by Jan Drexler
Mamm looked at him, her eyebrows raised. “It wasn’t your place to tell them such a thing. You’re only a boy.”
“I am a man, with a man’s job and a man’s responsibilities.” Matthias’s stomach quivered as he faced his mother. “It’s my decision to make, for the good of our family.”
Mamm turned back to the sink full of dishes. “We don’t have a family. Not anymore.”
Matthias had no answer to that comment. He crossed the room to let Leroy and Franny in.
“I didn’t expect you to come by today,” Matthias said.
Leroy glanced at Mamm, still standing at the sink with her back to them. “One of the older couples from the church are heading down to Pinecraft for the winter. They usually leave their horse with their son while they’re gone, but they agreed that you could take care of her just as well. She’s yours until spring.”
“We don’t need a horse and buggy,” Mamm said, turning around and drying her hands on a dish towel. “I told Franny yesterday. We don’t want it.”
“Matthias needs a way to get to work,” Leroy said. “He can’t ride his bicycle all through the winter.”
Mamm sank into a chair at the table. “I promised myself that he would never drive a buggy. Not after what happened to Ervin.”
Leroy pulled out one of the chairs and sat across from Mamm. “Ervin was in an accident. The horse isn’t to blame, or the buggy. A careless driver, a rainy night, and a slippery road were all factors. But that is in the past.”
“I’m not going to let my boy drive a buggy.”
Franny sat down next to Leroy. “But, Essie, he has to be able to go to work.”
Mamm’s lower lip trembled. “He can call a driver or ride his bicycle.”
Matthias sat next to Mamm and took her hand in his. “We need a buggy, and Leroy has arranged for one. We’re going to accept it with gratitude and humility.”
Mamm clung to his hand. “I won’t have you driving after dark.”
“That isn’t possible.” Matthias kept his voice gentle, remembering how dark it had been on that terrible night last spring. “It will be after sunset when I come home from work this winter. But I will follow the laws and use the safety precautions allowed by the church.”
Mamm’s mouth trembled.
“Essie,” Leroy said, “this is up to Matthias. He’s the one who needs to make the decision.”
“He’s a boy. It’s my place to decide for our family.”
Franny shook her head. “He is a man, Essie. Not your little boy anymore. He needs to take his father’s place.”
“I don’t want him to have to grow up too fast.” Mamm laid her hands in her lap, twisting them together. “I’ll ask Sally’s Simon. He’ll know what to do.”
Matthias resisted the urge to argue with Mamm. Simon had stepped into Dat’s role as soon as he heard about the accident. He was the one who had advised Mamm to sell the farm in Wisconsin and come back to Indiana. He was the one who had found this house for them. But was Mamm right to depend on him so much?
Leroy leaned over the table. “Simon has his own family. He’s responsible for his family’s dairy and his position as deacon in his own G’may. He shouldn’t also be expected to be the head of his wife’s family, not when you have a grown son to help you. Matthias is old enough and mature enough to take on whatever responsibilities he needs to. I wouldn’t have hired him if I didn’t think so.”
Mamm didn’t look at any of them. Leroy signaled for Matthias to follow him outside.
“We’ll let Franny talk to her,” he said as he stepped off the porch.
“Have I done something wrong?” Matthias asked, following Leroy as he walked over to the borrowed horse and buggy. “Should I have been making the decisions all along instead of letting Simon take over?”
Leroy adjusted the horse’s blanket as Matthias stood close, letting the mare take in his scent.
“It’s a difficult situation, especially since your Mamm still considers you to be too young to take on your family responsibilities. Simon is quite a bit older than you, isn’t he?”
“He’s almost fourteen years older.”
Leroy nodded. “On top of that, he’s one of those fellows who takes charge whenever there’s a need.” He patted the horse’s neck again. “That isn’t a bad quality, but it’s time for you to step up and take care of your Mamm. It’s a hard thing to do, I know. I was the oldest of thirteen children when my Dat passed on. At eighteen, I needed to take care of the farm and my younger siblings. My mother was overwhelmed. I know you can understand that.”
