by Unknown
The glory days were just beginning for Isaac Miller, first ever Amish player to be drafted into the NFL.
THE END
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Love Has a New Beginning
Bonus Story 1 of 10
Between Two Worlds
Emma ladled porridge into bowls as fast as she could as chaos ensued all around her. “You stole my ribbons!” A shrill voice cried, while another shouted, “They’re mine- I took them from my cupboard.” A loud accordion was heard over all the noise and the scratching sounds of heavy furniture bring dragged across the wooden floor. Emma accidentally touched the pot and yelled out in pain as she burned herself. Suddenly, everybody else stopped and turned to her, as she crossly said, “That’s enough! Come and have your breakfast.”
The other five girls obediently sat at the large round table as Emma began to pass out the bowls. “Emma,” the youngest of the girls whined, “Miriam stole my blue ribbons.” Before Emma could respond, Miriam shouted from across the table, “They’re mine!” Emma held up a hand to silence Miriam and turned to the youngest one again, “Gracie. are you sure you didn’t lose yours in the field?” Gracie pouted and shook her head. Emma looked at Miriam, who was scowling angrily and then she said, “Alright, you can let Miriam keep those, and I’ll give you my blue ribbon. Alright?”
Gracie slowly nodded and then after quickly sticking her tongue out at Miriam, she returned to her porridge. Emma sighed. Now that one crisis was averted, she had another to deal with. She turned to the second oldest and said, “Hannah, Mr. Fisher said he needs help in the shop today, could you go? I would, but I need to feed the horses and clean out the chicken coop.” As Hannah frowned, Rosie, the third eldest piped up eagerly, “I’ll go to the shop.” The other girls all tittered and Emma raised her eyebrow, “You want to help in the shop?” Rosie nodded quickly and Emma looked at the other girls, who were still giggling. “What’s going on?” She asked slowly, feeling desperately out of the loop.
“Rosie’s in love with Caleb Fisher,” Miriam said in a song-song voice with her mouth full of porridge while the other girls burst into peals of laughter. Rosie turned red and angrily said, “Be quiet, Miriam,” but Miriam only laughed harder. Emma sighed and said, “You know what? I don’t care. Rosie, go to Mr. Fisher’s shop, and Hannah you’re in charge of lunch today.” Rosie tried very hard not to look delighted, and Hannah rolled her eyes at her playfully. “Alright, Gracie and Miriam, off to school,” Emma said, wiping their mouths quickly and pushing them gently towards the door. The younger two were the only ones who went to school, the others all having completed their education up to the eighth grade, as was the custom. Gracie almost reached the door when she turned around and said, “Wait, I have to say goodbye to Mother.”
Emma watched sadly as the little girls ran up to their mother’s bedroom to say goodbye. It had been a little less than a year since their mother had fallen gravely ill, and the little clinic in the small community of Faith’s Lake couldn’t treat her. Their mother now lay in bed most of the time, sleeping away the pain. She would only wake up when one of the girls would come to talk to her, feed her or help her to the chamber pot. Their father had grown quieter and quieter as time had passed, and now he spent all his days working and his nights sleeping while the task of raising the girls had fallen onto Emma, the eldest of the five.
“Bye Emma,” the girls called out as they whizzed past her out the door. “Come back in time for lunch,” Emma called out but the younger two had already vanished around the corner. Hannah was watching her carefully and she gently said, “You worry too much, Em. I’ll handle lunch and Rosie will go to the shop. Once you’re done with the horses, why don’t you just take a nice walk and then I’ll draw you a hot bath?” Emma smiled at her sister and said, “That actually sounds lovely. Okay, Rosie, will you check on Mother and take her breakfast before you leave for the shop?” Rosie nodded and carefully picked up a bowl of porridge, carrying it up the stairs to their mother’s room.
Emma turned to clear the table, but Hannah took the bowls from her hands and said, “I’ll manage. You go tend to your work.” Emma thanked her and then left for the stables, wondering when her sister had grown up so much. I guess it was the same I grew up, she thought sadly as she gently patted her favorite horse. She often made one of her sisters tend to their mother, usually Hannah or Rosie since the other two were still too young, because she couldn’t bear to see her mother in that state. She went to see her every day, of course, but just before bed, so that when Emma had to cry it would be under the cover of darkness.
