Taken for English (25 page)

“Leah?” Annie inched along the side of the vehicle, uncertain that she had ever been this close to a dump truck.

Leah flailed her arms. “It’s you again. Wherever I go, you find me.”

“I care what happens to you.” Annie wrapped her apron around the cat the way she had seen Leah do.

Elijah stood beside her now, speaking softly. “That has to be twelve, maybe fifteen tons of gravel. Must be a transfer truck for a major landscaping project.”

“How do you know this stuff?” Annie made sure the kitten could breathe but kept it contained. “We have to get her down.”

Leah shifted her position, and a spray of gravel shot off the side of the truck. “I figure that eventually this truck will go someplace where they have buses or trains.”

“It will probably dump its load and go back to the quarry it came from.” Elijah spoke into Annie’s ear.

“It doesn’t matter where it’s going, because she’s not going to be on it.” Annie lifted her head and raised her voice. “Leah, I have your kitten. Wouldn’t you like to come down and see him?”

“You keep him. I probably can’t take him on the train anyway.”

Annie blew her breath out, clueless what to say next. She only knew she must remain calm.

“I’ll go around the other side and climb up.” Elijah was already moving. “Just keep her talking.”

“I’ve never had a cat,” Annie said. “It might be fun to have a kitten, but this one is yours. I know he wants to be with you. He was trying to get back to you when I found him.”

“He’s the best kitten anyone could hope to have.” Leah leaned a few inches in the direction of Annie and the cat.

“I know,” Annie quickly agreed. “You deserve to have him.”

“You know that I’m going to find a way to leave this wilderness.”

“I just want you to be safe.” Annie could not see Elijah. “I don’t think you ever told me your kitten’s name.”

“I just call him Kitten.”

“That’s cute.”

“You can give him another name after I’m gone.”

Behind Leah, Elijah’s head slowly rose above the level of the gravel. He began to crawl toward the girl.

“That doesn’t look very comfortable up there,” Annie said. “And I wonder if you’re hungry.”

Leah flinched and turned toward Elijah. “You’ve been trying to trick me!” She swung a foot at him and caught him in the chest.

Elijah fell out of Annie’s sight.

A
nnie flew around the truck. Elijah lay flat on his back, moaning.

“Don’t try to get up!”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Elijah gasped at the effort of speaking. “My chest. She really clobbered me.”

“How about your back? Can you feel everything you’re supposed to feel?”

“It all hurts, so I guess so. Is she still up there?”

Annie spun around and looked to the top of the gravel heap. Leah was on all fours looking down.

“Leah Deitwaller, you do the grown-up thing and get down here right this minute!”

To Annie’s shock and relief, Leah began a cautious climb down.

“Is he all right?” Leah asked. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

“We’re going to need help. An ambulance.” Constraining the kitten with one hand, Annie dug with the other in the bag still hanging from her shoulder and extracted her cell phone. She flipped it open and turned it on. A dark screen glared back at her. “Battery’s dead. Elijah, did you bring a cell phone?”

He grunted. “Nope.”

Leah was on the ground now and knelt beside Elijah. “I’m sorry.”

Elijah closed his eyes. Annie’s heart lurched.

“No! You stay conscious!”

“The sun’s in my eyes, that’s all.”

Annie positioned herself between the sun and Elijah. “Leah, one of us has to go for help.”

“You should be the one to go.”

Annie was not sure which she dreaded more, the thought that if she left, Leah would bolt and abandon Elijah, or the thought that Leah might bolt with the buggy and abandon her along with Elijah.

“Annalise,” Elijah said, “can I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“How many times have you handled a horse and buggy?”

“Twice.”

“By yourself?”

She cleared her throat. “Never.”

“Then Leah has to go.”

Annie met the girl’s eyes.

“Okay,” Leah said, “but you have to let me take the kitten.”

“Do you think she’ll actually get help?” Annie sat in the dirt beside Elijah as Leah turned the buggy around and headed toward town.

“Do you think she will actually bring my horse and buggy back?”

“I’m sorry, Elijah.” Annie wriggled out of her sweater and spread it across his chest. “I dragged you into this, and now you’re hurt and worried about your rig.”

“I’m not worried about my buggy.
Gottes wille.”

Annie pulled her knees up, wrapped her arms around them, and propped her chin on top of the mountain they made. “I haven’t quite learned to say that as freely as I ought to.”

“First you have to believe it.” Elijah started to lift an arm.

“Don’t do that!” Annie put a hand on his wrist.

“I really think I’m fine. I’ll be sore and I have a headache, but that doesn’t seem so terrible. Considering.”

“Considering you were kicked in the chest, fell off a gravel truck, and landed flat on your back?”

“Ya
, that. But I landed on earth, not concrete.”

“You could have a concussion. Broken ribs. Or your spinal cord—”

“I’m grateful to have such cheerful, optimistic company.”

Annie clamped her lips shut.

“If you’ll scratch the left side of my nose, I promise I won’t try to get up.”

“That bargain is more than fair.” Annie used two fingers to thoroughly scratch the side of his long, narrow nose then pushed his brown hair away from his eyes.

“Thank you. That’s better.”

“Does your chest hurt? It looked like she kicked you right in the heart.” Annie noticed that his chest did not lift high with his breaths.

Annalise reached for his wrist and put two fingers down in search of his pulse.

“Don’t worry. It’s still beating.”

