The Narrow Path

by Gail Sattler

  Although next year, she wouldn't be here. Next year she would again be sneaking faithful old Llinkie more treats before his grand entrance.

  Anna hit save and folded her hands in her lap. "I guess what I am trying to do is thank you for the part you have given me.I was not sure that we could do it, but now that we have been practicing for two months, we know we can. The four of us singing our parts boldly with no instruments truly will be a heavenly chorus, worthy of telling the world of the birth of our Lord and Savior."

  Miranda smiled with relief. Fortunately, none of the congregation had admonished her that the Bible did not have any angels of female gender; in the Bible all angels were men. For the play Miranda had written a joyful and triumphant fourpart a capella harmony for two men and two women, giving Anna a strong high soprano part. Anna was the only one who could pull it off, and she was doing a spectacular job. Still, it wasn't a solo part, which was what Anna had wanted. Each person suited his or her role so well.

  The only weak link was Pastor Jake. Since he was the pastor, she'd set him up to play himself, and he was playing himself badly. She didn't know how it was possible, but it was happening.

  "Ted is finished with his phone call. You may go in now.You are really going to enjoy your lunch today, but Ted made me promise not to tell you what it was."

  Miranda inhaled deeply. She'd never eaten as she had in the past seven months of her life. The only reason she could think of that the women who lived here didn't all weigh five hundred pounds was that it was so much work to do all this cooking.

  She walked into Ted's office and plunked herself down in the chair in front of his desk. "That smells so good. You're going to make me fat."

  "That is not true. Today I have brought Kartoffelkrapfen." He smiled proudly and extended his open hand toward a loosely covered casserole dish on the counter.

  "Meat and potato cakes with gravy. Meat with added carbs, and then some added fat for good measure. But ya gotta love it." She scooped a few onto each plate and set them on the desk. "You've been feeding me for lunch for two and a half months now. Isn't this getting rather expensive?"

  "Elena and Mary give me a good discount. I have told you this before. I buy my lunch from them every day, so to add a little extra is not a hardship for me. Let us pray." He folded his hands on the desk and bowed his head. "Dear Heavenly Father, I pray Your blessings upon this food and this day. I pray that our thoughts and our words and our actions are pleasing in Your sight as we continue about our day, and that You and Your glory are shown in everything we do. I pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen."

  "Amen." Miranda began to cut the first meat cake. "Tomorrow I'm going to bring lunch. So don't buy anything."

  "But—"

  Miranda raised both hands to silence him. "I made my own lunch most of the time at home, and I obviously haven't starved to death."

  The second he glanced at her stomach, she regretted her words. She had discovered to her embarrassment that the reason he'd originally invited her to share lunch with him wasn't because he needed to discuss the details for the Christmas production, as he'd hinted. It was because he thought she was too skinny and possibly malnourished. Between Ted's efforts and those of Lois to keep her healthy, Miranda was thankful for her high metabolism.

  "Are you sure? It is no trouble for me to buy lunch."

  "It bothers me that you're spending so much money. Please, let me bring lunch tomorrow. I'm not promising that it will be fancy. It won't be as good as this, for sure. But I can promise that the price will be right."

  "In that case, I will accept." He took his first bite of a meat cake, savoring it for an unusually long time, probably wondering if he was making a mistake, then set his fork down on the plate. "We have had our first criticism of the Christmas production today."

  Miranda sighed. She hadn't really expected any complaints from a community like this, but people were people, and there was always someone who wasn't happy. Not that complainers usually were willing to do anything to fix the problem. Most just liked to hear their own voices.

  "I guess it was bound to happen. What is it?"

  "One of the men in the townspeople group objects to wearing his hat inside the church. He says it is disrespectful."

  "But the scene he's talking about is set outdoors. I know it's inside the church, but the stage is supposed to look like it's outside."

  "I tried to explain that, but he has refused to wear his hat in church."

  Miranda bit her lower lip. She wanted to set the play in the city to make it more applicable to more people, but he'd insisted that they set it in their own town with the way their people were a hundred years ago when the church was founded. After many arguments, they'd met in the middle, setting the town in modern times, but keeping the Mennonite dress and traditions as they were in Piney Meadows. So she had added the story of the birth of Christ side by side to the town as it was, and they were both happy.

  But she hadn't seen this coming. The men's hats were as much a part of their society as the women and their prayer bonnets. Even though the younger women no longer wore them all the time, they still did on Sunday, Bible study days, or any time they thought they would need to pray.

  They were going to have to wear them often to work through this. Part of the appeal of Piney Meadows was the consistent way all the people followed their old-world traditions and customs.Miranda hadn't thought that by telling the men to wear their hats inside, she was asking them to violate their traditions in order to show them.

  "I don't know what to do."

