“Joseph, this is Jacob Graber.”
“Ya? Pleased to meet you.”
Joseph and Rebecca seemed pleasant enough, but he could tell from the lack of traffic that they did not need help at the moment.
“Where is everyone?” Jacob asked. “If it weren’t for the occasional sign for buggy parking and the two of you, I wouldn’t know there was an Amish community here.”
“Oh, ya. We’re here all right.” Rebecca shared an amused smile with her husband.
“Where are you from?” Joseph bent to pick up one of the grandkinner who had begun to fuss.
Jacob had noticed several young ones scattered behind the counter. One little boy walked around, tugged on his pants leg, and offered him a small toy horse.
“My folks live in upstate New York.”
“We’ve been there before. Haven’t we, Becca?”
“Sure, when the boys were young.”
Jacob was worried these two were going to trot down memory lane, but to his relief Joseph tapped on the counter and redirected the conversation. “In Oklahoma the communities are a bit more spread out than in the northeast.”
“I heard there was more than one church district in this area.”
“For sure and for certain.” Joseph didn’t elaborate.
Jacob removed his hat, wiped at the sweat on his brow, and set the hat back on his head. “I am looking for work. I’m gut in the fields, and I have references.”
“No need for that. The reason you’re not seeing any families is because everyone is in the fields, which are located outside of town a little ways.”
“Ya, this is the slowest week we have all year long.” Rebecca resumed restocking the display near the register. “No one has time to go to town if they can help it.”
“So there’s probably work…” Jacob felt the first stirrings of optimism since he had entered the store.
“Could be.” Joseph scratched at his beard, a mixture of white, gray, and brown. “I couldn’t say for sure.”
“But surely if everyone is in the fields at once…”
“Storm’s predicted for the weekend.” Rebecca finished adding candy to the display. She stood, walked to a peg on the wall, and removed Joseph’s hat. “Our bishop, Levi, will know who needs an extra hand.”
“Gut idea.” Joseph accepted the hat from his wife and motioned for Jacob to follow him.
For his part, Jacob was in no hurry to see another bishop, but then again he needed work. Besides, there was no avoiding church leadership in an Amish community, not that he intended to do any such thing. He’d done nothing wrong in Yoder, or at least in his opinion he hadn’t.
Soon they were at a house virtually overflowing with children. The bishop was on the front porch. He had the full attention of the entire brood as he showed several young ones between the ages of two and six how to blow bubbles with a wad of gum. The youngsters were trying, without much luck but with a lot of laughter.
One reached forward and tried to pop his grandpa’s rather large bubble, but the old man was too quick for him. He looked up and waved as Joseph and Jacob walked toward the house.
Jacob initially wondered why he wasn’t helping with the crops. Even when an Amish man didn’t have crops of his own, he always lent a hand to his neighbors. Then the bishop reached for a cane with his left hand and stood, leaning heavily on it, and Jacob understood. Though he was younger than Jacob initially thought, probably in his early fifties, he moved with an obviously painful limp. No wonder he was left tending to the children.
If Levi Troyer was a bit handicapped as far as his walking ability, he lacked nothing in arm strength. One of the children had begun to cry, and he easily swung the tike up onto his shoulder.
Joseph explained why Jacob was there. While he was talking, Mrs. Troyer walked out onto the porch. She listened for a moment and stepped forward when her husband said, “I’m sure we can find something for you to do.”
“I’m Mary Beth, and you can stay here with us. There’s always room for one more.”
Jacob rather doubted that by the passel of children on the porch, but he simply thanked her.
“Have you had any lunch, Jacob?”
“No, ma’am, but I’m happy to wait on that if you know of any work I could get to this afternoon.”
Levi’s eyes sparkled as he glanced at his wife, “A young and energetic one, Mamm. Maybe we should keep him around here for ourselves.”
“Indeed, but I am thinking the Stutzmans are in a greater need for help, what with one son laid up with a broken leg. You won’t be able to work well on an empty stomach, though. Come inside.”