She changed the hay in the stables and replaced the dirty old water with clean water, before she fed each of the horses a few carrots. They were restless. She knew they needed to be ridden soon or else they would feel cooped up in the stables, but she didn’t know what to do. As she was brushing one of them, she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She was so tired. She hadn’t slept properly in a week, and she hadn’t been able to get the image of her mother, weak and frail with her translucent skin and purple dark under eye circles, out of her head. She heard footsteps approach and quickly wiped her tears on her apron. A cheery voice called out, “Anybody home?” Emma pulled her bonnet on tighter before she ducked out of the stable and found herself face to face with Mrs. Fisher and Mrs. Bailer, the community leaders’ wives. “Hello,” Emma said nervously, wondering why the women were stopping by. She knew it couldn’t be good news.
*****
She had the women sit at the table that her sisters had just vacated and offered them some porridge. As she placed the bowls in front of them, she asked in an unusually high-pitched voice, “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” She wiped her hands nervously on her apron as Mrs. Bailer started to speak. “Emma, as we are to understand it, while your mother is ill, you are in charge of the household and your sisters’ well-being?” Emma nodded and Mrs. Bailer continued, “Well, we have come here with a proposition for you.” She cleared her throat and then Mrs. Fisher said, “Darling, I’ve noticed that your sister Rosie is quite enamored by my Caleb and I’m pleased to tell you that the feeling is mutual. Caleb thinks that Rosie is lovely, as do Mr. Fisher and I.” Emma licked her lips nervously and sat across from the women.
“Now, Emma, I would love nothing more than a union between our families, but Rosie is the third eldest. It is tradition that the first daughter be married first, and we can’t ask for Rosie’s hand while you are still unwed.” Emma looked from one woman to the other in complete shock as she said, “Rosie’s fifteen years old. She hasn’t even been baptized into the faith yet.” Mrs. Bailer glanced at Mrs. Fisher before she said, “Emma, that’s a very English way of thinking- we don’t want anything to happen between these children that could lead to… scandal.” Emma balled her fists under the table and said nothing. Mrs. Bailer then leaned forward and said, “We came here to ask you to consider my Daniel. He’s an excellent prospect for anyone. He will be community leader one day, and he’s a good, hard-working young man.”
Emma tried to keep her expression neutral as she felt the rage bubble up inside her, and she said, “Mrs. Bailer, your son is a fine man, but you must understand that my mother is ill. I am not looking for a husband at this time, nor do I want my sisters to get involved in such matters. When or if the time comes, we can take up this conversation again.” Mrs. Bailer scowled and said, “Do you expect that my Daniel will sit around and wait for you to come around? Families all across Faith’s Lake would beg for my son to marry their daughters and you scorn him?” Emma was polite but firm as she said, “Forgive me for not taking an interest in your son while my mother’s health fails her.” Mrs. Bailer opened her mouth an
grily but before she could say anything, there was a loud scream from upstairs.
Emma sprang up from her chair when Hannah came running down the stairs. Her shoulders shook as she screamed, “Emma, Emma, it’s mother!” She ran back up as Emma picked up her skirts and followed her up the stair to their mother’s room, bursting in to find a hysterical Rosie at her side. “Rosie, what is it?” Rosie held up a handkerchief and Emma took it, opening it to find blood-stained phlegm. She dropped the handkerchief to the floor just as Hannah said, “She’s coughing up blood.” Mrs. Bailer and Mrs. Fisher had followed Emma up the stairs, and Mrs. Bailer now rushed forward and said, “Verity? Verity- can you hear me?” Verity groaned in response and Rosie sobbed harder. Mrs. Fisher went over to Rosie and held her gently, while Emma stared at the blood-stained handkerchief on the floor.
