A Simple Hope

by Rosalind Lauer

  “At the time, I didn’t think so.” Shandell looked over the wet jeans, frowning. “But, yeah, I guess I was running away. But I’m looking forward to going back now. Do you have any experience with hand-washing? Look at this mud. I was going to heat up some water and add detergent.”

  “Hot water can lock in a stain. Better try cold.” Rachel took off her coat and pushed back her sleeves. “Let me have a try.”

  “Oh, thanks!” With a wobbly smile, Shandell handed Rachel the jeans and powdered soap. “I’ll be right back! I left the buckets of fresh water behind.”

  “Mind you don’t slip,” Rachel called after her.

  “I won’t.” As Shandell blew out the door, Rachel noticed that her pajama pants had little drawings of Minnie Mouse on them. She was familiar with Disney characters; Rose used to collect Disney books and stickers, until she decided she was too old for cartoons.

  This Shandell was an interesting girl, very contrary. Blue hair and Minnie Mouse pajamas. A woman and a girl at the same time. As she spread the pants on the floor and sprinkled soap flakes over the mud stains, she saw that this day was going to hold far more surprises than she’d planned.

  An hour or so later, Rachel held her breath and the reins as Mark and Edna helped James into the buggy.

  “Easy does it,” Mark said as he crouched on the running board and helped lift his brother into the seat. Rachel tried not to stare, but it seemed to her that James was pushing up with his legs. Was that her imagination?

  She turned away, not wanting James’s family to see the cloud of worry in her eyes. When she had met Shandell this morning, it was clear that the girl needed help. But now she was beginning to wonder how it had become so tricky to follow the Golden Rule and the rules of the Ordnung.

  Thank goodness James was soon in his seat and ready to go. Rachel called to Patches, the horse, and soon they were trotting down the lane, approaching the highway that bordered the north side of the Lapp orchard. Last night’s heavy rains coated all the grasses and bushes, and the water drained into the ditch alongside the road. The world was damp and sodden. Just like my heavy heart, Rachel thought.

  “You’re awfully quiet today,” James said as Rachel paused at the end of the road to check for traffic. “What’s the matter?”

  “I got up extra early,” she said, trying to tamp down her hurt and annoyance. What sort of fella kept a girl hidden from his family … and from his best girl? “I had a surprise planned for you.”

  “For me?” He tipped his head down so that the brim of his black hat blocked his eyes. “You do enough for me, Rachel.”

  “Well, I wanted to do something special. And I walked back to the sugar shack to set it up.”

  He lifted his chin, his dark eyes meeting hers. “The sugar shack?”

  “Ya. And it turned out, the surprise was on me.”

  “Because she found me there, in a very embarrassing situation,” came a low voice from the back of the buggy.

  James’s head whipped around, his face suddenly gone white as a sheet.

  Shandell popped up from the backseat and leaned forward, propping her head between Rachel and James.

  “Ach!” James slapped his chest. “You two have more power to shock than a bolt of lightning.”

  “Sorry, James. I didn’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “I’m not in trouble. Why are you riding in the back of the buggy?”

  “I was going to walk into town to call my mom, but Rachel said she would take me to a phone that I could use. I’ll walk back to the sugar shack from there and pack my things up.”

  “This isn’t wise,” James said. “You shouldn’t be in the back of the buggy. Folks will be talking if they see you.”

  “Now you’re worried about what folks might think?” Rachel demanded. “Have you gone crazy? Verhuddelt?” Unable to contain herself any longer, Rachel launched into Pennsylvania Dutch. “Taking in an Englisher girl when your father has warned you to keep to Plain folk? Sneaking around behind your parents’ back? And hiding it from me, too? Me, James.”

  “So … I’m not hiding it from you anymore,” James returned in Deutsch.

  “Only because you got caught!” Rachel exclaimed.

  James folded his arms, a gesture that said he was closed off to her once again. This was not what Rachel wanted. She wanted to be his partner. She wanted him to count on her and trust her.

  “Umm, guys?” Shandell spoke up from the back. “I don’t speak that language, but I get the drift. I’m really sorry.”