Mary Beth insisted on feeding Jacob a hearty lunch of ham sandwiches and potato salad. By the time he’d devoured the food, Joseph was gone and Levi had hitched up the buggy. “Let’s go see Daniel Stutzman. I believe he’ll be happy to have you lend a hand, though he may be close to finished.”
“I heard a storm is predicted for the weekend.”
“It is, and though I’m skeptical of many Englisch things, their weather-predicting ability has improved over the years. We’ll do our best to have all of our crops in before the front hits the western border of Mayes County. That you can be sure of.”
It was obvious that Daniel was indeed finishing his harvest as they walked down the rows of freshly cut corn.
“Samuel could use a hand,” Daniel said. “He’s the final man in our rotation this year, so we won’t get there until Friday afternoon. The more he can have finished before we arrive, the better.”
Levi thanked him and turned to hobble back toward his buggy. “Sounds as if the Lord has sent you exactly when Samuel Schwartz needs you, Jacob.”
“Ya, maybe so.”
“Samuel has no sons, no kin of any type here in Cody’s Creek. He’s a gut man and a real asset to our community. For better or worse, the man plants as if he’s feeding a household of twelve, so there will be plenty to do.” Levi popped his gum and then added, “I should have thought of him first.”
On the ride to Levi’s, Joseph had said the storm was due in Saturday morning, or Sunday at the latest. It was supposed to bring large-sized hail, heavy rain, and the possibility of tornadoes, which gave them three days to harvest Samuel’s crops—four if the front slowed. Jacob quickly did the math in his head. Three days of work times the going wage was easy enough to calculate. It wouldn’t be a lot of money, but the wages would be enough to put a little in his pocket and buy a bus ticket.
This time he’d head east and south as he’d originally intended.
CHAPTER 17
Anna woke Friday morning and put on her oldest dress, a kapp that had seen better days, and her work boots. The air outside was thick with humidity. There was little doubt that the forecasted storm was indeed headed their way. It was something everyone spoke of the last few days, and she wasn’t sure she understood the concern. They’d had alerts all summer—constant storms that traveled west to east and brought hail, strong winds, and heavy rains. She no longer paid much mind to the talk. She couldn’t do anything about the weather.
This week the folks in their community had seemed more than a little worried. Erin had told her the previous evening that in recent years Oklahoma had been hit hard. She described the tornado that had hit Oklahoma City and the suburb of Moore. “It wasn’t only the destruction, Anna. It was also the width and length of the path of the tornado. There was much loss of life, and the Englischers estimated the cost of that storm at more than two billion dollars.”
“Two billion?”
“Ya.”
“But Oklahoma City isn’t near us.”
“The storms appear all over the state. It is important to be vigilant and to head for the cellar at the first sign of trouble.”
The cellar was next to the back porch. It was a large room built into the ground, where Erin kept her canned vegetables. The door on the room was sturdy and could be bolted from the inside.
Anna supposed she understood the
urgency to harvest the crop before the storm arrived. Crops not only fed their families but also fed their livestock. If it was a good year, any extra harvest could be sold to local grocers or families. The extra income helped to cover unexpected expenses.
Leaving her room, she walked down the hall hoping she wasn’t late for breakfast, but she needn’t have worried. She stumbled to a stop as she peeked into the kitchen. Mammi tottered in from the back porch. Already sitting at the table was her onkel, her aenti, and the man they had hired to help with the harvest.
Jacob had shown up at the farm two days before with Bishop Levi. He was polite enough but terribly quiet. Though they had been working in the same field the day before, they hadn’t exchanged more than a dozen words.
Taking her place at the table, Anna nodded to Jacob, said good morning to her aenti and onkel, grinned at Mammi, and bowed her head for prayer. When she finished and reached for the large pot of oatmeal, she noticed Jacob studying her. She smiled at him, but he quickly ducked his head.
Polite and quiet and shy.