She turned to Hannah and in a deadpan voice, she said, “Run to the clinic, get a physician here.” Hannah ran out of the room and a moment later, Emma heard the front door slam. She stood against the wall and clutched her heart as Mrs. Bailer fanned her mother and spoke to her in a gentle soothing voice. “Rosie,” Emma said, turning to her, “Rosie, you need to be strong for Mother, alright?” Rosie nodded through her sobs and Emma said, “Go find Father, but stay calm when you tell him what happened, okay?” Rosie nodded again, still crying as she left the room. Emma pulled off her bonnet and held it against her chest as she whispered a quick prayer.
Hannah returned with the physician, and as he entered the room, he asked the others to please leave. They followed his instructions, but Emma and Hannah leaned against the door, trying to listen in. A few minutes later, their father ran up the stairs, and without thinking, Emma and Hannah ran to him and held on tightly. He smoothed their hair and said, “Is the physician with her?” He was trying very hard not to let his voice break, but the girls could see right through his act. The two older women backed away a little, giving the family some privacy. Just then, the physician emerged from the room and glanced at the girls’ father. “Mr. Weaver, I’ll be straight with you. It doesn’t look good. We just don’t have the kind of medicine needed to treat your wife.” Rosie started to cry again and Hannah held onto her tightly, gently whispering to her. The physician glanced at them and said, “Perhaps we should carry this conversation out downstairs?”
Mr. Weaver shook his head and said, “It’s these girls who take care of her while I work. They need to know what’s going on with their mother. Please, let’s just talk here.” The physician nodded and said, “You can either leave her like this. She will have maybe a few more months that way or you can take her to an English hospital.” Mrs. Bailer gasped and said, “No, the community will shun you. We can’t let you do that.” Emma stepped forth and said, “Father, we have to take her.” Mr. Weaver glanced from Mrs. Bailer to his eldest daughter and then he said, “How can I take her? Who will work and take care of you girls?” Emma stepped even closer and said, “I’ll go. Father, I’ll go with her. Hannah can take care of the younger girls.” Hannah nodded quickly and said, “Father, please, we can’t just leave her like this.” Mr. Weaver sighed and nodded, and as the girls hugged him, he finally broke down crying.
*****
Emma awoke with a start and looked around wildly for the source of the noise that had roused her. She peered out of the buggy window and strange lights everywhere. It was dark and the window had fogged up, and as Emma quickly wiped it clear, what she saw scared her. Terrified, she turned to her mother, but the older woman was fast asleep. She looked pale and fragile in the strangely colored lights and Emma was saddened by her frailty. She turned back to the window and gazed out into the new landscape. She had only ever heard stories about the English world. The previous year when her friend May had gone for her Rumspringa, she had brought back something called “photographs” and Emma had obsessed over them for months.
Now as she looked all around, those photographs seemed to have come to life. Colored lights in red, yellow and green blinked outside, and vehicles whizzed by the slow buggy as she watched. Emma leaned forward and called out to the driver, “What’s going on?” He pulled on the reins as he said, “We’re on the highway, miss. We should be there in an hour.” Emma shrank back in her seat and fumbled in her rucksack for the little Bible she carried with her. It had been a present from her father on the day she had turned eighteen. She was supposed to have been baptized into the Amish faith, but after her mother had fallen sick, they hadn’t gotten around to it.
As Emma thumbed through the pages trying to focus on the words in the dark, the world rushed on around her. The lines of the Bible blurred before her eyes and before she knew it, her shoulders were shaking and the tears fell fast. “Emma?” A voice croaked softly, and Emma jumped, quickly wiping her eyes before she turned to her mother. “Where are we?” Emma carefully put her Bible aside and took her mother’s hand as she said, “We’re going to a hospital, Mama.” Verity widened her eyes and tightened her grip on Emma as she said, “An English hospital?” Emma nodded and soothingly said, “I’m here with you, I’ll be here the whole time. Don’t worry, Mother-” but before she could finish, Verity had fallen back into her stupor. Emma gently disengaged her hand from her mother’s and glanced out of the window with a slight shudder.
