The Stranger

by Linda Maran

  “Jah. That it is.” John opened the screen door to go. He wasn’t up for this conversation. He missed Kristen too much to speak about her.

  “Did you talk to her on Angela’s phone when she called?” Aenti Miriam pressed on.

  “Nee, I’ve been at the store.” John leaned against the opened screen door.

  “Maybe Angela can say a hullo for you to Kristen.” Aenti Miriam kept on the topic.

  Mary came down the stairs. “I’d like her to say hullo from me, too. Can you tell Angela that later, Mamm?” Mary waited for Mamm’s nod then walked outside.

  John said nothing. Finally, he closed the screened door behind him.

  When Mary and Daed were settled in the buggy, John flicked the reins and Old Faithful trotted toward the road.

  “You know, I’m not one for meddling in anyone’s business. But this time I just have to tell you, Brudder, you’re acting like a pouting little boy. Not even a hullo to Kristen. It wonders me, John. It really wonders me.”

  “’Tis not a matter for you to be wondering about,” he said as he flicked the reins again to hurry Old Faithful along. The sooner they got to the store, the better. In his whole life, Mary had never voiced her disapproval of anything that John had done. He must be acting like a real dummkopf for her to speak out that way to him.

  Daed kept silent. At least for the time being.

  After tending to several customers with a pasted smile on his face, John decided to take heed to Mary’s admonition.

  She was a quiet but observant young woman, and her spoken words held much introspection behind them.

  He walked over to where his sister stood by Mamm’s cherry preserves and church peanut butter. She’d just opened a box of the blueberry ready to be added to the shelves.

  “Don’t we sell letter writing paper?”

  Mary turned from the jars with a brightened face.

  “Jah, we do. We have the plain white kind, some yellow with the state bird on it, and the light blue.” She led him to the end of the aisle where the school supplies were kept. “There,” she pointed.

  John remembered when Kristen had measured all these shelves and suggested the items that would best go on each of them.

  “I don’t s’pose you have the address of Kristen’s place at the beach handy, do you?”

  Why would Kristen want to come back to him if she thought he didn’t care enough to even ask how she was? He couldn’t let his own fear of what she might say in regard to her former world cut her off dry until she said the only words he longed to hear. It was downright foolish indeed.

  “Nee, not here. It’s at the haus. I think I’ll write Kristen a letter, too. We’ll address the letters at home when Mamm, Aenti Miriam, and Anna come to relieve us at lunch time. I’ll have Anna write something at the end of my letter. She’ll be thrilled about doing that, jah?”

  “Listen, Mary. I’m sorry about being snippy with you on the way over here. I’m not myself lately, is all.” John was tempted to tell her more. He wanted a woman’s opinion on what he should do while waiting to see if the girl he loved would come back to Stone Arabia for always.

  “Ach, I was just being sensitive. You remember when I was courting David Schultz and how he never wrote to me even once whenever he’d go back to Pennsylvania to visit his brudder?”

  John nodded.

  Mary had been crazy in love with David Schultz two years back.

  “It wondered me how he didn’t yearn to pick up a paper and pencil and write his thoughts to me. Vell, now I see why the gut Lord made sure we didn’t stay a couple for too long.”

  “Truth be told, Mary, I’m not sure I want to hear Kristen’s thoughts about New Jersey and her beloved ocean and haus there. I want to hear that she misses us and our way of life here.”

  “Kristen can be fond of a place and its things and still miss us and her life here, ain’t so?”

  “She’ll always be caught in the middle of both worlds unless she misses one more than the other.” John took a sheet of the yellow paper with the bluebird on it and a matching envelope.

  “Seems to me that it’s not so much about places and things as it is about people. Her familye is here now. And you’re here, John. She needs time to make peace with her memories, is all. But she can’t make a life out of them there.”

  “How’d I get such a schmart sister?”

  “Ach, go on! Write your letter back here while I tend to the customer who just came in.” Mary leaned around the shelves and peered down the aisle to see who jingled the door. “Ach, it’s just big Ben from the farm down the road. Probably wants to have a gab session with Daed by the tool bin.” Mary pulled out a sheet of white paper from the shelf and headed up front.