Matthias nodded.
“Do you agree with the decisions Simon made?”
“I would have bought a bigger place and farther from town.” Matthias said, looking at the small frame house. “This is fine for the two of us, and it’s what we could afford. But I don’t think Simon was considering that I might marry one day.”
“It only has two bedrooms?”
“One. I sleep in the attic while Mamm has the bedroom.”
“And it would be hard to bring a wife home, let alone try to raise young ones here.”
The thought of Ada’s smile startled Matthias. A girl like Ada would make a wonderful wife.
He grinned at Leroy. “If I ever find the right girl to marry, we’ll have to sort that out.”
The older man chuckled as Franny came out the door. “I’m sure you’ll come up with a solution. We need to get going. I told the girls you’d be coming to work in the shop this morning.”
“I’ll leave soon. I want to make sure Mamm is all right before I go.”
“By the way,” Leroy said as he picked up the reins, “the mare’s name is Nellie Belle.”
Matthias waved as Leroy and Franny left. Nellie Belle? That was a different name for a horse.
But then, almost everything was different since they moved back to Shipshewana. Leroy was right. Mamm would get used to him being the man of the family eventually, but it would be a long time before it felt right to him.
The store was busy on Saturday morning from the moment Ada flipped the sign to Open. The bell above the door tinkled constantly as customers entered and left, most of them carrying their purchases of Christmas ornaments or other goods from the store. In addition, nearly all of them purchased a cupcake or two, or a dozen cookies. Rose kept busy in the showroom, taking orders for furniture.
The weather was warm and sunny, so Ada propped the door open at the end of the hall leading to the workshop. Matthias was at his workbench, but he was concentrating on his task and didn’t look up when she waved.
When the morning rush was over, Rose came back from the showroom and collapsed into the rocking chair they kept for customers. “You know I love it when the store is busy, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people at once.”
“It’s getting close to Christmas.” Ada was replenishing the bakery display while she had a chance. “Vernon and Amos will have a lot of deliveries to make on Monday.”
“That will make Dat happy,” Rose said. She yawned.
“Were you out late again last night?”
“Johnny and I spent the evening at his brother’s house, playing games with his family. We had a lot of fun.”
“That wouldn’t keep you out late.”
Rose smiled. “We took the long way home.” She sighed. “There’s nothing like having a beau to make the days wonderful.”
“I think you’re in love.” Ada leaned on the counter, enjoying her sister’s happiness. If only Amos would ask to take her home from next week’s Singing or come by this evening to spend some time with her, if he wasn’t still sick. No matter what Rose had said, Ada trusted Amos. If he had told Dat he was ill, then he was.
The line of grandfather clocks started chiming the hour.
“It’s noon already?” Rose asked. “We should take our lunch break while the store is quiet. You go first. But eat in the workshop so I can call you if we get busy again.”
Ada g
rabbed her paper lunch bag and walked down the hall to the workshop. Sunlight streamed in the windows at both ends of the big room. She set her lunch on the break table and walked over to Matthias’s workbench.
“I’m taking a few minutes to eat my lunch, now that the morning rush is done. Are you ready for a break? You can join me.”
Matthias released the clamps from the table leg he was working on. “That’s a good idea, although I hate to stop working.”
She sat at the table and took her sandwich from the bag. “Everyone needs to take a short rest once in a while.” Ada took out an apple and put it next to her sandwich. “Bring your lunch over and we’ll keep each other company.”
When Matthias opened his lunch box, a small round piece of wood was on top of his lunch.
“What is that? Another farm animal for your nephews?”
“Not this one.” He handed it to her. “This is a present for my Mamm.”
The bird was shaped, but only partly carved. Ada turned it in her hands. It was about four inches long and looked as if the little creature was struggling to emerge from the wood like a chick from its egg.
