Her New Amish Family. Carrie Lighte

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СКАЧАТЬ raining too hard to allow them to go outside.

      When Seth returned to the house, Tanner was standing in the kitchen, knuckling his eyes sleepily. “Daed, is it time for Trina to kumme yet?”

      “She doesn’t kumme until you and your brother have changed into your clothes, eaten your breakfast and brushed your teeth. I already collected the oier because it’s raining and I don’t want you to go outside today unless it stops.”

      “We’re teaching Trina how to collect oier, too, but she’s afraid to put her hand in the coop. She thinks the hinkel will peck her. Groossmammi told us it isn’t kind to laugh at her so we never do,” Tanner reported solemnly. Then he corrected himself, admitting, “We did laugh the first time, Daed. But we never do anymore. Not even when she’s scared and she jumps like this.”

      Tanner’s imitation of Trina’s jitters reminded Seth of how she’d flinched when he opened the cupboard to check for the mouse, and he suppressed a chuckle. “Groossmammi is right. It isn’t kind to laugh at Trina. Most Englischers buy their eggs in a store, but in time she’ll learn how to collect oier from the henhouse. Now go wake your brother.”

      Tanner obediently thumped back upstairs. Meanwhile, Martha shuffled into the room. Anticipating her question, Seth said, “Guder mariye, Groossmammi. I haven’t made kaffi yet but I’ll get it started as soon as I put these oier in the pot to boil.”

      “Denki, but I can fix breakfast for us.” Martha removed a pot from the cupboard. With her back to him, she added, “Don’t stand there watching me. I still know my way around a pot of oier. I only had an accident the other day because I wasn’t used to Abe’s stove.”

      Seth left the room to wash his hands, returning a few minutes later with Timothy and Tanner. After breakfast Martha served coffee while the boys went to brush their teeth.

      Seth took a long pull from his mug and then said, “I probably won’t be home until around suppertime tonight.”

      “Why not? You don’t keep the shop open past two o’clock on Saturdays during winter.”

      Even though his grandmother knew he intended to eventually visit a matchmaker in the neighboring Elmsville district, Seth felt embarrassed to remind her about it now. “I, uh, I’m going to see Belinda Imhoff this afternoon.”

      Martha stopped sipping her coffee. “Ah, I see. Then I guess we’ll have to do our shopping at the Englisch market tonight instead of the one on Main Street this afternoon.”

      “If you write out a list for me, I can pick up what you need before I set off to Elmsville. It’s chilly enough that the perishables will keep in the buggy until I get home.”

      “Neh, I’d rather go. It will get me out of the house. Besides, Trina will need to kumme shopping, too.”

      “Trina? With us?” Seth questioned.

      “Jah. In case you haven’t noticed, she doesn’t have a car and it wouldn’t do her any gut to walk to the market in town, since it’s closed by the time you return in the evenings. I don’t know how she has any stamina to keep up with the boys. I try to get her to eat more at dinnertime, but she refuses. I think she feels as if she should bring her own dinner, which is lecherich.”

      “Neh, I doubt that’s it. She’s probably just on a diet. You know how the Englisch are.”

      “I know how people are. Englisch or Amish, they need food in their houses.”

      Seth pulled on his beard. As grateful as he was for Trina’s help, he worried about the boys becoming confused about her role in their lives. This was only a temporary employment situation. If Martha kept treating Trina like one of the family, it could lead to disappointment for Timothy and Tanner once she left.

      “I don’t think it’s a gut idea for her to accompany us to the market,” he said.

      “Jah, you’re right.” Martha gave in so easily it surprised Seth—until she proposed, “She’d probably prefer going to the market alone anyway. So, instead of going to see Belinda Imhoff this afternoon, perhaps you could kumme home and teach Trina how to hitch the buggy and handle the horse. That way, she’ll be all set to go to the market on her own during the day on Monday. I’ll watch the kinner while she’s gone. If they’re napping, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

      Seth shook his head incredulously. “Neh. She’s not going to use my horse and buggy any more than I’d drive her car.”

      “Gut. Then you’ll put off going to Elmsville this afternoon so we can all make it to the market in town before it closes,” Martha stated as if it were a done deed.

      Although frustrated, Seth knew he couldn’t compete with his grandmother’s cunning logic. “Alright. She can accompany us to the Englisch store in Highland Springs tonight.”

      His grandmother smiled in his direction. “The buwe will be delighted.”

      On that note, Timothy and Tanner scrambled into the room, dragged a chair to the window and climbed atop it together to watch for Trina.

      “There she is,” shouted Timothy. They got down and ran to open the door.

      “Hurry, Trina. It’s raining!” Tanner called, as if she wasn’t aware.

      “Guder mariye,” she sang out, shaking raindrops from her long hair after she hung up her jacket. “What a wunderbaar day.”

      “You’re joking now but wait until you’ve been shut indoors all day,” Seth said. “I don’t want the buwe going outside. Do you hear me, Timothy and Tanner?”

      “Jah, Daed,” they chorused.

      “That’s alright. We’re going to play a rainy-day animal game inside. It’s called Noah’s Ark,” Trina promised and the boys capered in circles around her. Turning to Seth she added, “If I remember correctly, Bible stories are permitted, jah?”

      Seth’s ears and forehead stung. She was being cheeky, but it didn’t feel offensive like the brazen remarks some of his Englisch customers made. “Of course Bible stories are allowed, provided they’re in German, since that’s the language our Bibles are printed in and the language our preachers speak when they’re delivering a sermon.”

      “Naturlich werde ich sprechen Deutsche.” In German Trina said of course she’d speak in German. Seth had only meant to be facetious. He didn’t realize she actually knew the language. Once again, he felt his face flush.

      But his ultimate embarrassment came when his grandmother bid him goodbye. “Mach’s gut, Seth. I hope your meeting with the matchmaker goes well. We’ll have supper on the table and you can tell us all about it tonight!”

      The youth in Willow Creek usually made a rigorous effort to keep their courtships private, even from their family members. Since Seth had already been married once, he didn’t exercise the same level of discretion about courtship when speaking with his grandmother now as he would have when he was younger. Still, he was thoroughly abashed to have her announce his intention of going СКАЧАТЬ