Chapter 18
18
The next Wednesday, Lois received another letter from Menno but it seemed he hadn’t received her latest, because he didn’t write whether he wanted to meet in the Paradise area or at Middle Creek.
On Thursday, Claudia Peachy finally left a message on Amy and Bennie’s machine that she’d be willing to rent Lois a room in Bird-in-Hand. “Stop by Saturday at noon and look at the room.”
Saturday morning, Lois scootered back to Amy’s and borrowed her buggy. Lois didn’t exactly feel comfortable handling Amy’s horse. She used to take Dat’s buggy to work at Paradise Found occasionally when they still lived on the farm, but it wasn’t far and she wasn’t on the highway for long. This was definitely a longer drive. But it was hotter and muggier than it had been when she’d scootered before, and she didn’t want to arrive dripping sweat.
Once Bennie had the buggy ready, Lois climbed up onto the right side of the bench. Bennie stepped to the open door. “Do you remember how to drive?”
“Jah.” Lois flicked the reins as she reached for the door handle. The horse took off, and Bennie laughed as he managed to close the door for her.
Once she reached the highway, Lois had to wait for a string of cars filled with tourists to pass, but finally she was able to make the left turn.
When she reached the address, just off the highway and about a half mile from the Bird-in-Hand gift shop, she tied the reins to the hitching post and then knocked on the door. Claudia opened it immediately. Without saying hello, she said, “You’re late.”
“Oh.” Lois couldn’t be more than five minutes late.
“I appreciate punctuality.”
Lois said, “I’ll remember that.”
Claudia ushered Lois into the entryway. “My husband passed away six years ago, and I’ve been renting rooms to Amish women since then. I have three rooms, all furnished. Only one is vacant. I’ll show it to you.”
Lois followed her into the living room. It was clean and tidy and sparsely furnished. “I’ll show you the second and third floors.”
Lois glanced up at the open staircase.
“The room that’s open is the attic room. You would have the entire area.” Lois followed her up a set of stairs onto a landing. Down the hall were several doors. “I have my sewing room up here too,” Claudia said. “And a guest room for when company visits.” She started climbing the next set of stairs, which was very narrow.
“I’m afraid the room is a little stuffy today. I failed to open the windows last night to air it out.” She opened the door and stepped inside. Lois followed her.
The room was big—and hot. There was a single bed under the gables on one side, and a small desk and chair on the other, where she could write letters to Menno. Under a window was a set of drawers. There were pegs on the far wall to hang clothes.
“You would share the bathroom on the second floor with the other women.”
“What do they do for work?” Lois asked.
“One is a receptionist at a cabinet-making business. The other works at the bakery. Their homes are too far away to allow them to live at home and work in Bird-in-Hand, but they are able to go home for the weekends or at least Saturday evening to Sunday evening.”
Lois would have nowhere to go. She imagined hiding away in the hot attic room all summer when she wasn’t working—her part-time job would allow a lot of time for sweltering. Perhaps Amy and Bennie would let her stay with them on her days off. She could help Amy make more soap and candles.
“Denki for showing me the room,” Lois said. “I’ll leave a message on your phone by Tuesday with my answer.”
“Do you have other options?” Claudia asked.
Lois simply smiled at her. “I’ll let you know my decision by Tuesday.”
After she returned Amy’s horse and buggy, Lois scootered to the post office to check her mail. She had a letter from Teresa and the Flight of Doves, another from her brother, and one from Menno. She put them in her apron pocket and then scootered on to the park and stopped at a picnic table. A car drove by and a woman in the passenger seat raised her phone. Lois turned her head away. If someone was going to sneak a photo, she’d do her best to only show the side of her face, or better yet the back of her head.
She opened the letter from her brother first. He simply asked why she hadn’t replied to his previous letter.
You belong here. And, as I wrote before, Nathan is still interested in you as his wife, regardless of your previous behavior.
Her brother’s words—and assumptions—were bad enough, but the thought of Nathan made her want to retch.
She stuffed the letter back in the envelope and into her backpack. Then she opened the letter from Teresa, saving the best—Menno’s—for last. Teresa wrote,
Spread your wings! First of all, don’t be afraid to leave the nest and explore new areas of life, no matter your age.
She wrote about fledglings going farther and farther from the nest.
Embrace change, and follow the lead of our feathered friends and go with the seasons. As Plain people we might not “migrate” at all in our lifetime or maybe only a handful of times, but we too can find joy in the seasons and moving through them. Keep a song of joy, faith, and grace in your heart.
Sweat trickled down the back of Lois’s knee. She certainly had a lot of change to embrace in her upcoming season. Could she do it with joy, faith, and grace?