  John took a composition book and walked to the next aisle where the wooden stools that Daniel made were displayed. He grabbed one to sit on, placed his paper on the composition book and began to write to Kristen.

  Mary had said that it wondered her how David hadn’t yearned to write his thoughts to her. John’s yearning for Kristen went beyond mere letter writing. He longed to see her face, hear her voice, and have her presence across from him at the table again. That was the truth of it and that’s what he wanted to write in his letter to her.

  Dear Kristen…

  25

  Kristen did a good job eliminating the musty smell that had taken residence in the house since it’d been closed up. But that wasn’t unusual for a place only a block from the ocean. She’d left the windows opened the last few days to give it a good airing out. Now it smelled clean and fresh like the ocean.

  The fridge had been emptied and turned off the night before she’d left to stay with Cindy and her family. She shuddered at the memory. She’d been so scared and bewildered. Felt so alone. Things had certainly changed since then. Tomorrow her Amish father was coming to visit and see the place where she’d grown up.

  She wore Englisch clothes while here. Shorts and a t-shirt today. A skirt and quarter sleeved t-shirts for the weekend. Not Plain by any means, but not too shocking for Jacob.

  Kristen wanted everything in the house to sparkle, be neat, and welcoming. She straightened out all the magazines that were on the coffee table, went over the wooden floors with a damp mop, cleaned the kitchen counter, sink, and placemats on the table with a soapy sponge. Then she uncluttered the guest room and made up the bed with clean sheets.

  Later that afternoon, she walked to DelPonte’s on Main Street for rolls and Danish for breakfast, and cookies and pastries for dessert as a special treat for Jacob. If he was open for Italian food for supper, she’d order in from Citricos. She had just enough money from her meager bank account to cover it all, but she expected to have more once she sold some of the odds and ends that her mom had accumulated as gifts from guests at the hotel. There was also a load of books in Ross’s office on business topics that she could sell on eBay.

  So far, she hadn’t seen Cindy or any of her other beach girlfriends. She had no intention of seeing Derick, and she wasn’t too keen on running into any of the parents of her friends either. Undoubtedly, they didn’t even want her there with all that had happened and the ongoing investigation of the accident.

  As she walked back from Main Street she thought of how many times in her life she’d walked up and down these same blocks. She detoured to Brinely Avenue and passed Ascension Catholic Church. She remembered the time she’d stopped in as a young teenager to see what it looked like inside. It was dark, quiet, and had a smell of candle wax. She’d sat down and felt very at peace in those moments. Neither her mom nor Ross had been church goers, so she’d never gone to services.

  Kristen stopped in front of the church. John’s encouraging words to pray echoed in her mind. She climbed the steps and tried the door. It was open.

  Quietly, she stepped inside. The scent of candle wax was no longer there. Instead, there were electric candles. The quiet and peacefulness was unchanged. She took a seat in one of the pews midway into the church and
closed her eyes.

  She jumped at a sound. Someone putting change in the poor box. She’d fallen asleep. For how long? She took out her cell phone. Four o’clock. She’d dozed off for little over a half hour. Guess I needed the rest, Lord. I also need You to show me what to do with my life. Let me know if You truly intend for me to be Plain or to come back here and start anew. And…if there is some way you can work John into the picture, I’d be forever grateful. I don’t think I could be in either world without him. Even though he acted like a total jerk at the table Monday night. Well, maybe not a total jerk. More like, fed up with my comments. I left without saying good-bye, so I could get back at him. Sorry, Lord. I’ll call Angela and ask her to say hello to John for me. I miss him so much. Why did I wait four days?

  ~*~

  The first of August promised to be a beautiful day, and John was happy that Jacob would have such fine weather for his visit to the beach. He only wished he could be there, too. But this was Kristen’s time with her daed. Not his. Not yet.

  Daed had dumped out the last bucket of sweet corn into the wheel barrow. “That should be enough to sell outside in front of the store. We got a good harvest this year.”

