Andy (9 page)

Read Andy Online

Authors: Mary Christner Borntrager

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

BOOK: Andy
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Page 71
   Till I see you once more skirt the silvery moon. 
Then the joy of my heart will soar ever higher 
   And welcome you back to your summer lagoon.
Andy was not good at sports. He was always chosen last for team games. Andy was not a good runner or wrestler, but he was a good writer. No one could truthfully deny that.
He felt good when he put his thoughts down on paper. That was his private world where no one made fun of him. Many more poems were hidden away in a notebook left from his school days. The world would have been richer had he shared them.
Now it was winter again. Andy made his way to church in his own buggy for the first time. His sister Esther accompanied him.
''It's less crowded in the double buggy if I can go with you," she said.
"I don't care. But I hope you don't want to stay after church," Andy told her.
"Why not? I like to have lunch and visit with my friends. Don't you ever like staying?"
"No, I don't. How would you like it if a bunch of the girls mocked you?"
"I wouldn't. But the Wagler boys are nice to you. Why don't you just stay with them?"
"It doesn't matter who I'm with. Adam, Ezra, and Noah make fun of me. Joey and Johnny do, too. They're the worst ones."
"All right. If you want to leave right after church, I'll be ready," Esther agreed. "But you can't always run away from trouble. Dad says so."
 
Page 72
Andy knew she was right, but he was willing to avoid it as long as he could.
As soon as Esther and Andy drove in the lane to Hostetler's, where church was being held that Sunday, it started.
"Guck an die grosse Maus
(look at the big mouse)," announced Ezra, mocking the Maust name. "Some big guy he is now, driving his own rig."
"Hey, Maust, where did you get that fancy buggy and race horse?" Johnny Swartz called out for all to hear.
The other fellows snickered and snorted.
As Andy started to unhitch, Johnny and Noah offered, "Let us help you so your horse won't get away." Noah slapped the horse's mane lightly, and the palm of his hand stuck a clump of burrs into the horsehair.
Andy felt his temper surfacing again. He tried hard to keep it under control. Who would want to go into a church service with an angry attitude?
Then Mahlon Schrock walked over to the group, and the harassment stopped. "It's time to go inside, boys," he stated firmly.
Andy was grateful. As the boys filed into the room, Andy was seated by a window. Midway through the service, he noticed dark clouds forming and racing through the sky. Soon snow was speckling the windowpane and scudding onto the ground.
Bishop Lapp must have noticed it, too, for he began to speak of being washed whiter than snow. Andy drew his attention back to the preaching.
"Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18," the bishop repeated.
 
Page 73
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
Andy thought that perhaps God could wash him clean from his temper.
By the time church let out, the snow had piled to several inches. It would be a cold ride home in his open buggy. Andy was glad they only had three miles to travel.
When he went to the closed-in porch for his
Iwwerschuh
(overshoes), they were gone. He looked everywhere he could imagine. Behind the big copper wash kettle, and even inside it.
Esther had come out for her shawl and bonnet. "What are you looking for?" she asked.
"My Iwwerschuh
, Andy replied. She helped her brother hunt for them.
Johnny Swartz and Ezra Miller came inside. "Looking for something?" Johnny wondered with a grin on his face.
"Ya, my
Iwwerschuh
, Andy said. The boys just watched Esther and her brother look for the missing boots. Finally Andy approached them. "You know where they are, don't you?"
"Why don't you look outdoors if they aren't in here?" suggested Ezra.
"Ya," Johnny kidded, "maybe they got tired waiting and walked out on you."
Both boys laughed as they left the porch.
Andy remembered that these two had left the service for several minutes. Now it was plain to him. It had all been planned.
"Don't let your temper get the better of you," Esther
 
Page 74
begged. "That's just what those boys want. I've got my boots on. I'll wade out and get yours," she offered.
"No," stated Andy, "I'll go, and this time they won't see me angry." Yet try as he could, he felt hot all over except for his feet.
"Now," he asked his sister on the way home, "do you understand why I don't like staying after church? I shook all the snow out of my boots, but my feet got wet and cold. I think I'm wearing snow boots."
Esther didn't answer. She didn't know what to say. But she did pull the heavy lap robe up around them both, and Andy knew she cared.
 