Emma didn’t remember falling asleep, but she woke up when the buggy slowed to a halt. The driver rapped on the window smartly and then said, “We’re here, miss.” As Emma turned to get her things, a loud wailing sound startled her. Verity sat up and cried out and Emma turned to her and held her, whispering soothingly even though she was just as terrified. “We’re alright, Mama,” she said, “We’re alright.” Emma helped her mother out of the buggy and then climbed out herself, blinking as she looked around. There were more wailing vehicles rushing in and people were quickly unloading injured bodies out of them. Verity clung to her daughter as the chaos ensued all around them.
The driver was a friend of the community, and though he was of the English world, he had many connections in Faith’s Creek, and understood the Amish way very well. He spoke to the hospital administration and explained to them what was going on, pointing at Emma and Verity as they looked around frightened, standing out distinctly with their long skirts and bonnets. The woman at the desk nodded and then assigned Verity to a room where she said a doctor would see to them soon. The driver thanked her and led the two women to the ward. She sat with her mother until the doctor came and asked her to step outside.
The driver was still there and he handed Emma a card, “Do you know how to use a telephone?” he asked gently, but Emma shook her head. “Don’t worry, you can ask someone else to do it, they know about the situation. This is my phone number, if you need anything, just call me.” Emma glanced at the string of numbers that meant nothing to her and she gulped. The driver left then, and Emma stood all alone in the long corridor that smelled of illness and misery. She sat down on a bench lining the wall and held her head in her hands, wishing she had never left Faith’s Creek. She stayed like that for a while, startled periodically by the footsteps rushing past her, but then settling into a state of complete exhaustion.
When more footsteps approached her, she felt too tired to even look up, and it wasn’t until someone cleared their throat that she finally glanced up to see the doctor standing there. “Miss Weaver,” he said gently, and Emma stood up, a large lump forming in her throat as she feared the worst, “Your mother has a small growth on one of her lungs, and it seems to be growing larger every day.” Emma thought she would faint, but the doctor kept going, “We’re going to do a scan to be sure, and then we’re going to do a biopsy of the lung, just to make sure it’s not malignant.” Emma stared at him with wide eyes. She had no idea what any of this meant and she started to sway on the spot. The doctor rushed forward and grabbed her shoulders, letting her go as soon as she was steady. He was talking to her in a more reassuring tone now, but Emma wasn’t listening as panic rose within her.
*****
T
he next morning, Emma left her mother’s room when the nurses arrived. Unsure of what to do, she walked around the hospital, glancing at all the strange machinery that surrounded her. She walked past so many rooms that looked all the same, that she eventually forgot where she was. As she looked around, she saw a pair of doors to her right and just as she walked to it, the doors slid open on its own. Terrified, she stepped inside and then immediately turned around when the doors closed. Emma pounded on the doors but she couldn’t pry them open and then suddenly, the floor started to move. Emma started trembling and was about to shout for help when the floor stopped moving and the doors slid open again. She ran out, and then realized things outside had changed. “What-” she started to say but stopped when she realized that everyone was staring at her.
She knew she looked different from everyone else with her bonnet and long skirt, and she hurried away, running for the next door she saw. She burst through it and found herself outside in the bright sunlight. Shielding her eyes from it, she continued walking as fast as she could. She stopped when she found some shade and looked up to see trees all around. There were children playing nearby and the sound of their laughter calmed her down as she was reminded of Gracie. She walked over to a bench and sat down, thinking of her sisters. She wondered if the buggy driver would take a letter to them if she asked. She tucked a loose strand of hair into her bonnet and looked around.
She had never had her Rumspringa, and part of her had always longed to venture out into the world, but now that she was here she was scared and felt all alone. A woman with bright purple hair sat down on the bench next to her and Emma tried not to stare. The woman pulled a small device out of her bag and started to tap on it. Feeling uncomfortable, Emma got up off the bench and started to walk away when she heard music in the distance. She recognized the sound of the accordion and it was strangely comforting. At feasts and community gatherings, one of the men would always bring an accordion and play it after dinner while the younger ones danced and sang along.