Andy (2 page)

Read Andy Online

Authors: Mary Christner Borntrager

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

BOOK: Andy
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Page 10
him now. I hope he doesn't stop here, unless it's just for a bite to eat. I won't send anyone away hungry."
Andy knew she wouldn't. She had a kind heart and always had plenty of food handy.
"Ach
(oh), how I wish your dad were here. These drifters always seem to come when he is not around."
"Are you afraid of him, Mom?" Andy asked.
"No, I'm not afraid. I know God will protect us. It's just that they often ask for work, and I don't know what to say."
"Would Dad give him work, do you think?"
"I'm almost sure he would. He usually does," Lizzie replied.
"Well then, why don't we?"
"Oh, no, I don't make those decisions, Andy. I leave that up to your dad. He knows best. Anyhow, we'd better get on with our hoeing."
Sure enough, the wayfaring man came close to the garden fence. He stopped and called out, "You there, could you spare a meal for a tired, hungry man?"
Lizzie looked up from her work. She did not like the looks of this man. He had a long, dark mustache and beady, steel-gray eyes. His hat was pulled down just above the eyebrows. A large dirty cloth pack was slung over one shoulder.
"Well," responded Lizzie, "I've never yet refused food to a hungry soul. Come up to the porch and wait there, or if you like, you can sit under that maple tree. It's sure warm today."
"That it is, that it is," the man agreed. "Hotter'n blazes!"
Lizzie didn't care for that kind of talk. She hurried
 
Page 11
inside and noticed how cool it felt in the house. The windows were open, and huge trees shaded it from the scorching sun.
The twins were busy. Annie was making homemade noodles in the summer kitchen. Fannie was ironing dresses with one flatiron as another was heating on the cookstove.
''Who is
der Fremder
(the stranger) out in the yard?" Annie wondered.
"Ach, some drifter who wants something to eat," said her mother.
"Where did he come from?" Fannie wondered as she peered out.
"I don't know. I didn't ask him," Lizzie replied as she hustled to heat up some leftovers.
"Maybe I'll ask him what he has in that pack he carries on his back," Andy murmured from the window as he watched the stranger resting under a maple tree in the yard.
"You'll do no such thing!" Lizzie stated flatly. "It's none of our business, and maybe we're better off if we don't know."
"Maybe he'll want to show us," Andy mused hopefully.
"If he would want to, he'll just have to do it without us asking," Annie said, trying to appear wise.
"Here, Andy," called Lizzie, "help me carry his lunch out for him. And mind you don't ask about that big bundle."
"You are too much of a
gwunnerich Naas
(wonder nose)," Fannie told him, looking up from her ironing.
"I am not," Andy declared, picking up a tin cup and
 
Page 12
pitcher of iced tea. He held the screen door for his mother, then let it close with a bang as he followed her onto the back porch.
"Why don't you come up to the porch?" Lizzie invited the stranger. "Here are some chairs and a bench to set your tray on. You may be more comfortable here."
"Thankie, ma'am," said the stranger. "Times are hard, and I'm not used to comforts. Thankie."
Andy wanted to stay and talk to this man, but Mother had said not to bother him.
Ten minutes later there was a loud rap at the door. Andy answered.
"Mom," he called, "he wants more."
"What are you talking about?" Lizzie asked. She was reaching for a mixing bowl and starting to get things ready for the family supper.
"The tramp," said Andy. "The tramp wants to know if he can have more to eat."
"Don't you call me that, boy!" scolded the stranger, opening the screen door and taking hold of Andy's suspenders.
Although Andy was only thirteen, he was stoutly built and quite nervy, especially in front of his sisters.
"Well, you never told us your name," Andy countered, his eyes challenging this ruffian.
"Call me Cloyce. Cloyce Rader."
"Okay, Cloyce, relax! My mom will fix you another plate."
"That's more like it," Cloyce declared, returning to his seat on the porch.
"Umvergleichlich
(weird)! How much can he eat?" exclaimed Annie.
 
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"Well, I don't know," puzzled Lizzie, "but I hope he leaves after this plateful."
However, the stranger didn't leave. He made himself comfortable in the shade of a tree, waiting for Andy's dad to come in from the field.
 
Page 14
2
Smokehouse Home
Andy was a robust boy, too heavy for his age and height. Because of this, other children teased him without mercy. He suffered as the target of many unkind remarks.
Food was a comfort to Andy, and he often consoled himself with it. Somehow it became a vicious cycle. He ate because he was unhappy. He was unhappy because he was too heavy.
Andy also had a problem with his temper. He was spoiled by his five older siblings, and his younger sister, Esther, usually looked up to him.
Even his father was more lenient with this youngest son. When Andy was three or four, his dad thought it seemed cute to see him display
Schpank
(spunk), as he called it.
His mother, however, had other thoughts. She was concerned for Andy's spiritual well-being and growth as well as his physical condition.
 