  James turned to Rachel and asked in Deutsch: “Do you know the story of the Good Samaritan from the Bible?”

  Rachel let out a breath. “Ya, I know the Good Samaritan,” she said in English. “But this is different.”

  “I know that story, too,” Shandell said. “It’s a classic.”

  “She knows the Bible,” James said in Deutsch. “She is a good girl, Rachel, a person who has fallen on hard times like the Jewish man in the story. I gave her food and a place to stay. Very small acts of kindness compared to the sacrifice of our Savior. And have you forgotten Jesus’s commandment to love your neighbor as yourself?”

  “I am thinking about the Ordnung,” Rachel said in English. “About respect for parents. About following the rules set by the bishop.”

  “This is true,” James continued in Deutsch, “but when I was caught between the two sides, I chose to help a person in need, and I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to draw you into it for this very reason. It’s not so simple, is it? Shandell reminds me of my sister Verena, and if she were to be stuck somewhere during her rumspringa, I would pray that a stranger would give her food and shelter.”

  Rachel pictured Verena … then she thought of her own sisters, Rose, Bethany, and little Molly. It would be a terrible thing if anyone in her family got stranded without a friendly face in sight. A few nights ago, James had come face-to-face with Shandell and he had needed to make a quick decision. Who was Rachel to question his choice—especially when he had risked angering his parents to help a girl in need?

  “I hope you two aren’t arguing over me,” Shandell said. “ ’Cause I’ll be out of your hair tonight.”

  “We don’t argue,” James said flatly.

  “Really? You could have fooled me.”

  Rachel turned to take in the man she loved, his dark eyes smoky and distant, and the young woman with a baby face and strange blue hair. It was all so peculiar, like a feverish dream. But it was real, and there was no denying that this was the way Gott intended her day to go. The Almighty did not make mistakes.

  It was verhuddelt, all right.

  “That’s a phone shanty?” Shandell stared at the little shingled shack painted white, which seemed to spring from the corner of a farmer’s field. “It’s so cute! Like a country phone booth.”

  “My family shares that phone with a few other neighbors,” James explained. “No one will mind if you use it.”

  Shandell hopped out of the buggy and waited as Rachel came around to open the shanty door. “I thought that Amish people weren’t allowed to use phones.”

  “We can use them, but we cannot have the phone lines running to our house.”

  “Well, I appreciate you letting me use this. I’ll pay you back someday. Really, I’m going to come back and make up for all the nice things you’ve done for me.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” James said. “But you do need to make your call so we can continue on. There’s folks expecting me at the clinic, and it won’t do to keep them waiting.”

  “I am on it,” Shandell said, stepping inside. It was an old-fashioned phone with big numbers to press. Quickly, she tapped in her home number and waited for an answer, hoping against hope for Mom, though Shandell knew her mother probably had to work this morning.

  “Hello?” Phil’s voice made something curl inside her. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing him again, but she had promised herself that she and Mom were going to work out a p
lan so that Shandell was no longer responsible for cooking for him and cleaning up after him.

  “Phil, it’s me, Shandell. Is my mom there?”

  “No. You know she’s working,” he said, launching into a mini lecture about how her mother didn’t have the time or means to live a life of leisure.

  “Right. Sorry. I promised Mom I’d call her today. We need to coordinate the store where she’s going to pick me up.” Shandell had picked a place in town, knowing that it would cause way too much suspicion to have Mom meet her on the country road that passed by the Lapp orchard.

  “Picking you up?” he asked. “Hold on a second. Let me get something to write with.” She thought she heard him talking to someone else, but then maybe it was the TV. “Okay, where are you again? I’m supposed to write down exactly where you are.”

  “I’m in a little town called Halfway. There’s a convenience store on Main Street that’s open all night. It’s a 7-Eleven, I think.”

  “The Halfway 7-Eleven,” Phil said, and there was a low sound in the background. Was someone else there?

  “I have to go. Just tell Mom I’ll wait for her at that store.”

  “Actually, your mother’s not the one coming to get you,” Phil said.

  “What?” Shandell held the handset of the phone closer as disappointment seeped in, cold and chilling. “What are you talking about?”