Page 75
14
One Bad Egg
Most Amish families like singing together. The Maust family was no different.
"Why don't we invite the
Freindschaft
(relatives) over next between Sunday for a singing?" suggested Lizzie one winter evening. "We could enjoy a little more company, what with Sam and Roy and Ellie out working for others. They don't even get home on weekends much anymore."
One Sunday, church services were held in the Maust's district. The next Sunday, services were held in another district but not in theirs. This left some free Sundays for family activities, visiting, and singing.
"Ya, that would be nice," Jake agreed. "Some of the
Freindschaft
live in other districts, though, and wouldn't want to miss their services."
"Ach,
ich weese sell
(I know that)," Lizzie responded. "We'll make it for the late afternoon, and each can bring a dish or pie, cake, or whatever."
 
Page 76
Jake saw Lizzie was getting excited about the idea.
Andy, too, enjoyed those Sunday afternoons and evenings when his extended family sang together. He had heard of
englisch
churches that had evening services, but his people did not have them.
Sometimes on Sunday his family played table games. Scrabble and Dutch Blitz were favorites. Other times they might simply share a bowl of freshly popped corn and apples along with the week's happenings.
Best of all, though, was when they gathered with hymnbooks in hand and lifted their voices in praise to God. It was a time of bonding, and at those times, Andy felt closer to his family than at any other time. He had a nice tenor voice and used it freely. Here no one made fun of him.
He was in his
Rumschpringe
stage, old enough to run around and go to youth singings. But there the same clump of boys made
Schpott
(fun) of him.
"Listen once how that Andy bellers!" exclaimed Adam Chupp.
"Ya,
er meent er kann singe
(he thinks he can sing)," snorted Johnny Swartz.
One was there who didn't make
Schpott
. Aire Mast thought Andy to be a nice-looking boy and an excellent singer. She didn't care if he was quite heavy.
Aire herself knew what it was like to struggle with keeping one's weight down. Andy was not aware of Aire's notice of him. His sister Esther and Aire were good friends, but he had decided to pay no attention to girls. Some of them had been just as unkind to him as the boys were.
 
Page 77
Andy seldom went to young folks' singings because he couldn't sing out without being mocked. Yet many of those making fun of him were jealous of Andy's good voice. As is often the case, they put Andy down to make themselves appear better.
"Is this going to be an old folks' singing?" asked Esther. "Or can we unmarried ones come?"
"We would be glad if you younger ones joined us," Jake told her. "We need some young blood in the group. Just don't run so fast with those newer tunes that we can't catch you," he teased.
"Ach, you!" Esther wrinkled her nose at him. "I hope the Masts can come. I want Aire to see how I fixed my bedroom since Annie and Fannie left."
"Don't you miss them?" Lizzie asked.
"Sure I do, but I don't miss a crowded bedroom. It's nice to have it to myself and to have some privacy once."
"Be sure to invite Aire special, and I believe she'll come," Mother said.
Andy was glad to see the Wagler boys driving in the lane. They at least were his friends. But he was surprised when Johnny Swartz and Ezra Miller showed up. They generally didn't even help sing at young folks' gatherings. Why had they come?
Andy began to speculate. He decided three things were possible. Either they came to play some prank, to eat the good food, or try to get rid of his dog. This last thought struck terror into his heart.
Andy immediately left the house and locked Shep in the workshop. Ever since they had discovered some of Jake's tools missing, they kept the shop door locked.
 
Page 78
Shep did not like the idea of being penned up, but Andy felt safer.
"I know, Shep," he told the dog. "As soon as those boys leave, I'll let you out."
Andy slipped back into the house, but his dad noticed him come in.
"Where have you been, Andy?" Jake asked.
"Oh, just out."
"Just out where? We were waiting for you to help set up tables."
Tables were benches set end to end and side by side. The seats were more backless benches.
Church services were to be held at Jake Maust's place in one week. The
Bankwagge
(bench wagon) had been brought to the Maust home for that event. When a family offered their house for church in two weeks, they would hitch two horses to the
Bankwagge
and bring it to their place.
Benches weren't the only thing the wagon hauled. It also contained a lost-and-found cloth bag. In it were freshly laundered hankies, diapers, baby bottles, pacifiers, and children's toys.
The toys were simple, often a string of beads or a baby rattle. Little girls had much fun peeking in to see what the bag held. Sometimes if they found a hanky that caught their eye, they kept it.
What a supper they had before the singing that evening at Jake's! Many could have sung better had they not eaten so much.
Between supper and singing, Andy's dad quizzed him again about his whereabouts before supper. When he saw his son's anger begin to rise, he decided

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