Page 15
"Mom," asked Andy, "do you think he can stay?"
"Can who stay?"
"Why, Cloyce, the tramp."
"Andy," his mother cautioned, "I don't want you calling him a tramp. He was quite upset with you earlier when you used that word."
"Er schrecke mich net
(he doesn't scare me)! If he tries to make trouble, I'll just sic Shep on him. That'll make him back off," Andy bragged.
"What makes you think one pup could handle a big man like that?" bantered his sister Annie.
" 'Cause," Andy answered, "he's not as big as a cow, and the cows pay attention to Shep."
"Well, this fellow doesn't look like a cow to me!" Annie laughed and rolled her eyes.
Andy stood at the window and watched the drifter lying under the maple tree, using his pack for a pillow. "I want him to stay. I want to know where he came from and where he's going and what he has in that big pack he carries."
"It's for your father to decide whether he stays or not. Really, I hope he doesn't," Lizzie said. "But regardless, Andy, we must not pry into his business. He didn't ask about work, so maybe he only wants to rest awhile."
"Oh," Andy reported, "when I brought in his empty plate the last time, he asked, 'Where's your old man?' I told him that he's in the
Feld
(field) raking hay. He said he'd wait for him.
"Mom, why did he call Dad 'old man'? That's a funny way to talk."
"No funnier than saying
Feld
for field. That's just his
 
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way of talking. Bring in some more wood, Andy. Be sure to put the kindling on top as you stack it in the box. I'm baking corn pone for supper, and I need to have a good fire going."
Andy loved corn pone. Andy loved
all
food. With gusto he piled the woodbox full.
As he ran to the outside pump for a cool drink of water, he saw his father coming from the field, riding on the rake pulled by a team of horses.
Just then Andy's older brother Sammie was herding the cows into the barnyard to be handy for the evening milking. Their faithful collie, Shep, kept them in line by nipping at the heels of any who strayed.
Sammie had been hoeing burdock out of the pasture. Burdock and thistles seemed like everlasting enemies to him. He was glad it was time to quit.
"He's here!" shouted Andy, as he ran huffing and puffing to meet his dad and brother.
"Who's here? Who are you talking about?" asked Sammie.
"The tramp, I mean, the drifter under our tree," Andy panted, all out of breath.
"You make about as much sense as these cows," Sammie complained. "And stop your yelling! You'll scare them so they won't let their milk down right."
"Well, you wait till you see him.
Er guckt wie er is verhafdich ebbes
(he looks like he's really something)! Someone important!" Andy exclaimed as he ran off to catch up with his dad.
Jake Maust stopped his horses.
"Well
,
nau
,
was gibt
'
s
(well, now, what's the matter)?" he asked his son.
"A man came to the house this afternoon and asked
 
Page 17
for something to eat. Mom gave him two big plates of food, and now he's resting under the maple tree. Mom thinks he wants to ask you for work. She says she doesn't care for him to staybut I do.
"He looks so interesting. You know what? He has a black mustache, and all he carried is a cloth bag. Dad, I wonder what he has in there. Are you going to let him stay? Will you give him work, huh?"
"If you quit talking long enough, Andy, I might think about it."
"Oh, good, good!"
"Waard mol
(wait once)," said his father, "I haven't even seen this man yet, and of course your mother and I need to talk about it."
Jake drove up to the barn and unhitched his team. As he opened the barn door, he heard someone behind him say, "Howdy." It was the stranger who had stopped for a bite to eat.
"My name is Cloyce Rader. Your good wife gave me some food to eat today, and I'd be much obliged if I could work for you a spell. I'm strong and not afraid of hard work."
"Well," responded Jake, "my wife and I always decide such things together. Tell you whatwe'll talk about it over supper."
After a lengthy discussion, Jake and Lizzie decided that the stranger could stay on a trial basis.
"But where will we put him, Jake?" Lizzie asked her husband. "Our beds are all full, and when Ellie and Roy come home on weekends, we have to set up cots for them."
Their oldest children were working on nearby
 
Page 18
farms, Ellie as a
Maut
(hired girl) and Roy as a
glee Gnecht
(hired boy).
"I think we'll fix up the smokehouse for him," suggested Jake. "It's small, but it does have a window. Big enough for one man.
"Tonight he can sleep in the barn. Then tomorrow Andy and the girls can fix up a place for him. Put a folding cot out there, and the old dresser from the attic. He can set the washbasin on an apple crate. That chair on the back porch isn't used much anymore, so take that."
"I'll let them take that old lampstand from the
Keller
(basement)," offered Lizzie, "and a Bible. We need to make sure he has a Bible."
"Ya," agreed Jake,
"das is gut
(that's good)."
Thus it happened that the smokehouse became a little home. Andy helped arrange things there. Then he showed everything to Cloyce, who seemed to be satisfied.
Andy was excited to have a stranger living on the farm.

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