  “You know your mother’s busy. Her work schedule’s crazy. And we had another volunteer. You’ve had a visitor here. He came by twice this week. He’s sitting here now.” Phil chuckled. “It’s your boyfriend, Gary.”

  Gary! “He’s not my boyfriend,” she protested.

  But Phil went on. Either he didn’t hear her or he didn’t care. “He’ll be coming to get you tonight, right there at that 7-Eleven. He thinks he knows just where it is.”

  “No,” Shandell breathed, closing her eyes. This couldn’t be happening.

  “Phil … Dad … You can’t send him out here. He’s the reason I never got home in the first place.”

  “He’s been worried about you ever since you ditched him. That’s not a nice thing to do, now, is it?”

  “I ditched him because he wouldn’t take me home,” she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

  “Don’t be a drama queen.” Phil’s tone was surly now.

  “Tell her I’ll see her tonight,” Gary said in the background. “At the Halfway 7-Eleven.”

  “Phil, listen to me.” Shandell’s heart was beating fast as she gripped the phone. “Don’t send Gary. That’s just a waste of everyone’s time. I want Mom to come. I need Mom to come get me. Please.”

  “Listen to you, making demands. Still haven’t learned that it’s not all about you.”

  “This isn’t about being selfish, it’s … it’s about self-preservation.”

  “Easy, drama queen. You know what I always say: You’ll get what you get and you won’t get upset.”

  She had heard that one a hundred times, but it wasn’t going to keep her from trying to straighten this out. “Don’t send Gary. I’m not getting in a car with him.”

  “Oh, and now you’re a snob? Too good for him?”

  “That’s not what I mean at all. Please, tell Mom that—”

  “You can tell her yourself, when you get home tonight,” he said. “When Gary drops you off.”

  Before Shandell could respond, there was a click on the line. Disconnected.

  Quickly, she punched in the number again. She would keep her emotions in check and reason with Phil. But the phone rang on and on, and outside the door of the shanty, the sight of James and Rachel talking in the buggy reminded her that they were waiting, and James had to get to therapy. She would have to leave a message and call back later.

  After the tone, she told her mother not to send Gary, because she would not go with him. She promised to call later, adding that she really wanted to come home and missed her mom.

  After she hung up, she realized that Phil would probably be the one to retrieve the voice mail. He would be annoyed that she hadn’t said that she missed him, too. He might even delete the message without telling Mom about it. He could be that petty sometimes.

  As she left the shanty, she pressed a hand to her mouth. Would she be able to talk sense into Phil? She knew Gary could be very persuasive.

  Oh, if she could just reach Mom. She tried Mom’s cell, but the call didn’t go through. That was no surprise; Chelsea worked in a building with zero cell reception.

  “Shandell?” Concern flashed in Rachel’s blue eyes. “You’re shaking like a leaf. Are you sick?”

  “Sick at heart, I guess.”

  “Did you speak with your mother?” asked James.

  “No.” She climbed into the back of the buggy and collapsed on the seat. “She was at work. But it turns out she’s not coming for me tonight. They decided to send Gary, the lunatic that I had to escape from.”

  Rachel started the buggy moving, turning it around on the road. “What’s a lunatic?”

  “Verhuddelt,” James said. “But in a mean way.” Then he launched into that language Shandell didn’t understand again, only this time his tone was more concerned than argumentative.

  “I see,” Rachel said. “This man, Gary, he was trouble for you?”

  “Big trouble.” Shandell didn’t know how to begin describing Gary, but she tried to give Rachel and James a condensed version. “He told me we were going home, but he kept stalling and driving through all the towns around here, telling me he’d take me home when he really had no intention of doing that. I felt like one of those kidnap victims who have to break free. And he’s a thief. At first he stole gas and snacks from a few gas stations. Then, when he realized that Amish people don’t give a lot of push-back, he started stealing from Amish shops and stands. So, yeah, he’s trouble.”

  She thought about her plan to call back and talk Gary out of coming. That was lame. He wasn’t going to back off, especially now that he knew where she was. It would be like some sort of conquest for him, a sick victory. He would enjoy having her back in his car and under his power.