Teresa finished her letter with Be brave! Lois had seen countless brave birds, flapping at a predator or calling for help. One time a murder of crows settled in the cherry trees along the lane and cawed until she finally went outside to see what the matter was. Once the crows saw her, they swooped down beside a dead crow in the grass. Lois got gloves and a bag and picked up the crow. The crows flew after her to the edge of the woods, where she buried the dead one. Once it was in the ground, the other crows flew back to the cherry trees. The crows had asked for help, from a human.
She read through the Flight of Doves reports. Mary had written about rescuing a robin from a neighbor’s cat. Menno wrote about seeing a murmuration of European starlings over a farm west of Dover. Lois loved the word murmuration , and had seen her share of starlings twisting and turning and swirling and swooping in shape-shifting dark clouds. There was something so mystical about a murmuration that it felt holy. Menno wrote there was such harmony in the murmuration that the sight of it had given him hope.
Lois pressed her hand to her chest. When humans worked in harmony, she felt hopeful too. She felt that way working with Amy. She’d felt that way working with Barb and Scotty and with Mamm and Dat. She never felt that harmony with her brother and his family in Big Valley. And she certainly hadn’t felt that way working with Moses. That made her sad because she had felt harmony with him five years ago.
She opened Menno’s letter. He wrote,
I’m thankful you want to meet. The Paradise area will work for me. Let me know an exact location, small or large, birding or non, and a day and time.
Then he wrote that he’d been thinking quite a bit about what she’d written about the red-tailed hawk she’d seen flying over the creek. He wrote,
Red-tailed hawks are one of the most common hawks in the area, and in the entire country, but we never tire of seeing them. They’re majestic and serve the land, besides being beautiful in their own way. But small birds have just as much beauty and contribute as much as the more powerful raptors.
Lois liked that. Maybe Menno wouldn’t mind if she—Jane—was a little brown bird. That gave her pause. Should she explain in her reply that Jane was her middle name? Or wait until she saw him?
She took out her notebook and wrote him back, suggesting they meet at the marsh on Meadow Lane, just off the highway in Paradise, on Monday, July 8, at one p.m., which was two weeks away—plenty of time for him to receive her letter and respond. She included the address of the farm and wrote that the marsh was right before it, along with other detailed directions. She stamped the envelope and dropped it through the slot. She’d write her report for the Flight of Doves by Monday.
She wasn’t sure what she’d do about her brother, but she should respond soon—before he wrote Bishop Stephen that she hadn’t replied to his letters. The problem was, she couldn’t think of anything she could write to Randy that would change his mind.
She put Menno’s letter back in the envelope and into her apron pocket. By Tuesday she needed to have an answer for Claudia. The next Tuesday she’d start at The Country Store in Bird-in-Hand.
She felt uneasy about moving. She loved Paradise. She would be part of a different Amish district in Bird-in-Hand. She’d be farther from Amy. Farther from the farm on Meadow Lane and the marsh and the covered bridge and the park.
As she scootered, the hot wind whipped against her skin and tangled her dress between her legs. Why did Moses have to buy Paradise Found? Her life was simple before then. Nee. That wasn’t true—Bishop Stephen had already wanted her to move back to Big Valley.
Perhaps the bishop of the new district would feel better about her living with Claudia and the other single women. But after having her own home for the last three years, would she adjust to living in a house full of strangers?
Why couldn’t she be trusting like the birds in the book of Matthew? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. God would take care of her. She needed to embrace this coming change. The fact that she would soon meet Menno at least gave her some hope—and a hint of harmony. Enough to make her smile as the hot wind stung her face.
As she reached the Miller farm, John was walking the fence line along the highway. She waved. He tipped his hat back, and then waved back. “Lois!” he called out. “How are you?”
“ Gut !” She came to a stop on the highway across the fence from him.
“What have you been doing to keep busy?”
“Helping Amy. Finding another job.”
“Have you found one?”
Tears threatened as she said, “Jah. In Bird-in-Hand. I’m just trying to figure out a living situation.”
“How can I help?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine, really.”
“Should I pick you up at your apartment tomorrow for the singing?”
“Nee. I have plans with Amy and her family tomorrow evening.”
He looked hurt. Could he tell she was lying? She didn’t have plans with Amy. She just couldn’t bear another singing, and she couldn’t seem to force herself to be interested in John.
“Is Mark back from New York?”
“Jah.” John frowned.
“How is he?”
“He says he’s doing fine, but he’s moody. He broke up with Evelyn.”
Lois gasped.
“Jah.” John sighed.
“Why?”
“Mark is talking about going Mennonite now. He says Mae and her husband and kids have a good church and home. One of the kids was depressed and went to counseling. Things like that impressed him.” John shook his head. “He’s breaking Mamm’s heart. I knew he shouldn’t have gone.”
Lois had been the one who told Mark where Mae was. Perhaps John was angry with her about that. “Isn’t it a relief to know Mae is doing well, though?” she asked.
John took his hat off. “Nee. It’s confusing, actually.”
“How?”