  Ted looked out the window as he spoke. "I have a thought.You had a good idea to ask everyone to wear part of what could be their costumes whenever we meet to practice to help get everyone in the mood for their part. Yet we have no scenery.I would like to make some clouds and hang them from the ceiling, and that might remind people that they should act as if they are outside. We all know this play is for ministry for God's plan, so if we show a visual reminder that this takes place outside, he may feel more at ease with his hat."

  "It's probably also been hard for them to pretend to be out in the snow, when it's really the hottest part of the summer.How exactly are you going to make these clouds?"

  Ted broke out into a smile and shrugged his shoulders."Constructing scenery is Ryan's job. I will trust him."

  "Done. Is there anything else that might be a problem?"

  "Not that I can think of. By now whatever has been a problem has been fixed, and everything is now running on schedule."

  Miranda closed her eyes and sighed. This production was her dream come true, and it was, indeed, coming true.

  Everything was written, and the singers, soloists, and chorus members were happy. All the volunteers were learning their parts and were comfortable with them. The templates and plans were well underway for construction of the sets, including blueprints to enlarge the stage at the front of the church. They had already booked and confirmed spots with all their advertisers, and Pastor Jake had even been invited to be a guest on a few radio stations and a local cable channel.All details were in place—something that never happened at home this early. The only thing missing was a camel.

  Miranda opened her eyes and looked at Ted. "Don't you love it when it all comes together like this?"

  21

  Well?" Ted asked as Miranda flipped her cell phone shut and turned to him. "Where is she?"

  "This is so odd," Miranda replied so softly only Ted could hear. "Theresa's mother said she left over an hour ago. I hope nothing's wrong."

  Ted checked his watch, although, as he raised his arm, he didn't know why. They knew exactly how late Theresa was.That was why Miranda had phoned.

  "I can't wait any longer," Miranda muttered as she trotted over to the middle of the nativity group. He knew she would figure out what the group could practice the most efficiently until Theresa arrived so it would involve the least amount of disruption.

  When he scanned the r
oom, he realized that he didn't see Evan, either. Evan was one of the townspeople, so his part was not as critical, but since it was now September, Miranda had increased the number of practices per week, making it clear that all should attend practices, regardless of the importance of their roles. People were not usually missing.

  Theresa and Evan's absence was cause for alarm also because Evan had been courting Theresa since spring. The affection between them was strong and obvious to all. Ted knew that could mean that temptation was also strong. Because of Miranda, Ted now knew more about temptation than he ever had. The same things that annoyed him also drew him like a moth to a flame, which he knew usually spelled destruction for the moth.

  He had found that she never backed down from any disagreement, even when their conversation was turning into a full argument. Yet no matter how frustrated she became, she never raised her voice or became angry. She didn't appear to know the meaning of defeat, but turned every potential loss into a compromise, even if it meant more work for herself.While her stubbornness exasperated him, he admired her strength.

  She used the same unwillingness to give up when a situation required patience. All the ladies he knew were patient with children. It was the Mennonite way. Miranda was no exception, but he'd never seen anyone, male or female, exhibit such a level of patience. Her patience wasn't only with people.She had even taught a goat to jump through a hoop. Why anyone would want to do such a thing was beyond him, even if the goat was fat and needed exercise. It wasn't even her goat.

  With her patience came much kindness. To help him become more active, she had forced elderly Mr. Reinhart to use a cane that she had bought for him on eBay. Then she'd assigned him a part in the play and argued with him until he gave in and took the part. Immediately after she had badgered the elderly gentleman, she cried when she found a baby bird with a broken wing that had been abandoned by its mother.She had faithfully nursed it back to health, protecting it from neighborhood cats. She had cried more when the bird flew away for the last time than she had when she'd found it near death on the ground.

  He couldn't describe her cooking skills. He had no comparison for most of the things she tried to feed him, but he'd learned a lot about trans fats and cholesterol. He would never look at bacon and eggs the same way again.

  The woman had more quirks than he could put in a bucket.

  But whenever he didn't see her, he counted the hours until the next time they would meet, even if she brought strange things to feed him. Yet she hadn't brought anything worse than the bok choy stir fry, nor had she attempted to cook that again, even though Brian had requested it.

  When they did meet, not all his thoughts concerned their assigned project, and that was why he never had her at his house with him without Brian being present as well. Since their parting at the airport, he had never been able to look at cinnamon buns in the same way.

  He watched as she told the two groups where to stand as they prepared to practice the next scene, allowing extra time for Mr. Reinhart to take his place.

  Over the course of his lifetime, Pastor Jake and his mama and papa had quoted 1 Corinthians 10:13 to him many times.He hadn't understood why until now.

  No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.

