Authors: Mary Christner Borntrager

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Juvenile Fiction, #Religious, #Christian, #test

Andy (16 page)

BOOK: Andy

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Page 128

open," Andy offered. "I'm ashamed of what I did and truly sorry, but you have a right to know what happened. Give me a few minutes to think how to say things."

Lizzie told them she would get the evening snack ready, but first she made her way to the bedroom and her dresser drawer for a large handkerchief. Somehow she knew she would need one.

"I'll pop the corn, Esther," she said. "You go to the basement and bring a bowl of apples. Fannie, get the dishes ready for popcorn and bring a plate of cookies from the pantry."

"Do we have any sweet cider left?" Jake asked.

"Yes, there are two full jugs in the cellarway," Lizzie told him.

Jake started to get up to get a jug to enjoy with the rest of their snack.

"I'll get it," volunteered Andy.

Soon they were seated in the farm kitchen, warmed by the cookstove. Rain was pelting against the dark window. As Andy looked at the circle of contented faces lit by the lamplight, he wondered how he could ever have left home.

Esther broke in on his musings as she blurted out,
"Fang mol aa
(start once)!"

"It isn't going to be easy," said Andy slowly. "But then, I suppose it's never easy to talk about our wrongs. I had to take so many teasings, I just thought I couldn't take any more.

"Then when I found Shep and knew someone had killed him, I let my temper get the best of me again. All I could think of was the stories Cloyce Rader told. The

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world he described seemed so wonderful.

"When I left, I walked the woods and back lanes until I got beyond our people. It was chilly at night. Once I stopped at a place for food, and the lady seemed afraid of me. Miles and miles I walked. My feet were blistered, and I found out what real hunger was.

"Then I reached the train station. I wanted to go to Kansas and follow the harvest, as I've heard other boys have done. But it was too late in the season, and anyhow that train was headed for Alabama.

"First I stopped for something to eat. I wasn't treated too nice, and most fellows I met were rough. I hopped on a boxcar because I didn't have enough money for a ticket. Before I got off, another bum stole everything I had except what I was wearing."

At this, Lizzie blew her nose and dried her free-flowing tears.

Andy told of working in the hot cotton fields and of his harsh treatment there. He explained that at first he lost weight while traveling because he didn't have enough food. Then he lost some more because of the long, hard hours of picking cotton.

He admitted that he just didn't feel like eating much because of the strain of adjusting to strange surroundings and southern food.

"Enough!" Lizzie didn't care to hear more. "You're home now. That's what counts most. And you won't go hungry here." She handed him a cookie.

"What made you decide to come home?" Jake asked.

"Well, I got my first pay and went to the bank. There I saw a picture of Cloyce, and he was wanted by the

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law. Right then and there, I knew I didn't want a life like that."

"Ich bin froh
(I'm glad)!" Lizzie said, blowing her nose again.

"Andy," Jake told his son, "you went away a boy, and you came back a man. I'm glad you remembered who you are and didn't turn rough like those other fellows."

"What about the grass?" asked Esther. "Was it really greener?"

"No," answered Andy, "it certainly wasn't. There is none greener than in my own front yard."

His family was welcoming him home, and that was all that mattered.

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24
The Road Back

Several weeks had passed since Andy came home. Other than going over to see Bertha Kauffman for a fitting of his new suit, Andy had stayed around home.

''I'll cut your hair tonight," Lizzie informed her son. "It's grown out enough now."

"Well, I'm ready," Andy remarked.

"Does that mean you'll be ready to go to
die Gmee
(church)?" Esther asked.

"Well, I don't know if Bertha will have my new suit ready yet," Andy answered.

"You know well enough she didn't have anyone else to sew for during the last three weeks. Andy, I think you're stalling. You don't want to go to church or singing, do you?" Esther challenged him.

This put Andy on the spot! However, he answered truthfully. "To be honest," he said,
"Ich shemm mich
(I'm ashamed)."

Jake heard what his son said and tried to assure him.

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"Andy, you need not be ashamed of mending your ways. The shame would be if you would have remained out in worldly living. It will be a long road back, perhaps, but with God's help you can make it. We must put our past behind us and strive
zu duh besser
(to do better). Now let's get that hair cut."

Fannie and Esther were glad that Andy looked like their brother again.

"Give me two more weeks," begged Andy, "and then if Bertha has my suit ready, I'll go to church."

"And to singing?" Esther asked.

"Maybe," he answered.

"What are you afraid of? Is it Aire? You think you might run into her?"