  “Jah, I bet we’ll be having lots of corn fritters and corn puddin’ for supper the next couple weeks. Mamm has lots of corn recipes on hand.”

  Daed nodded. “John, before we head out to the store, I want to remind you that in order to court a young lady in our district, both have to be baptized before going public together on buggy rides and to singings and what not.”

  “I know that, Daed. I used to court Sadie, remember?”

  “Jah, that I do. But Sadie is baptized.”

  “This is about Kristen, ain’t so?”

  “Just want to be respectful of Jacob. He’s her daed, after all.”

  “Jah, I know that too, Daed. And I’m right sure that Jacob approves of my feelins’ for Kristen.”

  “Just the same. There’s an order to how things are done in the Plain life, and you need to abide by it. If Kristen comes back same as she left, you’ll both need to be thinking on matters.”

  John knew exactly the matters Daed was referring to. It wouldn’t be long before the bishop started to question Kristen’s intentions regarding her faith. Her eighteenth birthday was soon approaching, and she’d be of legal age to do as she pleased, regarding which life she chose. If she wanted to stay here, she’d need to show a steadfast desire to live Plain and then be approved for instructions. If she didn’t, John couldn’t court her without risk to his own future in Stone Arabia.

  “I know, Daed. I know.”

  John grabbed the large bucket and walked off toward Old Faithful and the buggy. He took out the large sack in the backseat that was to be filled with the corn that Daed pushed along in the wheel barrow.

  “Daed. I won’t do anything to shame you or Jacob. And neither would Kristen. I can tell you that.”

  Daed nodded then began to place the corn into the sack that John held open.

  There was nothing more that John could say. His and Kristen’s fate was in Gott’s hands. He had to take the advice he’d given Kristen. Trust in the Lord’s plan. Trust. That was the key word. Help me, Lord. I’m grateful that I never told her it’d be easy. It isn’t, is it?

  ~*~

  Kristen paced back and forth on the front wooden porch waiting for Jacob’s arrival. She knew that when he gazed out the window of the taxi as it headed out from the train station to the house, he’d see all that was part of his beloved Emily’s life and that of his only child’s.

  The groups of stores that would flash by. The various eateries, ice cream shops, and bait and tackle stores. The tree-lined blocks tucked in from the main road, and the large homes that graced each corner with wrap around porches and beautiful flowers.

  He’d most likely see young women wearing flip-flops, halter tops and shorts, walking dogs and riding bikes. There’d be shirtless men here and there, hosing off their shiny cars or watering the front gardens. This was the Englisch world. Kristen’s world.

  When the taxi pulled up to the house, Kristen ran down from the porch to greet Jacob.

  “Hullo, Kristen.”

  “Hi, Jacob. Did you have a good trip?”

  She took his small overnight bag and the shopping bag that held his black vest and straw hat. She smiled when she noticed he’d worn navy jeans, a white shirt and baseball cap. He looked like a combo folk singer lumberjack guy.

  “Jah, it was very gut. Denki.” He paid the taxi driver and followed Kristen up the porch steps of the beach house.

  She bid him to take a seat on one of the two Adirondack white wooden chairs.

  He gazed at the ice bucket on the small round table between them.

  “I thought you might like a cold drink before I take you on a tour of the house and the area.” She reached under the ice and retrieved two lemonade Snapples and poured each of them a cupful.

  “Denki. I could use a cool drink. Pink lemonade. I haven’t had this in a while.”

  “I like it because it’s pink. Do you think it tastes different than the regular lemonade?”

  “Your aenti Katie used cherry syrup when she made it for me as a kind. It gave it a sweeter flavor.”

  “I buy this brand because they use natural ingredients. Let’s see…the label says that the coloring is from vegetable juices. No artificial coloring.”

  “You made a gut choice then. It’s very tasty.”

  “Oh! Are you hungry? I can order sandwiches if you want to eat now. I have cookies in the meantime. It’s eleven o’clock. A long while since you’ve eaten breakfast,” she rambled.