  She didn't know it, but Miranda had taught him the meaning of temptation. One kiss was not enough. But at the same time, it was too much, because even a month later, he found himself being distracted from his work, even when he was in the middle of a critical project, wondering what it would be like to kiss her again. He suspected that men throughout the ages felt much the same way as he did. Lately, when he had been talking to Brian, he would catch his friend not paying attention to what he was saying. Instead, Brian would be staring off into space, smiling. When asked, Brian would grin even more and admit he'd been thinking about Sarah. Ted suspected he knew what those thoughts were. Now he understood them.He could also understand why, in their Mennonite community, there was no such thing as a long engagement, such as happened in the cities.

  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

  So far, Ted had been able to bear his temptations because Miranda was not as distracted by him as he was by her. Yet he knew she felt something, because when they were together in a crowd, unless she had joined a group of women, she always stood beside him instead of wandering in the crowd talking to people, and she did like to talk. He had noted that when she stood with other men while waiting for him, she never stood as close to another man as she did with him, not even Brian, whom she knew well. Which was a good thing. He would hate to have to punch his friend in the nose.

  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

  God had indeed provided a way for Ted to stand up to the churning feelings in his heart. After Christmas, the play would be over and Miranda would be gone. Her flight home was already booked for late Christmas Eve, so she could be home with her father for Christmas Day.

  The pending finality of her departure was an effective deterrent.

  The introduction to the first song when the nativity group met the townspeople onstage brought his mind back to where it should have been.

  He had to find Evan, and where he found Evan, he knew he would find Theresa.

  He walked to the piano and leaned down to speak privately to Miranda. "I am going to look for Evan and Theresa. If they are together, I may know where they have gone."

  Miranda made a mistake with the notes, but recovered and kept playing. "Evan is missing too? Oh, no."

  "I hope to be back soon. They will have much explaining to do." This would be worse for Theresa, since explaining the reason for her absence would not be easy with her papa. Since Theresa's mama knew she was not at practice, by now her papa also knew, and her papa was a strict man. He didn't want to think of what Theresa's punishment would be, but it was now too late. Ted would not lie. Depending on what they were actually doing, though, he could ask for leniency.

  Even as Theresa's papa's employer, it was probably unfair of Ted to intrude on family matters, but the punishment had to fit her transgression. Theresa was in her early twenties, not a child. A lapse in judgment for a young adult was not a punishable offense—unless the transgression was severe enough.

  Ted almost hoped he would find Theresa in a ditch with an injured leg. Then the only consequence for not being where she was supposed to be would be a long recovery with restricted activities, which would be punishment enough.

  The first place Ted looked for them was at Evan's parents' home, which was deserted. Just in case, Ted pressed his ear to the door. Relief filled him when all he heard was silence.

  His next stop was the soda shop. It was the custom of many young Mennonite couples to come here for a root beer float, and even though the food was not as hearty as at Elena and Mary's small restaurant, it was a popular place.

  Ted only took one step inside. This evening he didn't see any Mennonite couples. Most of them were at the church with Miranda and the rest of the cast. Today there were only people here from the rest of the town, surrounding farms, and outlying burgs.

  He returned to the car, but couldn't think of anyplace else to go. He had been sure they would be at the soda shop, and they were not. The last place he could think of that they could have gone would be to the movie theater, but he couldn't go in there looking for them without buying a ticket. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to see them in the dark. He would have to wait for the show to be over, then catch them as they were leaving. He left the car in the no parking zone long enough to run to the door to check the movie times, then ran back to his car before he got a ticket. The movie had just started fifteen minutes ago. Even if this was where they had gone, by the time it ended it would be too late to drag them back to practice.

  Ted checked his watch. He should go back to the practice.Miranda depended on his guitar playing so she could stop playing small sections on the piano to help pe
ople who needed it as they practiced the songs.

  With regret, Ted returned to the church. As he pulled the door open, he absently looked down to the pin lock at the bottom of the door. Every time he opened the door, he heard the scrape of it dragging on the floor, a never-ending reminder that it needed to be tightened. Today there was no scrape, indicating that someone had finally fixed it. He looked down to see if it had simply been tightened, or if he would see a shiny new mechanism. Instead, an envelope was folded in half and lodged behind it, preventing the pin from slipping down.

  Ted stopped and stared at the envelope. It had his name on it. He didn't know how long this envelope could have been there, but it could have been there all day. No one would have seen it as they entered because there was no reason for the average person to look down as they opened the door. He had looked down only because so often he was the last one to leave the building and was aware of the malfunction.

  He hunkered down, pulled the envelope from behind the loose pin, and unfolded it. Instead of just his name, in bold blue letters, it said "To Ted and Miranda." Printed in red pen and underlined beneath their names, were instructions to read the contents after the practice was over.

  A cold chill ran up his spine.

  Practice was only half over, but he had not given his word that he would follow this request. The contents were obviously important.

  He had three choices. He could wait for another hour and do as the instructions said. He could interrupt the practice and take Miranda somewhere to read it in private, which would cause a stir and alert everyone in their church that there was a problem. Everyone was already fully aware that Theresa was missing, and a few perceptive people would by now have realized that Evan was also missing.