  Would he actually drive her home?

  She wasn’t going to take the chance that he might do her that favor.

  “What will you do if he is the one who comes tonight?”

  “I can’t go with him. If he’s coming to Halfway, I’m going to get myself as far from here as I can, even if I have to hitchhike. As soon as I get back to the sugar shack, I’ll get my stuff together and leave. What’s the next town over?”

  “Paradise,” James said, “but it’s a good ten miles. It will take you most of the morning to walk there. And what will you do once you get there? It’s much like Halfway, but bigger. You talked to the police and they can’t help you. I don’t think the answer is in Paradise.”

  That sounded funny; Shandell would have laughed if she didn’t feel nauseated.

  “And don’t forget, your pants are still drying,” Rachel reminded her.

  “Right.” The ultimate humiliation; Shandell was now running around in her Minnie Mouse pajama pants. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal on some college campuses, but here in Lancaster County, the attire wasn’t quite so loose. “Well, I guess I’ll be walking in wet jeans.” She would get over it and get through it. She didn’t know where she would go next.

  She knew only one thing for sure: She could not go near Gary.

  James watched the two of them move about the sugar shack, chatting like two old friends. It was hard to believe that Rachel and Shandell had met just this morning, and in a very uncomfortable moment, too.

  Warm from the fire and relaxed from a good helping of cheesy casserole, James eyed the cocoa drop cookie in his hand. It was his favorite treat, from his favorite girl. Indeed, the young woman he had always planned to marry. But in the years before, James had not seen Rachel tested on big matters. He had not known that she had the strength to travel a bumpy road, full of obstacles, until she had stayed by hi
s side throughout his rehabilitation. He had not seen her endure his harsh words until Easter Sunday. He had not seen anger flare in her cornflower-blue eyes until today. And he had not seen her take a fallen angel under her wing, until this evening when she realized that Shandell was truly in need.

  What a day it had been! James had risen at four as usual and had spent nearly four hours working in the orchard with his brothers and sisters. They were making some progress with the fertilization, but he feared it was not enough to keep Dat from hiring on strangers to take over the orchard.

  And a new can of worms was opened as Shandell considered her future. James and Rachel weren’t sure what to do, but Rachel had been firm on getting Shandell to stay at the sugar shack until they returned from treatment so that they could talk about a plan.

  And then, at the clinic, when his treatment was done, Dr. Finley gave him another chance to stand up—and he did. This time, he stayed on his feet for nearly three minutes, holding on to the bars only for balance. A true blessing! It reassured James that the progress of the day before hadn’t been a fluke. After that, he had pushed himself during the physical therapy, scraping all of his might to lift each leg, just a little bit. JJ was a good inspiration, calling at him to squeeze hard here or press hard there.

  “Even if you move just a hair,” JJ had said. “A fraction of an inch today can be a few inches in a few months, and before you know it you’re taking a few steps.”

  That was exactly the encouragement James needed to hear. He vowed to do everything asked of him in physical therapy. With Gott’s blessing and lots of hard work, James would be a whole man once again.

  And now they were back at the sugar shack with Shandell, the stranded Englisher girl. He took a bite of the cookie, letting the bittersweet chocolate melt in his mouth. So much had been packed into one day.

  Watching the two of them now as they gathered trash and tidied up the sugar shack after the good supper Rachel had brought, James realized that he loved Rachel more than ever before.

  No longer lost in her art, no longer distant and dreamy, Rachel had stepped out of her girlhood to become a woman who cared deeply for him and for other people. When had this change happened? He suspected the accident had something to do with it. Those first few weeks, he’d been surly and distant, sunk too deep into the muck to notice anyone else. From a terrible tragedy, Gott had blessed Rachel with new strength. She now had backbone and a kind heart. When she calmed Shandell’s worries, he could imagine her soothing the children they would have. When she handed them plates of casserole warmed from the woodstove, he saw her serving up a big family supper. It was a pretty picture, imagining Rachel as his wife. It pushed him that much more to recover, so that he could be the healthy husband she deserved.