“What kind of bird will it be?”
“A chickadee. Mamm had a bird feeder outside the kitchen window in Wisconsin and loved to watch the chickadees that came to the feeder all winter long. Another present for her will be a new bird feeder, since we left the old one behind.”
“Will you paint the bird? Or leave the wood plain?”
“I like to use an oil-based stain on the birds I carve. It gives the feathers color without covering up the beauty of the wood grain.” Matthias took a bite of his sandwich.
“How do you make the feathers?” Ada asked.
“I’ll show you.”
Matthias pulled out a small knife from his pocket and took the bird from her. He used the narrow blade to cut fine lines into the head, working while Ada finished her sandwich. Then he handed it back to her. He had given the bird a beak, with tiny feathers surrounding it. The feathers continued down the bird’s neck and toward the hint of a shoulder emerging from the wood.
“This is going to be beautiful. Your Mamm will love it.”
“I hope she does.” He finished his sandwich and reached in his lunch box for an orange. “Do you like birds?”
Ada felt her face heat up. No boy had ever asked her what she liked.
“Jah, I do. We have a bird feeder outside our kitchen window, too. My favorites are the cardinals.” She held her apple in her hand, forgotten. “Did you know that cardinal pairs stay together for life? I just learned that yesterday.”
“I didn’t know that. How did you find out?”
Ada hesitated. Would he laugh if she told him about the Wilsons?
“There was an older couple in the store yesterday. They bought a clock to celebrate their anniversary. They have been married fifty-five years.”
Matthias sat back in his chair, his face thoughtful. “Fifty-five years is a long time. I hope my marriage lasts as long.”
A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Ada’s stomach. “You’re getting married?”
He turned bright red and started clearing away his lunch with jerky motions. “I mean, when I do get married. I don’t have any—” He glanced at her and looked away. “I mean, there isn’t anybody.” He threw his wrappings in the trash. “I mean, I haven’t met—” Matthias stopped himself with a sigh. “Nee. I’m not getting married. But I want to. Someday.”
Ada watched him as he sat down again and drummed his fingers on the table. Most boys she knew didn’t talk about getting married. Some of them acted as if dating was a game and you only got married if you lost.
“Why?” She felt her face heat again. “I know why I’d like to get married someday, but you’re a man. Why do you want to?”
“It’s good to marry and raise a family.” He looked at her. “We have a godly heritage. All Christians do, but especially we Amish. We need to teach our faith and heritage to the next generation. It’s the most important thing we can do with our lives.”
Ada stared at him. He had spoken her own thoughts out loud. If only Amos—
“Ada!” Rose’s voice echoed down the hall from the store. “I need your help!”
She stood and tossed her napkin in the trash, folding her paper bag to reuse another time. “I have to go back to work.”
Matthias got up from his chair, too. “So do I.”
“I enjoyed our lunch together.”
He smiled at her, his face growing red again. “I did, too. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
Ada went back to the store and her customers. If only Amos were more like Matthias.
Matthias arrived at work early on Monday morning, eager to start his day. By the time Amos and Vernon arrived, he had already started sanding the table legs, taking short, quick strokes with the coarsest sandpaper. Leroy had a power sander he could use, but Matthias preferred to feel the wood under his fingers. Dat had taught him that quality furniture shouldn’t be rushed.
After his co-workers arrived, they sat at the lunch table, waiting for eight o’clock and the official start to the workday. Vernon’s laughter echoed in the big room. Matthias drained the mug of coffee he had brought with him from home, then headed to the coffee urn Leroy kept in the break area.
“I wasn’t really sick,” Amos was saying as Matthias passed the table. “Susie wanted to visit her sister’s family in Centreville, Michigan, for the week, so I drove her up there.” He leaned over the table. “But Leroy doesn’t need to know I took the day off for that. I have five sick days left, and I plan to use them before the end of the year.”