“You’re taking this whole thing too lightly.”

“I would shrug if you would let me.”

“You will do nothing of the sort.”

“Mrs. Stutzman will be in a tizzy by now.”

“Oh yes, Mrs. Stutzman. The beautiful coffee cake the girls were going to serve you straight out of the oven—coincidentally—will be ruined.”

“They’re not so bad. You’re just sensitive because Beth had her eye on Rufus. He set her straight weeks ago. You know that.”

Annie picked up a pebble and tossed it several yards. “I know. But they don’t seem your type, either.”

“You know there’s only one woman I want.”

She did know. “Are you really going to leave?”

“Yes, I believe so. I cannot stay and be a hypocrite for the next sixty years.”

“What if leaving doesn’t change anything with Ruth?”

“I hope it will, but either way I have to go.”

“Don’t you believe? In what I just promised to believe and obey?”

“Are you trying to talk me into staying because you chose to join the church?”

“Of course not.” She crossed her arms atop her knees. “I know you would never make this kind of decision for someone else.”

“I tried that three years ago and it hasn’t worked out too well.” Elijah squinted at the sun. “I wish I had my hat right now, though. I left it in the buggy.”

Annie readjusted her position once again to shade his face.

“If I get my horse and buggy back, I’m going to sell it.”

“Really?”

“I’m going to buy a van. Tom has been teaching me to drive. He’ll take me for my test.”

“He’s going to want you to be quite sure.”

“I’m sure. You and Rufus are going to need a buggy once you’re married. You won’t always live on the Beiler farm.”

“One step at a time.” Annie raised a hand to shade her eyes and stare down the road. “Why hasn’t someone at least come about this truck?”

Ruth stepped outside the grocery store and gratefully turned her face up to the sun. Late September at an elevation of eight thousand feet brought days gently sloping off the peaks of summer temperatures, but the sun comforted her nevertheless. She had walked down Main Street to the store, careful not to buy more items than she could comfortably carry the blocks back to Annalise’s house. Growing up in the Amish community in Pennsylvania, Ruth rarely stepped inside a grocery store. Her family had their own milk, eggs, and vegetables, and the large church district included families of all trades. Anyone who wanted to avoid the
English
completely could do so for months at a time. Now here she was carrying two canvas bags of groceries so she could feel she was making some contribution while she stayed with Annalise.

Just as she was about to turn off onto the narrow street where Annalise’s house occupied the middle of the block, a horse trotted toward her on Main Street—at a speed that lacked caution.

Elijah’s horse pulled his buggy—Ruth had spent enough time in that buggy to recognize it anywhere, as much as it looked like so many others—but Elijah was not on the bench.

The driver reined in the horse and stared down at Ruth.

“Leah?”

“I remember you from the day I went to church.” The girl on the bench pointed. “You’re Ruth Beiler. You were the only one there not wearing the clothes of our people.”

Remembering what Annie had told her about Leah Deitwaller, Ruth took care with her tone. “It’s good to run into you, Leah. I see you have Elijah’s buggy.”

“He needs help. Is it true you’re a nurse?”

Ruth’s heart pushed against her chest. “I’m training to be a nurse. What happened?”

Leah licked her lips and swallowed hard.

“Leah, I want to help if I can. I need to know what happened.”

“Do you have a cell phone?”

“Yes.”

“Call 911.”

Ruth set down the groceries on the sidewalk and yanked her phone out of the pocket of her blue scrubs shirt. “They’ll want to know what happened, Leah.”

“Elijah fell. Annalise says he needs an ambulance.”

“Where is he?” Ruth did her best to focus while Leah described the location of the gravel truck.

As soon as she called 911 with the scant information she had, Ruth picked up her groceries and set them on the floor of the buggy.

“Do you know where Annalise’s house is?”

Leah nodded.

“I’m going to run there and get my car. I would appreciate it if you could take these groceries. And you could wait there if you like. The back door is open.”

Ruth spun and ran. Her car was in the driveway, unlocked, and she was in it and backing onto the street before Leah had fully negotiated the turn onto Annalise’s street. Ruth had no idea whether Leah would take the groceries to the house, or whether she would stay there if she did. It might please Annalise to find her there, but if this thoughtless, headstrong girl had anything to do with how Elijah got hurt, Ruth was not as certain of her own grace. She accelerated past Elijah’s buggy onto Main Street and barreled toward the main highway.

At least Annalise was with Elijah. Ruth forced herself to slow the car’s speed in order to look for the old county road the Stutzmans routinely used to reach their farm. A twelve-ton gravel truck could not be that hard to find, and if Leah was telling the truth, Elijah would be sprawled on his back beside it.

Ruth saw Annalise spring to her feet before she discerned Elijah’s black-and-white-clad form on the ground. She swung the car off the road and screeched to a halt.

“How did you know to come?” Annalise moved out of the way as Ruth knelt and put her ear to Elijah’s chest.

Ruth put two fingers on his neck, looking for his pulse. This would be the last time she ever traveled without at least a stethoscope in her car.

“Leah found me walking home with groceries. I called for an ambulance. They should be here any minute.”

“I keep telling Annalise I don’t need an ambulance.”

Elijah weakly nudged Ruth’s hand away from his neck.

Annalise’s protest was swift. “You promised not to move.”

A siren wailed. “Too late,” Ruth said. “It’s just about here.”