Leah's Choice. Emma Miller

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СКАЧАТЬ a dozen other languages were spoken. He’d learned to feel at ease on busy trains, buses and subways, but here he felt completely out of his element. How could they possibly find one small child in all this darkness? Joey could be anywhere.

       It was no wonder the Beachy family had called for help. Daniel had been told that women from the Amish church were organizing a prayer vigil, and he knew that Dinah Rhinehart had asked the Mennonite women if they would do the same. Samuel Mast said that someone had notified the Delaware State Police. And in the farmyard, Daniel had heard talk of sending for search dogs.

       “There are a lot of rumors flying around,” Leah said when they stopped to catch their breath. “One of the Beachy girls said that Joey had told her that a man in a blue pickup offered him candy at their mailbox a few days ago.”

       Daniel and his cousins moved closer so that they could hear what she was saying.

       “And Noodle Troyer told my brother-in-law, Charley, that Elmer, Joey’s brother, found Joey’s hat and one shoe in the mud beside a pond. But I don’t put much stock in that story, since it’s Noodle.” She cocked her head to one side. “He’s known for telling tall tales and making much out of nothing.”

       Rain was running down the back of Daniel’s jean jacket, and his trousers were soaked. He wished he’d checked the weather report before heading north to Delaware from where he’d been speaking in Virginia—he could have used his raincoat right now. Leah was the only one who seemed to be properly dressed for a night like this. She had a hooded rain slicker that reached past her knees to her black rubber boots. Wide sleeves protected her arms and covered half her hands. Her flashlight was an expensive Maglite. His flashlight was a cheap one from the dollar store, and it wasn’t as bright. It needed new batteries; he remembered that now. But he didn’t always think ahead, a fault his father was quick to point out.

       “Did you have time to stop home for your flashlight?” Daniel asked, giving his a tap.

       “We always keep it in the buggy.” Leah offered a quick smile. “Just to be safe. And it looked like rain, so I threw boots and the raincoat in the back before we headed to the Grange to hear the speaker. My mother always told us girls to be prepared for anything whenever we left home.”

       “She sounds wise, your mother,” Daniel said.

       “Ya, Mam is smart. She’s the schoolteacher here in Seven Poplars. But she’s got a lot of common sense, too.”

       “What else do you carry in case of emergencies?” Daniel asked. He was teasing her a little, but he was also curious. There were all sorts of things about Leah Yoder he wanted to know.

       “I have flares in the buggy, too,” she answered, “but I didn’t see any need to bring those.”

       “You don’t have a cell phone, do you?”

       “Nah.” Leah shook her head, sending droplets of water flying. “Our church doesn’t permit them.”

       “Don’t you have a phone, Daniel?” Caroline asked. “I keep telling Mom that I need one just as much as Leslie does.”

       “I do have a cell,” Daniel admitted, “but it’s back in my truck. I forgot to charge it, so it wouldn’t be much use to us. But if Leslie brought hers…”

       “I’ve got it,” Leslie assured him, patting the pocket of her coat. “And it’s charged.”

       “We don’t have electricity so a cell phone wouldn’t do me much good,” Leah explained. “There’s a regular phone at the chair shop across the road from our house. We can use it to call the doctor or make important calls, but we aren’t allowed to have personal phones.”

       Daniel liked Leah’s voice. It was clear and sweet, yet she had no trouble making herself heard above the rain. Leah had a slight accent, not German, but almost Southern. Her grammar and vocabulary were very good. Hearing her, no one would guess that she’d never completed high school. The Delaware Amish, he knew, sent their children to private church schools that ended with eighth-grade graduation.

       “There’s a fence just ahead,” Leah said. “I thought maybe we should search the woods, but I see lights there so I think some of the other groups are looking there. If we cross the fence line, we’ll be on the Crawford sheep farm. The Crawfords are living in Dover while their house is being remodeled, and there’s a long lane from the road to the buildings.”

       Using his little flashlight, Daniel located a fence post and three strands of barbed wire. “How do we climb over that?” he asked.

       “We don’t.” Leah plucked at the top row. “But the wire isn’t tight. If one of us holds up that bottom strand, the others can crawl under.”

       Daniel nodded, resigned to whatever it took to find the boy. He was already wet and cold, so what was a little mud? “I’ll hold the wire until you get through, and then one of you can hold it for me.”

       The plan worked, but the ground was just as wet and uncomfortable as he thought it would be. He supposed that a six-year-old would have had an easier time getting under, if he’d come this way. But why would a child venture farther away from home rather than closer? He felt a sense of dread. What if the rumor about Joey’s hat and shoe discovered by the pond was true? Or, God forbid, the story about a stranger offering the boy a treat? Tonight could end in more than discomfort. It could be a real tragedy for the Beachy family and the whole community.

       “Please, God,” he murmured under his breath as he wiggled the last few inches until he was clear of the barbed wire. “Be with this child. Hold him safe in the palm of your hand until we can get to him.”

       “Ouch!” Caroline cried.

       Daniel got to his feet. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?” He shone his flashlight on Caroline. She was holding her left hand out, and even through the rain, he could see that blood was oozing from a deep gash across her palm.

       “Let me see,” he said. On closer inspection, he saw that the cut was ragged and about two inches long.

       “Does it hurt?” Leslie asked.

       “It stings.”

       “That barbed wire is rusty.” Leah came to stand with them. “I hope you’re up-to-date on your tetanus shot.”

       “She was vaccinated when she was little,” Leslie said. “Isn’t that good enough?”

       “I don’t think so,” Leah said. “Irwin—he’s sort of my foster brother—stepped on a nail a couple of weeks ago and our doctor said he had to have a booster. She’ll probably need to have one, too, but it’s not an emergency. It can wait until tomorrow as long as she doesn’t need stitches.”

       “I don’t think it needs stitches.” Daniel handed his cousin a handkerchief. “But Leah’s right. You should check with your doctor to see when you were last vaccinated. I’ve actually seen cases of tetanus. It’s not something to mess around with.”

       Caroline wrapped his handkerchief around her hand, but the cloth turned from white to pink. “I feel like such an idiot. I thought I had hold of the wire, but it slipped through my hand.”

       “I think you’d better go back to the house.” Leslie rested her hand on Caroline’s back. “Mom will СКАЧАТЬ