“You did well with the horses yesterday, Anna.” Her onkel reached for his coffee cup. “If you like, Jacob can take the team today.”
“Nein. I enjoy driving Snickers and Doodle. They are gut horses.”
Jacob again glanced up from his breakfast, but he didn’t say anything.
How did he arrive so early? Did he walk? Or did someone drive him? She’d heard through her aenti that he was staying with the bishop. It wasn’t a far piece, but he would have had to rise at least an hour early in order to dress and walk to her onkel’s farm for breakfast. No wonder he ate as if he hadn’t seen a full plate in years, though he certainly didn’t look as if he were starving.
Anna snuck glances as she ate her breakfast.
Jacob was tall—nearly six feet if she were to guess.
He obviously wasn’t married. His face was clean shaven.
But he was older, probably older than she was. So why wasn’t he married?
Anna shook her head. She hated it when people asked her that question, and here she was wondering the same thing about him.
His blond hair needed a cut, and his blue eyes had such a calm, serious look that she wondered what he had seen in his traveling. The only thing she knew for certain about him was that his parents lived in New York and he didn’t have any family in the area. So why was he here? Simply for the work? But they would be done by the end of the day. As far as Anna knew, Cody’s Creek wasn’t on the way to anywhere. How had he picked their little community?
Samuel was obviously happy with his help.
By the looks of him, he was strong enough to do anything her onkel needed. But he didn’t argue with her wanting to drive the team. They only used two geldings and had a small harvester. The tractor, on the other hand, was a complicated piece of machinery—much bigger than the tractor she had driven to town. While part of her would like to learn to work it, another part shied away. She’d heard about accidents with the contraptions, and she would rather learn when they weren’t rushed to complete a job.
It seemed ironic, even to her, that though women were discouraged from working outside the home, working in the fields during harvesttime was accepted by nearly all communities. Then again, Amish didn’t usually hire outside the family. When the entire family pitched in, a field could be cleared and put in the barn fairly easily. The problem with her aenti and onkel was they had no sons to help.
“The work crew will be here this afternoon, but I’d like to have the northern field cleared by then. Jacob and I will do that with the tractor if you and Erin can take care of the maze with the horses.”
“Ya, sure.”
“That will leave only the southern and eastern fields for the afternoon. Though they are larger, with help we should be able to finish today.” Samuel ran his hand over the back of his neck.
“I will be fine, Onkel.”
“You worked with the horses back in Indiana…”
“I worked with the horses here, yesterday.”
“Yes, but only for a little while. Today will be all morning.”
“I often helped out back home, and we had more than two horses. I pestered Dat so much he finally taught me how to drive them and turn. They’re no different than a buggy horse.”
“They are when you’ve six of them harnessed.” It was the first opinion Jacob had offered.
“Ya, I can see that would be harder. But Snickers and Doodle? They’re gentle as lambs. Besides, I have no idea how to run the tractor in the fields.”
“You did all right driving to town,” Erin pointed out.
Anna remembered stalling the tractor in the middle of the intersection and smiled. “Maybe before next year’s harvest you can teach me how to use the tractor in the fields.”
This brought a smile to her aenti’s face. Anna had never mentioned staying beyond the year they had agreed to. It was something they didn’t discuss.
But it had been a good week. The crowds had been sizable the previous weekend for the corn maze, her day trip with Chloe had gone well, and now she was actually helping in the fields rather than sitting in a booth.
“The storm will be here today.” Mammi seemed completely focused on the biscuit she had broken in two. Steam drifted out of the warm bread. She reached for the fresh butter, carefully covering each side. When she glanced up, Anna was surprised to see such concern in her eyes. Mammi was always the cheerful optimist of their little group. Today she pushed up her glasses and added, “It’s apt to be bad, but Gotte will always care for His children.”
“A gut reminder, Mamm.” Samuel pushed back from the table. “Now Jacob and I had best get to work.”