That was exactly what Andy dreaded. He wanted to see Aire again, and yet he didn't want to. What could he say to her? Would she understand? Would she believe he was ashamed and sorry for what he had done?

Aire seemed like such a nice person. Andy doubted she ever did wrong. Well, if he gave in to Esther and went to singing, he would sit far back in the room. Perhaps if he sat behind taller boys, she wouldn't notice him.

The first snow was coming down in squalls on Monday morning a week later. Jake started laying out his plans for the day.

"Andy, I want you to take Star and go over to Lef Sam's and see if I can borrow his wedge. We need to split more wood, and a lot of those pieces are too big for the axe alone."

"I'll go right after breakfast, Dad," Andy replied.

Star pulled the buggy along at a brisk pace. Andy

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whistled happily. Then he saw it. Something or someone was in the road in front of him. As he drew nearer, he could see a girl standing in the road, holding her horse. When he pulled alongside, he could tell that a shaft of her buggy was broken.

"Was is letz
(what's wrong)?" Andy asked.

How astonished he was as Aire Mast looked up from her dilemma and said, "Hello, Andy."

"Oh, uh. . . hi, Aire."

"My horse shied away from Erkle's vegetable truck and acted up so badly that the one shaft broke."

"You can hardly drive with only one shaft," Andy observed.

"No, not really," laughed Aire. Once more Andy noticed the musical lilt to her laugh.

"Let me unhitch your horse and tie her behind my buggy," Andy suggested. "Then I'll take you home to get help."

"Oh, would you? I didn't know what to do. It's getting pretty cold."

"I'd be glad to," Andy said. "Here, you get in my rig and
deck dich zu
(cover yourself) with my lap robe."

Andy tied Aire's horse securely behind his buggy. Aire couldn't help but notice how gentle Andy was in handling her horse. Then he rolled her buggy off to the side of the road.

"Now," said Andy, "let's turn this outfit around, and I'll soon have you home. You had better stay inside. That wind is whipping up pretty good."

Aire liked all this attention, especially from Andy. She wanted to ask him where he had been, but restrained herself. Instead she said, "I'm sure glad you're

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home, Andy, and that you came by just now."

"So am I," Andy agreed.

"Oh, but where were you going?" Aire asked.

"Over to Lef Sam's to borrow a wood-splitting wedge," he answered.

"Ach, you're driving out of your way to take me home."

"Don't worry. I don't mind," Andy assured her.

"Was is los
(what's the matter)?" Aire's dad asked as Andy drove up to the front gate. Joe Mast had just come from the house and saw them driving in the lane.

"Betsy shied and acted up at Erkle's truck and broke a buggy shaft," Aire told her father.

"Where is the rig now?" Joe inquired.

"Off the edge of the road, about a mile east on forty-two," Andy replied.

"Danki fer die Aire heem hole
(thanks for bringing Aire home)," Joe said.

"Ya," Andy replied.

Joe untied Betsy and led her toward the barn.

Aire wished Andy didn't need to leave. There were so many things she wanted to talk about.

"I missed you at the singings," she confided as she stepped down from the buggy. "Are you coming this Sunday?"

"Maybe . . . ," Andy answered. Then as an after-thought, he asked, "Are you?"

"I'd like to if I have a way." The minute she said it, she felt as if she were hinting.

However, it was a good opportunity for Andy, and he took it. "Would you go with me?" he asked almost shyly.

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"If you really want me to. I hope you didn't ask just because I said I'd go if I had a way," Aire remarked, blushing prettily.

"I really want you to go with me," Andy assured her.

"Well, good!" said Aire.

"Then meet me at the end of your lane at seven o'clock on Sunday evening," Andy instructed her.

"Fine, I'll see you then," Aire responded as she turned toward the house.

They both knew it was usual for Amish young people to keep their courtship secret and to keep their families guessing.

This was only a beginning of many Sunday evenings they would spend together.

Andy was late getting home from his errand at Lef Sam's.

"What took you so long?" Jake asked as Andy got out of the buggy.

"I took Aire Mast home. Her horse acted up for her and broke a buggy shaft."

Esther laughed when she heard about it. "A likely story!"

"Es is waahr
(it is true)," Andy defended himself.

Esther believed it, but she had to tease her brother a bit. It was so much like before he ran away. She was delighted when Andy left early for the Sunday evening singing. He had only made comments about giving his horse some exercisebut Esther knew better.

The next day she told Andy, "You are on the 'road back' just as though you'd never left. I'm glad."

Four months after Andy began keeping company

BOOK: Andy

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