Matthias stopped by the table as he stirred creamer into his coffee. It had been hard to make friends with Amos and Vernon, but chatting for a few minutes might help him get to know them better. “Who is Susie?”
Amos glanced at him. “She’s a girl I know.”
Vernon laughed again, his voice cackling. “I’d say you know her.” He winked at Matthias. “She’s trying to get him to marry her.”
“She’s trying to trick me into it, you mean.” Amos frowned. “But if I marry anyone, it might as well be Susie.”
“She must be a girl from your G’may,” Matthias said. “The only Susie around here is old enough to be my grandmother.”
“Amos has dated girls from all over,” Vernon said. His voice was colored with a mixture of pride and envy. “I wish I had half the girlfriends he does. He had four girls at once one time.”
Amos shrugged. “You just need to know how to handle them, and don’t let them have any idea that the others exist.”
“You mean, each girl thought she was the only one you liked?”
“It would have been a disaster if they had found out. I would never have gotten a date again.”
Matthias stared at the other man. He would never think of living the way Amos talked about, lying to his boss and dangling girls on a string as if they were fish.
With another cackle, Vernon said, “There’s always Ada the Cow. She’d be happy to date you no matter what you did.”
Amos joined in Vernon’s joke. “She’s that desperate, isn’t she? I might just do that.”
“That’s cruel,” Matthias said. “Ada isn’t anything like that.”
“You don’t think so?” Amos grinned. “Then why does she bring in special cookies for us? You’ve seen her stumbling over her own big feet, that sappy smile on her face.”
Matthias’s heart pounded. “Maybe she’s just trying to be nice.”
“Nice?” Amos drained his cup and threw it in the trash. “Maybe I’ll ask her on a date. Just for a lark before Susie comes home. She would say yes so fast that you would think I offered her a pile of gold.”
Leroy came in the door that led to the driveway, stomping snow off his feet. “Good morning, boys. Are we ready to get to work? We have deliveries to make today, and we got several new orders over the weekend to start on.”
As Amos stood,
he leaned close to Matthias. “I’m right about Ada. If I get around to asking her out, she’ll jump at the chance.”
Leroy walked over and handed a sheaf of papers to Amos. “Here are the deliveries. One of them is the clock with the stained-glass cardinals, so be careful handling that one. I don’t want it broken.” He turned to Matthias. “Amos and Vernon can handle the deliveries. I want you to start on the orders. How are you doing on the table you’ve been working on?”
Matthias led him over to his workbench and showed him the progress he had made on Saturday. “They are all shaped, and I started sanding them this morning.”
Picking up one of the legs, Leroy looked closely at the curved shape and the inlay. “That’s fine work. I hate to interrupt your progress, but these new orders need to be done in time for Christmas, and that’s only a little more than a week away. I have them in my office.”
By the time Leroy had gone over the new orders, Matthias knew his time would be filled. There were several orders for the Lazy Susans folks liked to use in the center of their dining tables. There were also a few requests for what Leroy called “TV trays,” although Matthias had no idea why someone would want a special tray for their television.
“You’ll have to ask Rose or Ada to show you the sample we have in the showroom,” Leroy said. “We try to keep several on hand, but they all sold on Saturday. The display sample is the last one left.”
Matthias went into the store first, glad for an opportunity to warn Ada about Amos’s idea to ask her out. As he walked down the short hallway, he tried to figure out how to approach the subject. How did you tell someone that if the guy did ask her out, it was only to prove how desperate he thought she was?
Ada was at the bakery display, filling the trays with cookies.
“Any broken cookies today?” He grinned, feeling a little foolish. He always felt foolish when he didn’t know what to say.
She gave him one of her beautiful smiles. “For sure.” She picked up a frosted sugar cookie shaped like a wreath and handed it to him. “It isn’t broken, but it’s a bit crooked. It turned out as an oval instead of a circle.”
He took a bite of the cookie, delaying what he had to say as long as possible.