Jacob again glanced at Anna before thanking Erin for the food and following Samuel outside.
“He’s a gut worker, ya?” Erin carried the pot of oatmeal to the sink and began to scrape it clean.
“Seems like it.” Anna helped to clear the table.
As the sky lightened, she saw two mourning doves sitting on the fence of the nearest pasture. Splashes of pink and dark violet spread across the sky. Behind that, building ominously far on the horizon, was layer upon layer of tall, dark clouds.
“Don’t worry. Bishop Levi checked with the storm center in Tulsa before Jacob came over this morning. The heaviest rains are still predicted to arrive late today.” Erin hung the dish towel on a peg beside the sink. “Remember to watch the sky, and if you see anything that concerns you, head for the house.”
Earlier that morning Anna had been thinking of the storms they’d had in Goshen. They had even endured the occasional tornado. Now, as she stood looking out the kitchen window, she admitted that the Oklahoma sky was different in some way. She would often catch herself standing and staring heavenward. There was something about the vastness of it, the way the landscape stretched as far as the eye could see, unhindered and unbroken. Her arms pebbled with goose bumps, and she inwardly chided herself. There was no danger in a little rain, but she understood that the crops could mold if left in the field.
They quickly put away the dishes as Mammi settled into her rocker, which sat by the windows. She would put out ham sandwiches for everyone at lunch, but most of the work for that was already done. She’d only need to pull the meat out of the refrigerator, slice the bread, and serve up the beans cooking on the stove.
Opening her Bible, she began to rock gently. When Anna walked by, Mammi reached out and touched her hand. “You’re a blessing to us, Anna. For sure and for certain.” Anna bent and kissed her grandmother on the cheek, and then she followed Erin out the back door.
Either Samuel or Jacob had already hitched up the horses to the wagon. Behind the wagon was the harvester. It was a slow way to harvest the corn, but every row done was a help to her onkel. Anna enjoyed leading the team, and they had responded well the day before. Her aenti sat in the wagon, her back to Anna. She watched the harvester and alerted her if there was any problem.
Samuel had insist
ed that neither of them work the team alone. That seemed a tad cautious to Anna. She knew her father and brothers often did so, but then this was her onkel’s place and his decision. She was simply glad to have a different type of chore for a few days.
The sky grew increasingly dark as the morning wore on. The clouds slowly overtook the sky, though there was little wind and no rain. The darkness, though, was a bit unnerving. Because Anna was so focused on the horses and the rows of corn, she had trouble telling how much time had passed. She’d been leading children through the maze she was now harvesting only a few days before. She thought of the little Englisch boy and his look of surprise when she’d shown him the kernels of corn. When her aenti tapped her on the shoulder, she nearly jumped out of her kapp.
Erin gestured with her hands and hollered, “Let me off at the end of the row. I’ll help Mammi fix our lunch.”
Anna nodded. As she pulled to a stop, she swiped at the sweat running down her face.
“Seems to be getting hotter.”
“Ya, no wind at all.” Erin studied the sky, concern shadowing her features. “Maybe you should come inside.”
“I’ll go down once more and back, and then I’ll pull the team to rest under the oak tree.”
“Gut idea.”
Snickers and Doodle tossed their heads as she turned east, away from the house. With some effort and a stern voice, she finally convinced them to move in the right direction. Anna’s heart thumped against her chest, and she wondered that her pulse was racing so. Perhaps she was more tired than she had thought.
She reached the end of the row and turned the team toward the west, and that was when she saw the funnel cloud dip out of the sky. A scream tore from her throat as she attempted to steady the team and lead them toward the shelter of the barn. Would they be safe there? Or would it be better to leave them in the field?
A terrible sound filled the air—like the roar of a train set on a collision course, only they had no train tracks anywhere near her onkel’s farm. The horses were now galloping, cutting across uncut rows and pulling Anna and the harvester at breakneck speed as they shook their heads. Anna stood to better pull on the reins, and that was when they reared.
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