“God’s favor brings blessings. And yet she left—and it still seems she’s been blessed with a good husband and a house full of children.”
“You don’t think God favors those who leave?”
“Not in the long run. Mae will still pay the price. Moses will pay the price someday too.”
Lois’s eyebrows shot up. How quickly John had shifted to Moses. And John’s idea of a price was something she hadn’t heard phrased like that before.
“Are you sure you can’t go to the singing tomorrow?” John’s voice sounded hurt.
“Not tomorrow.” She rolled her scooter ahead a few inches. “I should let you get back to work.”
The next day was a non-church day, and all Lois wanted to do was curl up in her bed and not have to face thoughts of a job or where to live or John or Moses. Or even Menno.
That was exactly what she did.
Then on Monday, in the midmorning after she’d done her wash, she scootered down to the post office to mail her report to Teresa. She hadn’t managed to write Randy back even though she knew she should. She found the thought of communicating with him benumbing.
She’d rather live and work in Bird-in-Hand than move back to Big Valley. She’d rather marry John than move back to Big Valley. John would be much better than Nathan. But she didn’t love John—so she couldn’t marry him. That went against her values. That wouldn’t be fair to herself or to him.
On the way back, storm clouds scudded across the horizon. The air grew heavier. Lois swiped her left hand across her forehead.
The raindrops started as she reached Paradise Found. As she started toward the stairs, she heard a commotion in the shop. Someone was yelling. Then Evelyn stormed out the front door shouting, “I quit.”
Lois froze. Evelyn turned toward the staircase and burst into tears.
“Come up to my apartment.” Lois leaned the scooter up against the staircase and grabbed Evelyn’s hand.
The two started up the stairs. The front door of the shop opened and then closed. The warm rain began coming down in sheets, and thunder boomed in the distance. By the time Lois had the front door unlocked, both she and Evelyn were soaked.
Once they were inside, Lois directed Evelyn to the bathroom to towel her hair. “I have a dress you can wear.” Lois stepped into her bedroom.
“It won’t fit,” Evelyn answered.
“Put on my robe.”
Lois changed her dress in her room, and when she came out Evelyn sat at the table in Lois’s robe. The morning’s laundry hung on the clothesline Lois strung across the apartment on washing day, and on the birch tree. She quickly closed the windows she’d left open to dry the clothes. Evelyn had hung her dress on the end of the line. “How about some tea?” Lois asked.
“I’d like that.” She glanced around. “You don’t have a phone in here, do you?”
“Nee. Who do you need to call?”
“Someone to come get me.”
Lois wondered who that someone was as she filled the tea kettle. “What happened down there?” She started the propane burner and put the kettle on it.
“Moses has been impossible to work for. He keeps expecting me to know things I’ve never been told about, such as inventory and ordering. He gets upset if I’m a few minutes late.” Evelyn wrapped her arms around her middle. “I never wanted a full-time job—just a part-time one to give me an excuse to live in Paradise Township.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” she wailed. “Did you know Mark broke up with me?”
Lois nodded. “I’m sorry.”
A knock fell on the door. And then another one. Lois gave Evelyn a puzzled look. Lightning flashed over the woods.
Whoever was at the door knocked again. “Lois, it’s me! Moses. I need to speak with you.”
Lois stared at the door.
His voice lowered and grew louder at the same time. “Please?”
“Talk with him,” Evelyn said. “He probably wants to offer you your job back. If you take it, could you ask him to let me work part-time again?”
Lois slowly nodded as she started toward the door. That probably wasn’t what Moses wanted to talk to her about.
She opened the door.
Moses stood with his hat in his hands, his shirt and pants soaked. “The birdhouses were ordered before I bought the shop. I saw the invoice after I fired you.” The rain continued to pelt him on the landing.
She wasn’t going to ask him in. “Scotty ordered them.”
“I can see why. They’ve sold out.” Moses held his hat to the side of his head, trying to protect his face from the rain. It wasn’t working. “I’m sorry I fired you—that was wrong of me.” He lowered his head.
Lois met his brown eyes. Was that sorrow she saw?
“I know the chance of this is low, but would you consider taking your position back?”
Lois glanced back at Evelyn and then took a step closer to Moses. “Would you hire Evelyn back for her part-time job?”
“Jah. Absolutely. I need to apologize to her too.”
“You can do that later.” Lois held his gaze. “I need a contract for the job and the apartment.”
“How about six months?”
“A year.”
“All right.” He exhaled as if in relief. “Can you start now?”
“Is Sara in the shop?”
“No. She’s at the café.”
“I’ll be down in a half hour to sign my contracts. I’ll work the rest of the day and then my regular schedule next week. Evelyn will come in on Saturdays and Mondays.”
“And Fridays, if she agrees,” Moses said. “I expect business to pick up once our regulars know you’re back. Would you help spread the word?”
“Maybe.” Lois stepped back and gripped the doorknob. “Bye.”