time for a flash of purple. Leah had left the house that morning wearing the dress that had once been Ruth’s and then became Annie’s first Amish dress.

  “Let’s not get ahead of things,” Rufus said. “Since this fire happened on Beiler land, surely Daed will receive some information about it.”

  “I hope they will investigate.” Ruth swung her arms down to her sides, her hands still fists. “Tell Daed to insist.”

  “But what started the fire?” Jacob wanted to know. He kicked one heel softly against the leg of his chair.

  Rufus was glad his mother had kept his little brother away from the fire scene, but conversation and speculation swirled around the Beiler home as Franey put a delayed supper on the table. It would be impossible for an inquisitive little boy like Jacob to understand the event that had cast a pall on the evening.