  Jacob smiled. “Not any longer than any other day. We usually eat around noon. I’m fine. Denki. We’ll eat whenever you like.”

  “Um, OK. I’ll phone for the sandwiches from the deli at noon. Do you like turkey?”

  “Jah. I do. I pretty much eat nearly everything, although I’ve never taken a liking to rhubarb pie, even with strawberries.”

  Kristen laughed. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t get us rhubarb pie for dessert tonight. I never had it, but it doesn’t look very appetizing. Reminds me of red celery.” She laughed again, and Jacob joined her. Relief weaved itself into her laughter. So far, their small talk was going well.

  “Would you like to see the house now? Then maybe we can take a walk to the beach after lunch.”

  “Jah. That sounds gut.”

  Kristen stood and held the screened door open for Jacob. He entered the home that Emily, Kristen, and Ross had lived in for nearly eighteen years. A home that was only four hours from Stone Arabia, but a world apart in every other aspect.

  ~*~

  “It’s not a big house, but it was big enough for us.” Kristen assumed that Ross’s house appeared small to Jacob in comparison to some of the Amish homes that housed large families. Like the Waglers’ home.

  John flashed into her mind, and she had to refocus.

  “It’s a nice size from what I can see,” Jacob told her, his eyes darting about.

  “The bedrooms are upstairs. I have the guest room all ready for you.” She motioned to the stairs. “I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.” Kristen walked up, turned and waited for Jacob to reach the landing. “Down the hall, there.” She pointed and led the way.

  “This is a nice room, Kristen. Denki for making it up for me.”

  Now that she looked at it, her effort at preparing it for him was a bit obvious. The furniture gleamed, as did the window panes. There was still a slight scent of the lemon polish she’d used. The local newspapers sat neatly in a magazine holder next to the bed, as well as a Bible on the night stand. The wildflowers in the small glass vase on the bureau were noticeably fresh. If Jacob could see all the clutter she’d moved out of the room into the basement maybe he’d find it humorous.

  “I’m glad you like it. There’s a bathroom down the hall with a sink and shower. No outhouse here.” Oops! Did she sound as if she was poking
fun at that?

  “Jah. I know that the Englisch have indoor plumbing. Some Amish communities have it, too. Did you know that a few hausholds in your district have special permission for it due to health reasons?”

  “No. I didn’t know there were exceptions to the rule. Not having indoor plumbing is the thing I find hardest to get used to in Stone Arabia. I hope one day they’ll change the rule about that.”

  Jacob laughed. “Being born without indoor plumbing makes it easier I s’pose. I can see how the opposite can make it hard to take.”

  “I guess anyone can get used to anything if they have to. Some things about this place aren’t easy to take if you come from Stone Arabia.”

  “Jah? What things might those be?” Jacob cocked back his head with a curious blink.

  “Traffic for one thing. Look outside. The parking spots are nearly all taken already by those who come from other areas to go to the beach. And being so close to the ocean can make it very damp here at times, and it feels as if it goes right through your bones. When there’s a storm in the forecast, we have to listen to the news to see if we’ll be evacuated due to flooding. So far, we’ve only been flooded here once. The basement got two feet of water that time. Ross had to rent a water pump and then get a dehumidifier to keep mold from forming. Things like that.”

  “I never thought of the problems with living so near to the ocean. I guess every place has its gut and not-so-gut things, jah?”

  Jacob had a good point. Bradley beach had its problems along with its beauty. As does living Plain in Stone Arabia. Her mom once told her that there was no perfect place on earth. That only Heaven was perfect. She’d nearly forgotten those words.

  “Heaven, according to my mom, is the only perfect place. Well, let’s go downstairs, and I’ll order us some sandwiches.”

  Jacob didn’t move. He looked at Kristen with surprise again. “Your mamm told you that?”

  “Uh huh. Why?”

  “I used to tell your mamm that. She’d get mad at me for it sometimes. Vell, not really mad. Just pretended to be mad, is all.” Jacob looked sad all of a sudden. He must have loved Mom a lot.